Longtime Defense Information Systems Agency official Alfred Rivera will retire from the government in January 2018 after 35 years, according to a DISA release.

Rivera currently serves as director of DISA’s Development and Business Center, having served in a range of roles at the agency, including as a systems engineer back in 1992. Later, he was chief technology officer for DISA’s legacy Computing Services organization before then becoming the director of Computing Services. In 2014, Rivera became the principal director for the agency’s legacy Enterprise Services organization, where he helped lead several major IT efforts including the transition to Defense Enterprise Email, as well as data center consolidation and cloud implementation efforts.

In 2015, DISA underwent a major reorganization that put Rivera in charge of the Development and Business Center, which he described as a change in culture at the agency.

“I’ve been working on this reorganization from the inception [in June/July 2014] and helping develop it in terms of how I think the business and development center should look. So when you develop it from the very beginning and mature it to where it is now, it’s exciting because you’ve put your signature on how you think you support the director’s vision. Are we there yet? Absolutely not … this is a journey,” Rivera told C4ISRNET.

“And that’s what’s exciting — because every day you come across something where you say: I didn’t think about that; how do we put that into our process? The governance process is all new, so how do we make sure it’s adaptable and agile so it doesn’t become an impendence to our intent and vision of the reorganization? So that’s an exciting area.”

In the DISA release, Rivera reflected on the course of his career and the hand he’s played in developing and deploying technologies for the military.

“All the jobs I’ve had have given me a broader understanding of the different aspects needed be a good leader and to be able to build capabilities. It’s not just one technology, but the formulation of multiple technologies,” he said.

“Building a capability is more than just the technology itself, it’s about how you bring the business side into it and how do you bring the contracting and the acquisition side into it.”

Rivera officially retires Jan. 4 with a ceremony at DISA’s Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters. No successor has been announced.

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