Dr. Cyril "Mark" Taylor

Dr. Cyril “Mark” Taylor is an appointed Civilian Senior Executive serving as a Highly Qualified Expert (HQE), which is a grade equivalent to the SES. He serves as the Chief Technical Officer, Communications Systems for the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. As CTO, he is responsible for the SOF Information Enterprise (SIE) multi-cloud strategy, engagement with industry, academia, as well as fellow U.S. and international government agencies to identify future-innovative technologies for incubation, cybersecurity compliance continuous integration and delivery. Additionally, he supports the optimization of acquisition methods, business process improvement, and human capital management in perpetual service to USSOCOM’s 70,000+ global community.

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Taylor was commissioned in the U.S. Army in 1993. He served in various branch qualifying roles as a Field Artillery Officer, both in the 25th Infantry Division in Oahu, Hawaii and later the 3rd Infantry Division. Prior to his HQE appointment, Dr. Taylor was a Senior Technology Strategist with Microsoft, supporting the Department of Homeland Security through their Digital Transformation efforts and respective cloud journey. His primary technical background has been focused on federal cloud migration, network and data center design and implementation, as well as technical training to include IT certifications, undergraduate and graduate school.