Tech Entrepreneur Indian American Raj Iyer Named Main Information Officer of U.S. Military | World Indian
The U.S. Military just lately introduced that Dr. Raj Iyer will consider about as the new chief information officer, the Army’s Civilian Senior Chief Administration Place of work reported in a information launch.
The appointment was introduced subsequent the institution of the new posture by the Pentagon in July 2020.
Iyer will be the optimum position Indian American civilian at the Pentagon equivalent in rank to a a few-star general, the launch notes.
He will supervise an annual budget of $16 billion for U.S. Army IT operations and about 15,000 civilians and armed service personnel in above 100 nations, it mentioned.
Iyer replaces acting CIO Greg Garcia, who stood in right after the retirement earlier of Lt. Gen. Bruce Crawford. Garcia was also serving as Army’s main details officer, but was replaced by David Markowitz in mid-October.
“This move was not 1 that I experienced prepared, but the contact for public services is my obligation,” Iyer wrote in a LinkedIn article. “It’s also an remarkable option to place know-how entrance and centre to Military modernization leveraging cloud, AI and information analytics to obtain electronic overmatch against our adversaries.”
In his new part as CIO, Iyer will serve as principal advisor to the secretary of the Army, placing the strategic way and objectives for facts know-how and facts administration.
Iyer will immediate the execution of insurance policies and plans to modernize the U.S. Army to obtain digital overmatch against close to peer adversaries this kind of as China and Russia.
The Military has committed to leveraging state-of-the-art technologies these as cloud computing, robotics and Synthetic Intelligence as important enablers for upcoming war battling via a idea referred to as Multi Domain Functions, the launch reported.
Iyer was appointed by the secretary following a nationwide look for for a CIO with private sector and authorities govt experience, the launch adds.
Iyer arrives to the assistance department from Deloitte, in which he was managing director for federal government assistance. Prior to operating at Deloitte, Iyer worked in community company as a senior engineering adviser at the Division of Health and Human Services and as main technological innovation officer for U.S. Army Substance Command.
Iyer retains a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington, as nicely as an MBA from the University of Michigan.
“Leaving the firm has been the hardest decision I have experienced to make in my 25-calendar year expert profession,” Iyer reported in his put up.
Over the program of his career, Iyer has supported a variety of protection and professional customers on a range of elaborate enterprise transformation issues including technique, innovation and modernization.
He has founded new corporations, including the initially business of the chief technological innovation officer in the Army, cofounded a profitable technological know-how startup, and led restoration plans these kinds of as Obamacare. He also holds a patent and has revealed dozens of peer reviewed papers, his bio notes.
Iyer, originally a native of Tiruchi in Tamil Nadu, grew up in Bangalore and did his undergraduate research at Countrywide Institute of Technological innovation Tiruchi right before going to the U.S.
He arrived in the U.S. to go after larger research with just sufficient dollars to pay out for tuition and rent for one semester by his father’s life span discounts, but was soon in a position to safe a entire fellowship to comprehensive all of his graduate education and learning, the launch said.