Matt Beran already had a law degree and years of experience as a Navy JAG Corps officer when he received an unexpected new assignment: fix the Navy’s case management chaos by stepping into a knowledge management role.
“I had no idea what knowledge management was,” said Beran, now industry lead for Defense and Intelligence Programs at Appian. “I went out that day to the bookstore and bought ‘Knowledge Management for Dummies.’ That was my start.”
It wouldn’t be the last time someone handed him a problem and expected results.
Over 28 years of active duty, Beran served first as a surface warfare officer aboard a destroyer and patrol coastal craft, then as a judge advocate. Late in his career, he moved into leadership roles within the Navy JAG Corps, including IT and knowledge management. He never anticipated that last move.
“I’ve been asked to fix things a number of times,” he said. “When the call is made, the expectation is that you answer it.”
From Ships to Systems
Beran’s interest in military justice traces back to his father, an Air Force judge advocate who served in Japan during the Vietnam era. After graduating from the Naval Academy, Beran began as a line officer, but his legal ambitions remained. Eventually, he entered a Navy program that sent him to law school and transitioned him into the JAG Corps.
Years later, while serving at the Office of the Judge Advocate General in Washington, D.C., Beran became founding deputy of its knowledge management division and later director of Code 67. In that role, he oversaw a wide portfolio — including cybersecurity, operations and IT — effectively serving as CIO for the Navy JAG Corps.
That position introduced him to a challenge that had resisted two decades of attempted solutions.
How NCORS Changed Military Justice
“We had tried twice over 20 years to develop a system,” Beran said. “Military justice was under siege.”
Mounting external scrutiny raised concerns about the military justice system’s ability to maintain good order and discipline. The solution became the Naval Court Martial Online Reporting System, built on Appian’s platform. The system manages military justice cases across pre-trial, trial, post-trial and appellate stages for the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.
“I think without Appian, we might not have the military justice system we have today,” he said. “It could have been taken away and handed to civilian prosecutors.”
NCORS came online just before his retirement. Beran believed his role was complete—hand off the assignment, retire, move on.
A Second Career
Instead, shortly after retiring in 2023, Appian asked Beran to stay involved as a consultant. Months later, the work evolved into a full-time role.
Today, he helps guide Appian’s public sector efforts, advising teams on how to support defense and government customers. His focus includes modernizing legacy IT systems by integrating data, process and artificial intelligence into unified platforms.
“AI is a major focus for us,” he said. “But we approach it within the context of process — that’s how you actually drive efficiency and achieve real results.”
Beran also sees his role as a bridge between government and industry, helping translate operational needs into technical solutions. It’s one of the most rewarding aspects of his work.
Throughout his career, Beran has been guided by a sense of service instilled early in life. Whether at sea, in the courtroom or leading large-scale IT transformation, he consistently stepped into roles where the need was urgent and his willingness strong.
“When you’re asked to do something out of your comfort zone, you have to embrace it,” he said. “It takes a lot of grit. You grind it out and you get through it.”
Delivering the Appian solution for the JAG Corps, he said, was likely the most important thing he did in 28 years of active duty. Today, his role continues supporting military justice practitioners across all services, law enforcement and criminal investigation agencies.
“That’s a personal mission of mine to make sure we get that process right,” he said.
