Carl Walser
Vice President of Information Technology & CIO, General Dynamics Mission Systems
In 2024, Carl Walser and his IT team successfully transitioned General Dynamics Mission Systems to a secure, hybrid multicloud environment that seamlessly supports its extensive enterprise services and multidisciplined engineering operations.
Through strategic resource management and comprehensive process optimization, the company realized increased capability, significant cost savings and operational efficiencies. As a cloud-ready, agile and forward-thinking organization, this success positions General Dynamics Mission Systems for continued growth in supporting customers and its dynamic missions with the right tools and enabling technologies.
“Carl has expertly managed and grown our IT capabilities through periods of massive change, spanning technologies, threats, mergers and COVID,” said Chris Brady, president of General Dynamics Mission Systems. “Bottom line: Carl’s forward-leaning, measured approach has allowed our team to deliver on our customer commitments thanks to our strong, resilient IT backbone.”
Why Watch
As disruptive technologies such as generative artificial intelligence, machine learning and digital twins become more critical in the industry, Walser is proud the IT organization has embraced how to not only use these technologies, but more importantly, how to use them to deliver game-changing solutions for the business.
For example, this year, the IT team partnered with the engineering organization to create internal, secure GenAI tools widely used across the business for code life-cycle assessment, writing assistance and summarization of large documents to enhance productivity.
“Our team is our most valuable resource, underpinning the entire General Dynamics Missions Systems enterprise,” Walser said. “While everyone has access to the same hardware, software, and service providers, our people uniquely understand our business and operations, and deliver solutions that drive success and increase our competitiveness. They are our secret sauce.”
Fun fact: Walser is a first-time grandfather. His grandson, Jake, just turned 6 months old.