Former VA CIO Baker joins Agilex

Roger Baker (FedScoop)

As the chief information officer at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Roger Baker transformed the way government looks at information technology from the inside.

Now he’ll try to do it from the private sector.

Baker, who left the VA two months ago after four years as the department’s CIO, will join Agilex as the company’s chief strategy officer, the company announced this morning.

In an interview with FedScoop Radio, Baker said as a quickly-growing and innovative company, Agilex has the opportunity to alter the way that private sector companies that work with the government approach business.

“I’m on no small mission here,” Baker said. “I want to help the private sector that serves the government, change from profit and growth driven to costumer-results driven and make that the mantra of those organizations. Basically, prove that by producing results for the government than profits and growth will happen.”

Baker said that if Agilex can continue to grow using this approach – focusing on results instead of profitability – than it could become a model for other private-sector companies in a time when the government market is facing lean times.

Baker was known for his innovative approach to IT while at the VA, most notably by creating the Project Management Accountability System where Baker halted or reformed 45 IT projects, bringing an estimated $200 million in savings to the department.

It’s projects like that that impressed company co-founder Jay Nussbuam.

“Roger, in our opinion, was one of – if not the top – CIOs in the federal government that were trying to do things a little differently,” Nussbuam said. “We really wanted someone that had a commercial background and government knowledge. You look at his resume and it’s amazing, so we went all out to get him.”

Before coming to the VA, Baker was the president and chief executive officer of Dataline LLC, a mid-sized IT services and integration company based in Norfolk, Va.

Prior to Dataline, Baker was the CIO at General Dynamics Information Technology and was an executive vice president and general manager of the Telecommunications and Information Assurance business group for CACI International.

Founded in 2007, Agilex is one of the region’s fastest growing companies with more than 400 employees focused on the national security, healthcare and public sectors.