Nally to retire in July

The Marine Corps' top IT leader is winding down a 34-year career.

Brigadier General Kevin J. Nally, Deputy Chief Information Officer (Marine Corps)

Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Nally has served more than three decades in the Marine Corps.

Brig. Gen. Kevin Nally, the Marine Corps' CIO and director for C4, is retiring in July. 

Speaking at AFCEA Nova's May 14 Naval IT Day in Vienna, Va., Nally -- who has filled a variety of IT leadership roles for the Corps over the last 10 years -- told the audience that this would be his last time speaking at the annual event. "Unless," he quipped, "I become president of the United States -- in which case I'll be happy to come back and talk to you."

Nally won a Federal 100 Award in 2012 for his efforts to virtualize USMC networks and consolidate data centers. That work helped put the Marine Corps in a position to skip versions 1.0 and 1.5 of the Defense Department's Joint Regional Security Stacks initiative, because the Corps' existing cybersecurity stacks have more capacity and are significantly cheaper than JRSS 1.5. (Nally did say he expected the Corps to "be a big player in JRSS 2.0.")

Speaking to reporters after the speech, Nally said that after "34-plus years, it's time to transition." He demurred when asked if he knows what he'll do next, saying only, "I know what I don't want to do."