The Department of Health and Human Services has named as its new chief technology officer Bryan Sivak, who has been the state of Maryland’s first chief innovation officer.

He takes the position left open in March when Todd Park became the White House CTO. HHS announced Sivak’s appointment via Twitter on June 14.

Sivak joined the administration of Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley in April 2011, where he has worked to help create the state health insurance exchange, as well as a project to use social media to engage residents and an initiative to promote research transfer from several Maryland universities for commercial use.

Prior to that, he was CTO for the District of Columbia government under former Mayor Adrian Fenty.

Also on Twitter, Sivak said that it has been “an honor and a privilege to work for Governor O’Malley and the citizens of Maryland and super excited to continue the amazing work started by Todd Park and HHS.”

Sivak came to public service after having founded InQuira, a Silicon Valley knowledge management and self-service software company, which Oracle acquired.“Working in partnership with Chief Technology Officer of the United States Todd Park, Bryan will ensure that the Department’s innovation initiatives continue to move ahead at full speed," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. "We will benefit tremendously from his creativity, experience, and fresh ideas as we continue our work to harness the power of data and technology to improve the health of the nation.”