By the time most people have figured out their lane, Dr. Tori Reddy Dodla has already built a highway.
There is a particular kind of person who doesn’t just succeed. They accelerate. Only 2% of Americans hold a PhD. Less than 1% ever serve as military officers. Less than 1% ever publish a book. Less than 1% ever reach senior government leadership. She’s done it all.
Her résumé reads less like a career path and more like a series of calculated strikes. A commissioned U.S. Army officer. A PhD in Information Technology. A senior federal leader who shaped how the United States government manages its digital resources. A published author with a book distributed globally through Springer, one of the most prestigious academic publishers in the world. A speaker at elite forums. A certified PMP, and holder of multiple Microsoft and IT certifications. An adjunct professor molding the next generation of technology leaders.
And now, CEO.
She didn’t stumble into any of it. Dr. Dodla embodies what it means to have the Midas touch: not luck, not accident, but an almost supernatural ability to enter a space and make it better, bigger, and more valuable than it was before she arrived.
We sat down with Dr. Dodla to find out what actually drives a woman like this.
Welcome, Dr. Dodla. I want to start out by first thanking you for your service. I appreciate all veterans and what that means for our country. But you weren’t just in the Army, we found that you were a commissioned officer and a Distinguished Military Graduate. You are truly apart of the 1%. What did the military teach you about how you operate?
Discipline. Precision……….the element of surprise. But these are things my father instilled early on. My time on active duty just reinforced that. I learned that the most effective forces don’t announce their next move. They study, they prepare in silence, and then they strike exactly where no one expected. And that’s my brand. I’m full of surprises…..but not chaos, it’s strategy.
And yes, less than 1% of the world’s population ever serves as a commissioned military officer, so I’m very proud of that. It’s an honor that I had the opportunity to serve my country.
Well, I know that you are well educated and your training connects to Carnegie Mellon, which is an amazing school. And your doctoral research is rooted in organizational risk and financial performance. Talk to us about your education and what it built in you.
Yes, I’m in the Chief Data and AI Officer program at Carnegie Mellon and has been great; I’m looking forward to completing the program. But it’s not all just about technology. It’s about people and ROI as well.
With my dissertation, I studied how organizations can reduce risk and simultaneously maximize value in terms of knowledge, information, and AI.
But I want to say that I’m not all theory and I’ve had quite a bit of practical experience.
At this point, I’m not guessing. It’s a matter of me tying all of my experiences together.
Ok, so I see that you have Dodla Digital. Talk to me about your business.
Dodla Digital is a Virginia-based IT firm focused on supporting large prime contractors such as Leidos, CALIBRE Systems, SAIC, and Accenture within the federal contracting space.
We specialize in workforce development and IT service delivery, with a strong emphasis on Microsoft technologies. As a Microsoft solutions partner, we help translate cloud capabilities into measurable, mission-aligned outcomes.
At the end of the day, our goal is to make our customers look good. In government, that matters.
One thing that stands out about you is that even while building a company and carrying an impressive federal career, you remained an adjunct professor and became a Microsoft Certified Trainer through Dodla Digital. Most people at your level step away from teaching. Why do you stay in it?
I stay in the classroom because there is a version of me sitting in those seats right now. I remember exactly what it felt like to be the “first” and to be unsure of the future. I was the first in my family in tech. The first to join the Army. The first to pursue a PhD. Those experiences never leave you.
I genuinely enjoy being an adjunct and it’s not just teaching to me; it’s my ministry to motivate the next generation.
And workforce development through Dodla Digital is an extension of the same commitment. We are not just delivering IT solutions. We are actively building the next generation of technologists who know how to use these tools at the highest level.
That’s my way of creating lasting impact. Not just by doing the work, but by multiplying knowledge to every student.
Let’s talk about your book, Mastering Knowledge Management Using Microsoft Technologies, was published through Springer and is available globally. What made you write it?
Through my doctoral research, I learned that organizations were wasting millions of dollars on third-party tools for capabilities they already had sitting in Microsoft 365. Nobody had written the definitive guide on how to stop doing that. So, I wrote it. It’s that simple.
And I’m very proud to say that my book has reached its intended audience. I didn’t want to be an author for vanity. I wanted to make an impact, add to the body of knowledge, and fill a knowledge gap. That’s exactly what the book is doing.
Wow, you’ve done a lot! I know people reach out to you for career help and strategies. Do you offer any coaching?
No, I do not.
Come on now…
I happily share knowledge with my students and to my close professional colleagues. But I don’t have much time for anything else. My focus is my business, so I’m protecting my time and energy.
Speaking of time, do you have time for hobbies? What are you doing when you are not working? And do you actually sleep?
Yes, I have time for hobbies and I do sleep. I am sure to get 8 hours of sleep every night. I’m not at the age where I can pull all-nighters anymore.
I enjoying hiking and working out. I love being outdoors, especially during the summer. And I love to travel.
Ok, last question. What do you want people to understand about you and your career?
My current focus is helping federal agencies prepare their digital workspaces for AI adoption, particularly Microsoft 365 Copilot integration. Most agencies are racing to deploy Copilot and other AI tools, but they’re overlooking the foundational work that determines whether these tools actually deliver value: knowledge management and information governance. Without disciplined KM and governance, Copilot surfaces stale, duplicate, or improperly permissioned content, which erodes user trust within weeks of rollout and creates real compliance risk under records management, FOIA, and CUI handling requirements.
Agencies have spent years accumulating SharePoint sites, Teams channels, and shared drives with little oversight. Permissions have drifted, retention labels were never applied, sensitivity labels are inconsistent or missing, and there’s no clear taxonomy across the tenant. When Copilot is layered on top of that environment, it inherits every one of those problems and amplifies them at machine speed. Agencies then either pause the rollout, scope it down to a small pilot, or push forward and absorb the risk.
The deeper issue is that most agencies don’t have this expertise on staff. Their IT shops are strong on infrastructure and identity, but KM, taxonomy design, content lifecycle policy, and Purview configuration sit in a gap between IT, records, privacy, and the program offices. That’s where Dodla Digital fits in. We help agencies do the unglamorous but essential prep work: content inventory and assessment, permissions remediation, sensitivity and retention label architecture, taxonomy and metadata design, Copilot readiness assessments, and governance policy development tied to NARA, NIST, and agency-specific mandates.
Dr. Tori Reddy Dodla is the CEO of Dodla Digital, a published author, and former Chief of Digital Services. Her book Mastering Knowledge Management Using Microsoft Technologies is available through Springer and Amazon worldwide.
Learn more about Dodla Digital at www.dodladigital.com
