SOS International subsidiary Exovera has named Mario Contreras, a more than three-decade special operations and intelligence professional, as chief data officer.

In this role, he is focused on integrating acquisition, management and governance in the development and implementation of the company’s data strategy, Exovera said Tuesday.

“Mario brings exceptional insight into the importance and use of data by the defense and national security agencies,” said Exovera CEO Bob Sogegian.

Sogegian added that Contreras will play a key role in shaping the company’s product offerings and accelerating growth initiatives.

Prior to Exovera, Contreras was operations lead for the chief of digital and artificial intelligence at U.S. Special Operations Command. In this capacity, he oversaw the development of the Special Operations Forces Digital Ecosystem of publicly available data and creation of an open source intelligence exploitation program within Joint Special Operations Command.

He spent two decades in the U.S. Army as an intelligence professional and retired as a chief warrant officer in 2010.