Lyons is a 1979 graduate of the La Salle Institute, an all-male private Catholic college preparatory school in Troy, New York.

He was the Director, Logistics Operations, Readiness, Force Integration and Strategy at Headquarters, Department of the Army G-4.

The command spans 9,000 miles and controls units providing supplies, maintenance, transport, engineer, personnel, and military police from Alaska to Korea.

[7][8] On May 27, 2022, the White House and the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that Retired General Lyons, would be the new Port and Supply Chain Envoy to the Biden-Harris Administration's Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, taking over the role from John Porcari.

In this role, Lyons is responsible for working with ports, rail, trucking and other private companies across the transportation logistics supply chain to address bottlenecks, speed up the movement of goods, and help lower costs.