Leslie Beavers to Focus on DOD Modernization Plan as Newly Appointed Acting CIO

Leslie Beavers, a 2024 Wash100 award winner, has announced her appointment as acting chief information officer at the Department of Defense, a role where her initial focus is on the DOD’s new modernization program, Fulcrum. 

At the recent 2024 TechNet Cyber conference in Baltimore, Beavers said an implementation plan is in the works for the department’s current modernization plans, such as developing 5G technologies and exploring artificial intelligence. She also said at the conference that the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability procurement vehicle is expected to grow as contracts in other DOD task platforms expire, C4ISRNET reported.

Prior to her new appointment, which she announced in a LinkedIn post, Beavers served as the Pentagon’s deputy CIO. She had also been assigned as director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance enterprise capabilities at the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.

Beavers replaced in the Pentagon CIO role John Sherman, also a 2024 Wash100 award winner, who is joining Texas A&M University in August as the dean of its Bush School of Government and Public Service.