General Dynamics hires Baker

General Dynamics Network Systems named Roger Baker, a well-known expert in the information technology world, as vice president of federal civilian operations.

"We are very pleased to have Roger join our federal business area," Network Systems President Michael Chandler said. "With General Dynamics' recent acquisition of Veridian [Corp.], and our growing legacy business in the sector, we are now providing innovative IT solutions to customers across the entire federal government."

Network Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics.

In a telephone interview, Baker said his mission is to make General Dynamics Network Systems a major competitor in the federal civilian sector. Although President Bush's 2005 budget proposal is expected to seek only 1 percent growth in the federal civilian sector, Baker said it would not hurt his company.

"As large as that market is, an organization that is bringing good capabilities with it is going to grow an awful lot faster than that 1 percent growth," said Baker, who started his new job this week.

He was chief information officer at the Commerce Department until 2001, when he became an executive vice president at CACI International Inc., which he left late last year.

At Commerce, Baker managed a 6,000-person technology organization with a budget of more than $1 billion. During his tenure, he developed a major IT restructuring program that elevated the role IT plays throughout the organization. He was one of the first government CIOs to call for the creation of a federal IT czar position to establish a common vision for IT programs governmentwide.