Hyderabad: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the US has appointed India-born Nand Mulchandani as its first-ever Chief Technology Officer (CTO). With more than 25 years’ experience working in Silicon Valley as well as the Department of Defense (DoD), Mulchandani brings substantial private sector, startup, and government expertise to CIA, the agency said in its press release.
"As the CTO, Mulchandani will ensure the Agency is leveraging cutting-edge innovations and scanning the horizon for tomorrow’s innovations to further CIA’s mission. Since my confirmation, I have prioritized focusing on technology and the new CTO position is a very important part of that effort. I am delighted Nand has joined our team and will bring his extensive experience to this crucial new role,” said CIA Director William J. Burns.
Nand Mulchandani has been educated at some of the most prestigious institutes in the world – he holds a degree in Computer Science and Math from Cornell, a Master of Science degree in Management from Stanford, and a Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard. Before he moved to the US for higher education, Mulchandani completed his schooling from Delhi’s Bluebells School International.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Mulchandani graduated from South Delhi’s Bluebells School in 1987. He went on to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Cornell University in the US. In his LinkedIn post announcing the appointment on Saturday, Mulchandani said the job offer was one he “could not refuse.”
“I couldn't be a luckier person to get this job and am excited to continue my journey in public service with the CIA,” he wrote. Mulchandani most recently served as the CTO and Acting Director of DoD’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. He also co-founded and was CEO of several successful startups. “As you can imagine, it was hard to prepare for the interviews when the information flow is so one-sided; the best that I could find were the Jason Bourne movies with Matt Damon and "Central Intelligence" with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Kevin Hart,” he wrote in his LinkedIn post. “Since I got the job you know these are all reliable sources of background material, and I know I'm going to be pleasantly surprised how accurate those movies are!”
Prior to joining CIA, Mulchandani most recently served as the CTO and Acting Director of DoD’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. He also co-founded and was CEO of several successful startups– Oblix (acquired by Oracle), Determina (acquired by VMWare), OpenDNS (acquired by Cisco), and ScaleXtreme (acquired by Citrix). “I am honored to join CIA in this role and look forward to working with the Agency’s incredible team of technologists and domain experts who already deliver world-class intelligence and capabilities to help build a comprehensive technology strategy that delivers exciting capabilities working closely with industry and partners,” said Mulchandani.
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