Deputy Director
Information Innovation Office
John-Francis Mergen assumed the role of deputy office director for the Information Innovation Office (I2O) in September 2025.
In this position, he provides technical leadership and works with program managers to envision, create, and transition capabilities that ensure enduring information advantage for the United States and its allies.
Mergen joined DARPA as a program manager in January 2020 to develop, execute, and transition programs in cybersecurity.
Before DARPA, he was chief scientist and a Senior Raytheon Fellow at Raytheon BBN Technologies. His responsibilities included maintaining excellence in cybersecurity technology development and providing technical leadership. Prior to his role at Raytheon BBN Technologies, Mergen was the Verizon Federal Networks CTO, responsible for research in the areas of telecommunications and information management. Earlier in his career, Mergen was with Genuity, Alex. Brown & Sons, General Electric, Electronic Data Systems, and SAIC.
He is a private pilot and holds an amateur radio operator advanced class license.
Education
- M.S., Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Concentration in Information Systems - B.S., Electrical Engineering, Yale University
- B.S., Operations Research, Yale University