Paul Puckett III

Paul Puckett is passionate about solving problems for national security by finding the unique blend of people, process, and technology to support the mission. With over 15 years of experience supporting the public sector, Paul has served as a senior executive in both federal and commercial organizations driving outcomes along the digital transformation journey. From incepting DevOps in the most secure and contested environments, to enable the first Continuous ATO in the federal government, to catalyzing the cloud modernization of the world’s third-largest organization; Paul loves turning challenges into capabilities for the United States and our allies. Today, Paul is the CTO of Clarity Innovations and the CEO of Relentless Pursuits Consulting Group.

Mr. Puckett was appointed to the Senior Executive Service and assumed his duties as the Director of the Enterprise Cloud Management Office at the Headquarters, Department of the Army, Chief Information Officer (CIO)/G-6 in November 2019 through November 2022. 

As the Enterprise Cloud Management Office Director, Mr. Puckett served as the principal advisor to the CIO/G-6 and other Senior Army Leaders on the Army’s Cloud strategy. He was responsible for assisting in developing strategy, use, and optimization of Cloud resources, including cybersecurity, data protection, commercial capabilities, and ensuring network support to the current and future Army force. He also developed Army-wide planning and assisted with the execution of Cloud planning, migration, operation, and incorporation of advanced services and capabilities across the Army’s four information mission areas of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Analytics, and Data Protection. 

Just prior to joining the Senior Executive Service, Mr. Puckett was the Federal Chief Technology Officer at a cloud-native services provider where he focused on advising the Department of Defense and other Federal Agencies on how to enhance their mission effectiveness through the adoption of leading-edge open-source technology and modern software automation capabilities. 

Prior to that experience, Mr. Puckett performed in a number of roles as a civil servant with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). As the NGA’s cloud integration lead, he helped design, build and accredit the agency’s Unclassified Cloud environment. He was the advisor to senior leadership for technical enhancements and agency priorities related to infrastructure and application modernization, and led the agency in developing an enhanced ability to accept and deploy new applications and services, while simultaneously incorporating high levels of security. 

Before his service with NGA, Mr. Puckett again was in a support role with private industry, providing lead engineering expertise for servers and network systems, and systems administrator training for the Joint IED Defeat Office, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Department of State. 

Mr. Puckett holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Management Information Systems from Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia, and a Master of Science in Systems Engineering from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C.