Zachary Terrell has been named chief technology officer of the Department of Health and Human Services, FedScoop reported Monday.
Three anonymous officials confirmed his designation, which aligns with HHS’ broader restructuring of its technology operations under Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. This effort includes consolidating IT offices and implementing ChatGPT department-wide, highlighted by an OpenAI agreement with the General Services Administration to provide agencies with ChatGPT access for $1 each over the next year.
DOGE Background and NSF Involvement
Terrell previously held a role related to the Department of Government Efficiency at HHS and the National Science Foundation, where he was involved in various tasks, including grant cancellations. He was part of a 10-member DOGE team granted access to sensitive systems, and was one of five group members not officially employed by the U.S. DOGE Service, the White House office overseeing the team.
Zachary Terrell’s Previous Work
Terrell founded Wager, a peer-to-peer prediction market platform, in November 2024. Before that, he worked at Spindl, a blockchain-based advertising analytics company acquired by Coinbase, for nearly two years as its founding full stack engineer. He was also the founding engineer at Chain.
Former HHS CTOs
Terrell succeeds Clark Minor, a former Palantir executive and current HHS chief information officer, who was named CTO at the start of President Trump’s second term. Minor replaced Alicia Rouault, who was appointed CTO during the final weeks of the Biden administration as part of a broader reorganization of the agency’s technology and cybersecurity functions. Before Rouault’s brief tenure, the CTO position had remained vacant since Ed Simcox resigned in 2020.
