The Defense Department’s (DoD) Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) said that Leslie Beavers will be stepping down in September as DoD deputy CIO after two years in that position.
“The Office of the CIO would like to congratulate Principal Deputy DoD CIO Leslie Beavers who announced today that she will be stepping down from her position at the end of September after more than 30 years of uniformed and civilian service,” the CIO’s office shared in a LinkedIn post.
Beavers joined the DoD CIO office in 2023 during the Biden administration, initially serving as deputy to then-CIO John Sherman. When Sherman stepped down in June 2024, she became acting CIO and led the office through the transition to a new administration.
In March of this year Katie Arrington was appointed to perform the duties of CIO and Beavers returned to her role as deputy. Since then, she has helped to launch major initiatives under Arrington’s leadership, including the Software Fast Track program and a bold overhaul of the Risk Management Framework.
During her tenure at the Office of the CIO, Beavers has been a central figure in the rollout of major IT efforts, including the Fulcrum IT strategy in 2024. Beavers described the initiative in an interview with MeriTalk as a “wide-ranging vision to modernize the agency’s IT networks and compute infrastructure with the aim of providing better user-centric IT capabilities to warfighters around the globe.”
“From projects such as Mission Partner Environment and the standup of the Cyber Academic Engagement Office to work to accelerate Identity, Credential, and Access Management enterprise solutions Ms. Beavers’ unique blend of uniformed, civilian, and private industry experience drove success and innovation,” the CIO’s office added.
According to her LinkedIn page, before her tenure at the CIO’s office Beavers served as director of ISR enterprise capabilities in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security. She also held the rank of brigadier general in the Air Force and worked in the private sector with GE and NBC Universal.
The DoD CIO office has not announced who will succeed Beavers or what her next move will be after her departure.