Essye Miller to retire as DOD principal deputy CIO

Essye Miller speaks on a conference panel in 2017. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Chad Trujillo)

The Defense Department's principal deputy CIO, Essye Miller, is retiring in June after a nearly four-decade-long career. John Sherman, the intelligence community's CIO, will take on the role after her departure, DOD announced April 20.

Miller previously served as DOD's acting CIO in 2017, helping bridge a gap in Senate-confirmed leadership before current CIO, Dana Deasy was appointed in May 2018.

Miller was also previously DOD's deputy CIO for cybersecurity, overseeing several initiatives including cyber hygiene protocols, migration to the Joint Regional Security Stacks and increasing DOD's cyber workforce.

Before then, Miller, who received a Fed100 award in 2017, was the Army's deputy CIO for cybersecurity.

Deasy called Miller "a trusted advisor" and "inspiration" who will be missed in a statement. Her retirement is effective June 30 at which point Sherman will take over as principal deputy CIO after almost three years as the intelligence community's top tech executive.

As the IC's CIO, Sherman pushed IT system modernization and presided over a major overhaul to how agencies shared and used data, while also creating new leadership -- an increasingly important asset in the intelligence and defense communities. And like Miller, Sherman had a leadership role with multi-billion dollar cloud procurements and migrations.

Derek Johnson contributed to this report.