Jason Bourne Movies Helped Nand Mulchandani Become CIA’s 1st CTO
Any South Asian being elevated to global ranks is a matter of pride for all of us around the world. And, if it happens to be the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), USA, there is all the more curiosity to know the individual, their work, and their life. On April 29th, Indian-origin professional, Nand Mulchandani, joined the evergrowing list of Indians making it big in the global arena.
CIA Director William J Burns appointed Mulchandani as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of one of the best intelligence agencies in the world. He is the first professional to take on the coveted role of CTO for the central agency.
While announcing the appointment, Director Burns said that Mulchandani has over 25 years of experience and that the new CTO will ensure that the CIA is leveraging cutting-edge innovations to further its mission.
Talking about his excitement to join the CIA Nand Mulchandani wrote on his LinkedIn, “I’m excited to announce that I’ll be joining the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as their first ever Chief Technology Officer! I tried to leave a few breadcrumbs at the end of my last post when I was leaving the Department of Defense with “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
Mulchandani went on to express how fortunate he was to be considered for the role. He even quipped about drawing inspirations from ‘Jason Bourne’ movies with Matt Damon and ‘Central Intelligence’ with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Kevin Hart to prepare for the interviews.
“I couldn’t be a luckier person to get this job and am excited to continue my journey in public service with the CIA. As you can imagine, it was hard to prepare for the interviews when the information flow is so one-sided; the best that I could find were the Jason Bourne movies with Matt Damon and “Central Intelligence” with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Kevin Hart. Since I got the job you know these are all reliable sources of background material, and I know I’m going to be pleasantly surprised how accurate those movies are!” he said in a post.
Prior to joining the CIA, Mulchandani most recently served as the CTO and Acting Director of DoD’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC). He also co-founded and was CEO of several successful startups such as Oblix (acquired by Oracle), Determina (acquired by VMWare), OpenDNS (acquired by Cisco), and ScaleXtreme (acquired by Citrix).
Mulchandani holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Cornell University, a Master’s in Science and Management from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
