The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Awards were announced March 28, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person May 10.
Next is Kyle Fox, chief technology officer at SOSi, finalist in the Public & Private Company Chief Technology Officer category. Here, he shares key achievements, focus areas going forward, career advice and more.
What key achievements did you have in 2023?
In 2023, I spearheaded several transformative initiatives that have profoundly influenced SOSi’s current and future direction. I inaugurated the company’s Office of the CTO, a specialized division providing complementary technical solutions to both our clients and internal teams. It offers a spectrum of services, from training and solution workshops for tackling complex issues to strategy sessions for planning technology investments.
I also propelled SOSi’s agile transformation by establishing a Lean Agile Center of Excellence. Staffed with certified agile program consultants, this initiative has markedly improved our delivery cadences, yielding exceptional value for our clients. Additionally, I initiated SOSi’s AI Center of Excellence, a central hub that has accelerated AI adoption across the company, transforming our internal processes and customer workloads.
My office helped SOSi achieve several significant milestones on the customer front. We deployed a data-centric, zero-trust mission network in a strategically critical region. This innovative information-sharing environment represents the next-generation synchronized command and control that enables real-time interoperability with partner nations and organizations, bolstering national security and global stability in the face of intensifying great power competition.
The Office of the CTO also embarked on a new project with the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Missile and Space Intelligence Center to enhance data-driven decision-making capabilities using advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques.
What are your primary focus areas going forward, and why are those so important to the mission?
My team has a few key focus areas for 2024. First, we will be evolving our AI practice to deliver mission-ready AI that is explainable, trustworthy, secure, and user-friendly. This is crucial as we strive to equip our customers with tools that facilitate agile, data-driven decision-making, which in turn will improve the well-being of citizens, save lives in at-risk communities and military operations, and enhance national security and global stability.
The CTO team aims to expand collaboration with the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and other combatant commands to expedite the rollout of next-generation allied communication capabilities.
SOSi stands with Ukraine, and the CTO team is contributing to discussions with the Ukrainian government about providing a range of services, including state-of-the-art cybersecurity capabilities, secure cloud, and an in-country strategic advisor team. Along with a leading aerospace and defense technology contractor, we are exploring ways to provide operational assistance to effectively secure, maintain, and deploy F-16 fighter jets.
What is your best career advice for those who want to follow in your footsteps?
My best career advice for those who aspire to follow in my footsteps is to focus on outcomes. Start by asking yourself who you want to serve and what impacts matter to you the most. Rather than guessing who you want to be, identify what you want to achieve, align your choices with your passions and values, and then pursue that direction with purpose and determination.
Fun Fact: What is something about you that most people do not know about?
I’m a fan of anything fast, loud, or geeky. I once built a homemade gas turbine-powered go-kart that the local Laramie, Wyoming, police force wasn’t thrilled about.