Sharothi Pikar

Component Acquisition Executive

Office of the Chief Digital and AI Officer

Ms. Sharothi Pikar, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is the Acquisition Executive (CAE) and the Director of Acquisition and Technology Directorate (J9) of U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM). She is the Senior Procurement Executive and serves as the USCYBERCOM Milestone Decision Authority and approval authority for all CYBERCOM research, development, and acquisition activities with an annual budget in excess of $650M. Her duties include providing guidance on development and integration of critical cyber capabilities as part of the Joint Cyber Warfighting Architecture portfolio exceeding $4B. As the inaugural CAE, Ms. Pikar reformed the CYBERCOM resource management process to include codification, validation, and prioritization of requirements aligned with Command- level priorities followed by deep dive program reviews, evaluation, and appropriate resource allocation, resulting in improved accountability and performance. She is responsible for the development and execution of all CYBERCOM acquisition system policies and procedures.

Prior to her current position, Ms. Pikar served as the Acting Assistant
Director for Cyber Portfolio and the Associate Director for Cyber Strategies in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)). In this capacity, she provided technical direction, research and engineering program coordination, planning, management, and oversight including setting cyber S&T and advanced R&E goals and priorities, policy formulation, program development and strategic direction for entire USD(R&E) cyber portfolio. She authored and developed the Cyber Road to Dominance (RTD) Strategic Plan to enable USD(R&E) better assess and effectively manage the cyber R&E portfolio in its entirety, minimize duplication of efforts, and maximize the Department’s ability to provide cyber warfighters with superior technical and strategic advantage. During her tenure, Ms. Pikar served as the inaugural DoD Co-Chair of the Special Cyber Operations Research and Engineering (SCORE) Subcommittee, under the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), Cyber S&T Community of Interest (COI) Working Group (WG), and the Cyber Capabilities Team (CCT) in support of the Cyber Investment Management Board (CIMB).

Previously, Ms. Pikar served as a Senior Civilian Fellow and Strategic Planner in the Chief of Staff of the Army’s (CSA) Strategic Studies Group (SSG), where she authored several key recommendations relevant to the U.S. Army’s emerging and future strategic and operational environments. Ms. Pikar is responsible for creation of the Army Civilian Fellowship positions and played a key role in the Department’s early adoption of predictive people analytics. Prior to that, she served as a Senior Systems Engineer in the Army’s Chief Systems Engineer’s Office under the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA(ALT)), where she established and led the Army’s platform integration cell to address Size, Weight, and Power-Cooling challenges for all major Ground Combat and Combat Support Platforms. Ms. Pikar served in several other key Acquisition and S&T positions, to include Tactical Radio Branch Chief, Chief Engineer for the Tactical Networks Division, and Project Leader/Program Manager for several Army’s Stryker Brigade Combat (SBCT) Unit communications systems.

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