A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n
Welcome: New Deputy Chief Information Officer
Fifty years ago, Aaron Brown became the first African American elected to the New York City School Board. Now his nephew, Arthur M. Graham, will continue Brown's tradition of service to education when he joins the U.S. Department of Education as the new deputy chief information officer (CIO) for Information Management (IM).
"It certainly was a struggle back then," Graham said of his uncle's service on the school board. "During that time, it was very difficult to even get jobs." Brown served as vice president of the New York City Board of Education from 1962 to 1969. "At the time, the main issues were about busing," said Graham. In 1944, early in his career, Brown was president of Albany State College.
Graham said his uncle became his mentor and idol. "I always wanted to work for the Department of Education, but I never thought I'd have the opportunity. When you have an idea as a child, it stays in your head in the background," said Graham. "I always used my uncle's example as motivation."
Graham began his career as an educator. He taught at Central Texas College, the University of Maryland and Temple University. Graham then left the field of education for the next 20 years to join the U.S. Department of Defense as chief engineering executive for Information Technology (IT) with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). Now, with his new position at the Department, he has returned to his childhood roots, he said.
As ED's new deputy CIO, Graham will be in charge of IM. He will be responsible for planning, executing and evaluating all IM activities in the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO).
"Arthur brings a large enterprise development background from the Defense Department, working with strongly diverse institutions and building consensus for core enterprise goals," said Craig Luigart, ED's CIO. "This is a significant area of opportunity for the Department."
At the Department of Defense, Graham ensured coherence, continuity and integrity in the development of IT frameworks and methodologies. At DISA, he served as chief engineer for electronic commerce, program manager of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Comptroller Information System, and Management Information Systems applications division chief.
Graham's experience also includes developing the "Desert Storm" patient tracking system called "Dedicated Unhesitating Service to our Fighting Forces." He developed this system and other Army-wide network unit readiness systems when he served as the Darmstadt, Germany, area director of IM. There he provided integrated IM services support to all customers in military communities who hosted 32nd Army Air Defense Command units.
In 1992, Graham became the first civilian executive officer of the 102nd Signal Battalion and directed operational battalion operations, around-the-clock communications, and automation support for U.S. military units stationed in Northern Germany.
Graham's honors include the Department of Army Information Management Services Award, the Army Community of Excellence Award in Information Management Services, and the Commander's Award for Civilian Service.
Graham attended the Freie University in Berlin, Germany, where he received a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1979 and a master's degree in communications science in 1983. He is married to the former Karla Strebel of Brighton, England, and they reside in Leesburg, Va.
"I'm quite pleased with Arthur's decision to join us in strengthening the nation's most critical asset: our children's education," said Luigart. "With his extensive skills in IT and experience in education, I look forward to the contributions Arthur will make to the ED team."
