Raj Iyer, the first civilian U.S. Army CIO and a two-time Wash100 Award winner, has announced that his contract is expiring and he will be stepping down from the role in the near future.
In a LinkedIn post published Wednesday, Iyer detailed his efforts to upgrade Army technology while holding the position, which centered around six major strategies intended to change the branch’s culture and drive engagement with the plan.
“It was clear to me that the sense of urgency was strong and transforming the Army was an imperative. Adopting technology at scale to transform and innovate seemed like a distant dream to many when even basic IT didn’t meet their requirement,” Iyer said.
The first three pillars of Iyer’s initiative focused on leadership. First, Iyer had Army Secretary Wormuth sign his plan to “send the right message to the Army.” Second, he took steps to ensure CIO collaboration with every decision-making entity to harness the bureaucratic nature of the federal government. Third, he built relationships with Army leaders to establish trust.
Pillars four, five and six were centered around communication. Iyer said he traveled to international locations to explain the plan and its impact on warfighting to those serving in the military branch and encouraged soldiers and civilians to reach out to have their voices heard. He additionally partnered with DOD CIO John Sherman and other military CIOs to create a team based around joint objectives.
“We enabled the Army’s largest and most aggressive transformation in its history in just two years. But I can take very little credit for this success because the execution was truly at all levels in the Army,” Iyer described.
“Every one of the initiatives could be completed in two years if only we all pulled in one direction,” he added.
During Iyer’s time as CIO, the Army also reportedly changed the way it interacts with the private sector.
“We sent a strong message to software vendors, you are either our strategic partner or we will find others who want to be,” he stated.
Reflecting on his time in the role, Iyer said that the Army is now on a “strategic sustainable path” to advance in the future and his job as the Army’s first CIO has concluded.
“We have established irreversible momentum at a scale where there is no going back. More importantly, we have shown that we can do this in a budget-neutral fiscal environment and never used funding as an excuse for not getting things done,” Iyer stated.