Palantir alum appointed to top tech role at HHS

A longtime Palantir employee, Clark Minor, is the new chief information officer at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to an internal email sent Thursday and obtained by Nextgov/FCW. 

The previous CIO, Jennifer Wendel, first started working in the federal government in 1996 and moved to the HHS CIO shop in early 2023. Wendel wrote on LinkedIn earlier this week that she took the administration’s deferred resignation program and encouraged remaining staff to “continue thriving, innovating, and always supporting one another.” 

The department’s leadership bench has seen a lot of turnover since January, said one current HHS employee who was granted anonymity to be candid about the happenings at the agency.

“The loss of so much leadership has not only left a power vacuum, but a giant brain drain,” they said. “Morale is at an all time low. People were more energized while we were fighting COVID. The lack of direction as to what’s happening and the nonsensical changes have left the staff scrambling and hopeless. We feel like what’s the point if tomorrow a new edict comes down and everything is scrapped.”

Last month, about half of the HHS CIO shop was laid off, and all of its senior executive service employees were reassigned to the Indian Health Service, with limited relocation options in Montana, Alaska and Oklahoma, Nextgov/FCW previously reported. HHS is currently undertaking a massive restructuring, slashing 20,000 federal employees and centralizing functions like IT and HR. 

Avery Muse — still listed as the department’s executive director for the Office of Operations on the HHS website — posted on his LinkedIn two weeks ago that he was retiring after 20 years of federal service.

Bloomberg initially reported that Minor had been tapped for the CIO role in February, though a current HHS employee told Nextgov/FCW last month that he was working as the chief technology officer. The internal email also cites Minor as having worked as the HHS CTO. Previously, he worked at Palantir for thirteen years. 

Minor is not the first Palantir employee to join the government since Trump took office. The federal CIO, Gregory Barbaccia, also worked for a decade at Palantir, a government contractor that has seen soaring stock values since Trump’s election and is reportedly set to take on a key role for the Trump administration.

HHS did not respond to a request for comment.