About this event

The views expressed in this interview are entirely the opinions of the participants. They do not represent the views of the United States Government, Department of Defense, United States Special Operations Command, or the Joint Special Operations University.

The Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) Office for Strategic Engagement is proud to present a ThinkJSOU webinar with Dr. Cyril “Mark” Taylor, Chief Technical Officer, United States Special Operations Command.  Dr. Mark Grzegorzewski, JSOU faculty, interviewed Dr. Taylor regarding digital transformation within the government, to include enterprise cloud migration framework, identifying the barriers to cloud adoption, identifying methods to break through these barriers, and the struggle of consistency.  Dr. Taylor presents his enterprise cloud migration framework, which simplifies the transition by way of a flow chart path through the cloud migration process. 

Cloud computing services have been supporting consumers’ enterprise demands for almost 20-years now and longer if conceptualized as a decoupled mainframe. Small companies and individuals with minimal resources can gain and maintain the same class of service once only attainable by large companies. Additionally, the only impedance on a commercial company’s growth in the cloud are financial limitations or service limitations. This is not the case for the government as a consumer. 

Dr. Cyril “Mark” Taylor, is an appointed Civilian Senior Executive Highly Qualified Expert (HQE) which is a grade equivalent to the SES. He serves as the Chief Technical Officer, Communications Systems for the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. As CTO, he is responsible for the SOF Information Enterprise (SIE) multi-cloud strategy, engagement with industry, academia, as well as fellow U.S. and international government agencies to identify future-innovative technologies for incubation, cybersecurity compliance, and continuous integration & delivery. Additionally, he supports the optimization of acquisition methods, business process improvement, and human capital management in perpetual service to USSOCOM’s 70,000+ global community.

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Taylor was commissioned in the U.S. Army in 1993. He served in various branch qualifying roles as a Field Artillery Officer both in the 25th Infantry Division in Oahu, Hawaii and later the 3rd Infantry Division. Prior to his HQE appointment, Dr. Taylor was a Senior Technology Strategist with Microsoft, supporting the Department of Homeland Security through their Digital Transformation efforts and respective cloud journey. His primary technical background has been focused on federal cloud migration, network and data center design and implementation, as well as technical training to include IT certifications, undergraduate and graduate school.