Henrico County Manager Virgil R. Hazelett recently announced the appointment of Thomas L. Owdom as director of the county's department of Information Technology. The appointment is effective Jan. 15.

Owdom, who currently serves as assistant director of the agency, will succeed Steven M. Lewis, who is retiring after more than seven years in the position.

As director, Owdom will oversee an agency with 83 personnel and a total budget of nearly $12.1 million for fiscal year 2011. Information Technology is responsible for serving all computer-oriented information processing needs for county agencies, including technology implementation, office automation equipment and software selection, application development, hardware and software maintenance and data and telecommunications network development and support. The department also administers the county's telecommunications infrastructure and maintains the Emergency E-911 system for Public Safety.

A Henrico County employee since 1977, Owdom has more than 24 years experience in information technology. He received a bachelor's degree from Ohio State University and earned a master's degree from the University of Illinois.