In what would become one of the remarkable achievements of the Indian natives living in the United States, Dr. Raj Iyer, the Indian born American has become the first Chief Information Officer of the US Army. Iyer was an alumnus of the National Institute of Technology in Trichy, Tamil Nadu and he moved to the United States to pursue Masters. 

Iyer was the inaugural holder of the position at the US Army, which was created by the Pentagon in July 2020. In the official statement, the Pentagon described Iyer as one of the highest-ranking Indian-American civilians in the US Department of Defense and he has been serving as the principal advisor to the Secretary of the Army and directs representation of the secretary in matters relating to information management and information technology. 

The post of the Chief Information Officer is equivalent in rank to a three-star general and Iyer will be supervising an annual budget of USD 16 billion for the IT operations in the US Army and over 15,000 people including military personnel will be working under him. Iyer has a career spanning 26 years and during his career, Iyer has supported a range of defense and commercial clients on a number of complex enterprise transformation challenges, including modernization, innovation, and strategy. 

Iyer has established new organizations and co-founded a successful technology start-up and he also has worked in Obamacare, the health care program launched by former President Barack Obama, while he was in office. Iyer also holds a patent and has published dozens of peer-reviewed papers. Previously, Iyer was a partner and managing director at Deloitte Consulting where he led multiple technology programs supporting government clients.

As the first Chief Information Officer, Raj Iyer will direct the execution of policies and programmes to modernize the US Army to achieve digital overmatch against the adversaries such as China and Russia. Iyer holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington and along with the doctorate, Iyer holds several masters degrees, including a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. 

 Raj Iyer is a native of Trichy, Tamil Nadu and he was raised in Bengaluru and did his undergraduate studies at the National Institute of Technology, Trichy following which he moved to the United States to pursue higher studies. Iyer is married to Brindha, who is a healthcare IT programme manager in the US government. They have two sons - Ashwin Iyer, who is currently pursuing Data Science at the University of California at Berkeley, and Abishek Iyer,  who is a 9th grader in Maryland, near Washington DC.