Ivan M. Watson is a member of the Senior Foreign Service and serves as the Deputy Chief Information Officer for Operations at the U.S. Department of State. In this capacity, he is responsible for overseeing worldwide information systems, information technology, and networking for 277 overseas posts and all domestic facilities, which support approximately 110,000 users. Among other responsibilities, he supervises digital and voice communications services, software development and testing, the operation of two regional data centers, cloud-based productivity suites, and customer service to all Department users.
Mr. Watson is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Counselor. He joined the U.S. Department of State as an Information Management Technical Specialist in June 1997 and has served at overseas tours in Frankfurt, Baghdad, and Bogota. Domestically, he served as the Foreign Post Telephones Branch Chief, where he led the Department in the adoption of VoIP technologies.