Defence appoints new CTO

The Department of Defence has ended its four-month search for a new chief technology officer, appointing IT professional Mohan Aiyaswami to the role.

The department confirmed Aiyaswami will take over the CTO role from next Wednesday, as first reported by Delimiter.

The position was left vacant by former CTO Matt Yannopoulos, who took up a role as the Immigration department's new CIO in August last year.

Aiyaswami's history in the IT sector includes a stint at Toll Group as its general manager of strategy and architecture.

Defence advertised publicly for the role in February, asking for a CTO able to oversee the strategic guidance, technical direction and commercial arrangements surrounding Defence's IT environment.

Major General Michael Milford, a member of Defence's Chief Information Officer Group, has been serving as the interim CTO since last August, and will now return to running IT operations.

Under Yannopoulos, the CTO managed a team of around 400 staff and had an annual IT budget of $1.3 billion.