Mr. Rodriguez is the Deputy Director for the Department of War (DoW) Office of the Chief Information Officer's (CIO's) Workforce Innovation Directorate (WID), where he oversees department-wide workforce strategy, Enterprise implementation of the Cyber Excepted Service (CES), and strategic academic partnerships. He also leads the DoW Cyber Workforce Data and Analytics program, developing strategies to inform leadership decision-making. Previously, he was the U.S. Marine Corps Cyber Workforce Enterprise Program Manager. A graduate of the Defense Senior Leader Development Program, Mr. Rodriguez completed a broadening assignment with the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower & Reserve Affairs, where he led the development of a Department of the Navy (DON)-wide learning management system for 265,000 civilian employees.
Previously, Mr. Rodriguez served as the Director of Operational Excellence for Aramark, where he led the business's first technological innovation campaign, resulting in the implementation of transformative mobile application improvements, high-value asset tracking, and safety enhancements on critical logistic carriers that improved the national operating platform valued at over $30 million. Mr. Rodriguez is a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Signal Corps. His experience ranges from Battalion command to service on multiple echelons across the Army, including service on the Army staff and leadership positions in Joint/Special Operations organizations. Mr. Rodriguez is a proven combat leader with seven combat deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan, Qatar, Bahrain, and Djibouti. In a previous role, he was responsible for the tactical network across South Korea, directed global joint and special operations network support to over 30 worldwide missions at the height of the global war on terrorism, and played an integral role in the modernization of the Army tactical network. Mr. Rodriguez is a recipient of the Purple Heart and earned two Bronze Stars and two combat action valor awards.
Mr. Rodriguez has published several articles in SIGNAL Magazine, the DON CIO's CHIPS magazine, the USMC's Gazette, the War on the Rocks web journal, and the Joint Forces Quarterly publication. He is a recurring panelist at DoW and Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association conferences.
Mr. Rodriguez is a graduate of the Air War College with a Master's degree in National Security Studies and holds an additional Master's degree in Management and Leadership. He is also a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Army Command and Staff College. Mr. Rodriguez's career record has been exemplary, receiving many outstanding performance awards, including the DON IT Excellence Award for Cyber Workforce Innovation and the DON Meritorious Civilian Service Award. He has also received the Defense Scoop Innovation of the year award for his work on the DoW's Cyber Workforce Readiness Dashboard.