Indian-American appointed to top post in U.S. Army

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Raj Iyer, PhD, formerly with DeLoitte, took over as Chief Information Officer for Information Technology Reform in the Office of the Secretary of the United States Army, a newly created position that he was the first to occupy this past November 2020.

Iyer, who is from Arlington, Virginia, became the first Indian-American to hold such a high position heading a multibillion dollar initiative and a 15,000-person global IT organization, Iyer said on Linkedin announcing his departure from Deloitte where he was the managing director of Government and Public Services for nearly six years.

“This move was not one that I had planned, but the call for public service is my duty. It’s also an exciting opportunity to put technology front and center to Army modernization leveraging cloud, AI and data analytics to achieve digital overmatch against our adversaries,” Iyer added.

Originally from Trichur, Tamil Nadu, Iyer is a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington, and attended the Naval Postgraduate School. In addition, he did his MBA and Executive MBA from the University of Michigan.

As CIO, Iyer serves as the principal advisor to and directs all matters representing the Secretary of the Army relating to Information Management/ Information Technology (IM/IT), a press release from the U.S. Army said.

He sets the strategic direction and oversees the execution of policies and programs for IM/IT including managing an integrated IT architecture, enterprise data management, cybersecurity, and cloud management.

He oversees the capital planning and execution of $18 billion portfolio for implementation of an enterprise IM/IT programs that deliver a responsive, effective, secure, collaborative and trusted environment of communication, information and technological superiority for the Army and its joint and allied nation partners, the press release said.

Prior to his role at Deloitte, Iyer served as the Senior Technology Advisor for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Director, Information Services Design and Development Group, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; Chief Technology Officer and Acting Deputy CIO, Army Materiel Command, Huntsville, Alabama.

He also served as Director for Data Management, US Army Tank and Automotive Armaments Command, Warren, Michigan; Program Manager for Product Lifecycle Management, US Army Tank Automotive R&D Center, Warren, Michigan; Chief Technology Officer and Vice President for Product Development, Imagecom Inc., Arlington, Texas; Research Associate, Automation and Robotics Research Institute, Ft. Worth, Texas; and Systems Engineer, FlightSafety International Inc., Hurst, Texas.

His top civilian awards and professional achievements include the Meritorious Civilian Service Award and the International William Conroy Standards Professional Award.

He has published dozens of peer reviewed papers and articles worldwide. Iyer also co-founded a venture capital funded startup company focused on developing web-based enterprise software products for design collaboration in the engineering supply chain, the press release said.