VA deputy secretary to join ACS

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today the resignation of Leo Mackay Jr. as deputy secretary, effective Sept. 30.

Mackay will join ACS Inc. of Dallas, which provides business process and IT outsourcing services. He will take a senior executive position in its health care solutions business in Atlanta.

Mackay had held the department's second-highest post since May 2001 and oversaw VA's daily operations. VA has a nearly $60 billion budget and 224,000 employees.

"His legacy is a more focused VA, better able to meet the needs of veterans," said Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi.

Mackay improved the department's procurement, finance and computer-based operations, established a joint executive committee with the Defense Department to coordinate senior-level policies, and strengthened the "national shrine commitment" to improve VA-run national cemeteries, Principi said.

Mackay is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the Navy's "Top Gun" training program. He was a vice president of Bell Helicopter Textron before joining VA.