Jul 7, 2026 · 57 min · 14 segments
What does it take to lead technology at one of the largest and most complex organizations in the world? In this episode of Soul of the CIO, former U.S. Department of Defense CIO Leslie Beavers shares…
Leslie BeaversGuest
Tom McGrathHost
And I, I guess, uh, it was just one of-- It, it's an industry or a space in which all the money goes into the vertical, as a previous guest has described it, and not the horizontal, right?
It's all about what, you know, what, what catches the eye rather than what's making stuff function.
And I could have very easily gotten money for AI, [chuckles] which wasn't part of my portfolio at the time, um, but, 'cause that was the fun shiny, right? And we were pouring money into artificial intelligence.
But companies would come in, and they'd say, "Oh yeah, we've got this great tool.
All you have to do is give us your data." And it's like, aha, therein lies the problem because that's an old architecture.
It's a monthly update with a Excel spreadsheet [chuckles] or something like that.
I am being a little bit, um, a little-- I'm exaggerating a little bit, but not a lot.
There's still-- Because if you think about it, we were one of the first organizations to adapt technology, so we put wiring and plumbing in houses when they were first built, and then getting around to replacing those is a big job, so.
How did you start to discriminate between l- legacy technology that you could get rid of or you could update and legacy technology that you were gonna have to leave-
And I, I guess, uh, it was just one of-- It, it's an industry or a space in which all the money goes into the vertical, as a previous guest has described it, and not the horizontal, right?
It's all about what, you know, what, what catches the eye rather than what's making stuff function.
And I could have very easily gotten money for AI, [chuckles] which wasn't part of my portfolio at the time, um, but, 'cause that was the fun shiny, right? And we were pouring money into artificial intelligence.
But companies would come in, and they'd say, "Oh yeah, we've got this great tool.
All you have to do is give us your data." And it's like, aha, therein lies the problem because that's an old architecture.
It's a monthly update with a Excel spreadsheet [chuckles] or something like that.
I am being a little bit, um, a little-- I'm exaggerating a little bit, but not a lot.
There's still-- Because if you think about it, we were one of the first organizations to adapt technology, so we put wiring and plumbing in houses when they were first built, and then getting around to replacing those is a big job, so.
How did you start to discriminate between l- legacy technology that you could get rid of or you could update and legacy technology that you were gonna have to leave-
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