Lily Zeleke
Acting DCIO for Information Enterprise Office of the DoD Chief Information Officer
Department of Defense
Ms. Lily Zeleke is the Deputy CIO (DCIO) for the Information Enterprise (IE). In this role, she
provides oversight, policy guidance, and digital expertise for DoD enterprise infrastructure initiatives
driving toward the objectives of digital modernization. She leads Department-wide execution of
strategic guidance aimed at achieving an operationally effective and secure Information Enterprise in
a cost-efficient manner. Areas of priority include network optimization, cloud adoption, software
modernization, and IT reform. She recently served as the Principal Director (PD) for the DCIO IE.
Prior to these roles, Ms. Zeleke served as the Acting PD for the DCIO for Resources & Analysis
(DCIO RA) as well as the Director of Resources, Program, and Budget. She was responsible for the
management of DoD CIO’s processes for Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution to
include management of DoD CIO’s operating budget; the collection and submission of the DoD
IT/Cyberspace Activities Budget to the Office of Management and Budget and Congress; execution
of the DoD Budget Certification process; and DoD CIO’s participation in the Department’s Program
Budget Review.
From 2009 to 2018, Ms. Zeleke served as the Department’s radiofrequency spectrum policy lead for
all matters related to spectrum use, reallocation, and auction. In this capacity, she led the strategic
development of the Department’s mobile broadband and domestic regulatory, policy, and legislative
initiatives for the DCIO for Command, Control, and Communications (DCIO C3). She functioned as
the liaison between DoD and spectrum stakeholders across the Department, national spectrum
regulators, White House/Executive Branch agencies, and Congress, and spearheaded a wide range
of complex initiatives to evolve traditional spectrum policies and practices to be more responsive to
increased demand. She partnered with these stakeholders to forge an innovative solution that
resulted in an amicable commercial auction decision of the highly sought 1755-1780 MHz band,
expanding commercial Advanced Wireless Services (AWS-3) while preserving military capabilities.
The auction brought in $44 billion to the U.S. Treasury and $3.1 billion for DoD. She led a coalition
that developed a first-of-its-kind DoD spectrum efficiency principles policy memo, which became the
cornerstone of the DoD 2020 Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority Strategy.
Prior to joining DoD CIO, Ms. Zeleke served as the Deputy Technical Director and International
Division Chief at the Air Force Frequency Management Agency where she advised on all matters
concerning international telecommunications policy for spectrum use, and led Air Force participation
in the International Telecommunications Union World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), a
global summit that reviews the international treaty governing the use of radiofrequency spectrum.
Previously, she served as advisor to the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications
and Information Administration and the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Defense Spectrum
Organization on international spectrum regulatory policy, as well as a RF product support engineer
at Allied Signal Inc.
Ms. Zeleke holds a M.S. in Systems Engineering from George Mason University and a B.S. in
Electrical Engineering from the University of Kansas. She is a Senior Executive Fellow of the John F.
Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and has been recognized on numerous
occasions for her work including a National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation for her significant
contribution to the success of the AWS-3 auction.
Ms. Zeleke is married and has one daughter. She believes a healthy work-life balance is critical to
achieving effective productivity.
