Tariq Alvi

A professional headshot of President & CEO, Tariq Alvi

Tariq Alvi

Founder and CEO

Tariq Alvi has 30 years of diverse experience in engineering, information technology and cybersecurity. Tariq’s professional journey began with engineering projects in Mumbai after completing his BS Degree in Civil Engineering from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), India. He then worked for an Indo-Dutch consortium as a consulting engineer on a multi-year and multi-million Guilder environmental and infrastructure engineering project. After migrating to the United States in the mid-1990s, Tariq went to work for Indiana Department of Transportation (InDOT) as Highway Engineer in the Technical Services Division, managing the permit process for commercial entities using highways and right-of-way along those highways.

He was selected by InDOT to represent State of Indiana on Federal Highway Administration’s intelligent transportation system for commercial vehicle operations (ITS-CVO) initiative. Tariq’s journey from highways to information super-highway had begun. After leaving InDOT in 1998, Tariq spent many years implementing JD Edwards (now Oracle EnterpriseOne) for various organizations across the US. Investigation an insider attack in early 2000s at one of his clients got him into application security. He then co-developed an application for role-based access control within JD Edwards, thus beginning his foray into cybersecurity.

Tariq founded XentIT in 2006 with a mission to provide “professional services without giving up personal attention” to his clients. XentIT’s 500+ clients include federal, state and local government entities as well as small, medium and large businesses. His commitment to providing quality service to his clients made him go back to school and earn a MS in Cybersecurity Technology degree from University of Maryland Global Campus.

Tariq represented AMU Equestrian Team at National Level competitions in India. He continues to ride when the time permits. His last owned horse was named Oz, a thoroughbred gelding. Prior to Oz, he rode Wizard, a warmblood mare, but Tariq is no Wizard of Oz. He is, however, a single father to 2 wonderful boys. He has coached his younger son’s soccer team. His oldest son has had medical and autism challenges from birth. Tariq is passionate about people with special needs. He attributes his success in business to his autistic son teaching him to be patient and to always be prepared for the unexpected, and his younger teenaged son for teaching him that “it’s okay to get a “B” sometimes”.