Matamata-born businessman Chris Liddell has been appointed US President Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff.
US President Donald Trump and Chris Liddell, director of strategic initiatives, on December 14, 2017. Photo: AFP
A former General Motors and Microsoft chief financial officer, the White House announced on Monday local time Mr Liddell had been named deputy chief of staff for policy coordination.
"He has extensive experience managing large organisations and has already overseen a number of inter-agency processes in the White House. In his new role Chris will manage the policy process as we continue to enact the President's agenda," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.
Wall Street Journal's White House reporter, Michael Bender, told Morning Report Mr Liddell held a key role in the White House's innovation office but this is a big step up.
"It's going to be a heavy lift for Mr Liddell ... not a lot of policy coming out of this White House and so he's got quite a task infront of him to try to right the ship on a number of priorities that this White House says it wants to accomplish in the next year."
"Chris will start pushing on that a little harder [the US President's infrastructure plan]" - Michael Bender
Mr Liddell, 59, has been a White House official since the administration took office in January 2017 and was under consideration this month to become Mr Trump's top economic adviser.
He has worked on projects like information technology modernisation and electronic health records, which have required intensive coordination with government agencies, White House officials said.
He worked on the Trump transition effort and had been working on projects in the White House Office of American Innovation, which was created in March last year to leverage business ideas and potentially privatise some government functions.
White House chief of staff John Kelly said "Chris is widely respected across the administration and is highly qualified to oversee and coordinate our policy process. We look forward to having him in this new role."
Mr Liddell was also involved in a new technology council created by executive order last April aimed at improving the US government's IT systems.
A 2016 US Government Accountability Office report estimated the government spent more than $80 billion on IT annually. Mr Trump has cited estimates that the government could save up to $1 trillion over 10 years through improving government IT and eliminating waste.