Obama Asks Former Microsoft Exec to Fix Healthcare Website

The Obama administration has appointed Kurt DelBene, a former Microsoft executive, to fix technical issues on the HealthCare.gov website.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that U.S President Barack Obama arranged a meeting with technology executives including DelBene in the White House. The meeting concluded with the former Microsoft executive appointment to lead the team formed to resolve the issues on the new federal insurance exchange website.

DelBene, 53, is an engineer by experience who has spent more than two decades working for the software giant as president of Microsoft Office Devision. He was believed to replace Obama’s trusted adviser, Jeffrey Zients. Delbene will be overseeing and will be working with the team to finally resolve the multiple issues surrounding the federal website.

Now that he is with the Obama administration, he will work as Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s senior adviser. As a senior adviser he will keep an eye on ways to improve the website.

In a statement, Sebelius said that she and Mr. Obama would like to have one person with management experience focusing on the website every minute of every day. Fortunately, DelBene has agreed to take the position for the first half of next year.

“Kurt has proven expertise in heading large, complex technology teams and in product development,” Mrs. Sebelius said. “He will be a tremendous asset in our work.”

According to an interview with of WSJ with Steven Sinofsky, a former Microsoft senior executive and Mr. DelBene’s onetime boss, “Kurt DelBene possesses the right mix of scale management and technical skills uniquely suited to tackle this critically important challenge for America.”

Delbene officially retired from Microsoft effective December 16. Since then, he had continually explored options for his next job, said a personal familiar with the executive’s plans.

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