Caroline Zier has over 15 years of experience in defense and national security, and is currently the Deputy Lead for National Security Policy at OpenAI. She previously served as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense, where she was responsible for helping manage the Secretary of Defense’s executive staff and providing counsel and advice to the Secretary on all matters concerning the Department.
From 2021 to 2023, Caroline was the Senior Advisor and Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense with responsibility for policy and national security matters. From 2018 to 2021, Caroline was the Director for Global Posture within the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy, leading a team responsible for providing oversight and management of the forces, footprint, and agreements that support the Department’s global operations and activities.
From 2016 to 2018, Caroline served as the Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs. She joined the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy in 2009, and held several other positions in the organization. Prior to her government service, Caroline worked at Morgan Stanley in New York as an analyst. She graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts and received a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. She is the recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award and the Meritorious Civilian Service Award. She is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.
Caroline Zier has over 15 years of experience in defense and national security, and is currently the Deputy Lead for National Security Policy at OpenAI. She previously served as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense, where she was responsible for helping manage the Secretary of Defense’s executive staff and providing counsel and advice to the Secretary on all matters concerning the Department.
From 2021 to 2023, Caroline was the Senior Advisor and Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense with responsibility for policy and national security matters. From 2018 to 2021, Caroline was the Director for Global Posture within the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy, leading a team responsible for providing oversight and management of the forces, footprint, and agreements that support the Department’s global operations and activities.
From 2016 to 2018, Caroline served as the Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs. She joined the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy in 2009, and held several other positions in the organization. Prior to her government service, Caroline worked at Morgan Stanley in New York as an analyst. She graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts and received a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. She is the recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award and the Meritorious Civilian Service Award. She is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.
Ms. Jennifer Gavito joined The Cohen Group as a Senior Advisor in 2024 and co-leads the firm’s Middle East practice. A career Senior Foreign Service officer with the rank of Minister-Counselor, Ms. Gavito spent over 25 years at the intersection of international and economic policy in senior diplomatic positions in Washington and throughout the Middle East and Europe, on the staff of the National Security Council, and as a senior advisor to the Department of Defense.
Ms. Gavito served most recently as the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs where she coordinated policy recommendations for the Secretary of State and other senior US government leaders and oversaw the work of 22 diplomatic posts in 18 countries throughout the Middle East. Prior to that, she was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq and Iran. She concurrently served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Press and Public Diplomacy, leading hundreds of staff in Washington and throughout the Middle East in strategic communications strategy and engagement. Prior to retiring from government service, Ms. Gavito was nominated by President Biden in January 2024 to serve as the US Ambassador to the State of Libya. Ms. Gavito has held a range of leadership roles at US embassies and consulates around the world. She was Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the US Embassy in London from 2018–2021, US Consul General to Bavaria from 2015–2018, and Political Counselor at US Consulate General Jerusalem from 2012–2015. Earlier assignments include, among others, Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to the Director for Strategy, Plans, and Programs (J-5) at the US Africa Command; Deputy Consul General at US Consulate General Dubai; Director for Syria and Lebanon at the National Security Council; Deputy Director for North Africa at the Department of State; and head of the Economic and Commercial Section at US Embassy Beirut.
Tressa Steffen Guenov is Director for Programs and Operations & Senior Fellow, Scowcroft Center for Security Studies at the Atlantic Council. She previously served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (ISA), Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (OUSDP). In that role she supported the Assistant Secretary of Defense/ISA in a range of policy, leadership, management, and advisory capacities for the offices of African Affairs; European and NATO Policy; the Middle East; and Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia.
Previously, Tressa was Senior Adviser to Deputy Secretary of Defense Dr. Kathleen Hicks, where she supported the Deputy on a variety of strategy development and stakeholder engagement efforts. Tressa also served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs (Acting) and PDASD for Legislative Affairs from 2015-2017. In her government career she also served in the State Department as a Presidential Management Fellow, as a special assistant to USDP and the Principal Deputy USDP, and as a country director for Central Asia issues.
Nicholas Rasmussen was the Executive Director at Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT). Previously, he was the Senior Director for National Security and Counterterrorism Programs at the McCain Institute for International Leadership. Rasmussen is a national security professional with over twenty-seven years in U.S. government service, including in senior counterterrorism posts at the White House and in the U.S. Intelligence Community from 2001 to 2017. He concluded his government career as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), leading more than 1,000 professionals from across the Intelligence Community, federal government, and federal contractor workforce.
Rasmussen served in senior posts across three administrations, including as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council staff under Presidents Bush and Obama before being appointed Director of NCTC by President Obama and continuing his tenure at the request of President Trump’s administration. From 1991-2001, he served in policy positions at the Department of State, focused on the Middle East.
Ambassador Nina Hachigian (ret) was the first U.S. Special Representative for City and State Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State from 2022 to 2025 in the Biden Administration. Before that, Amb, Hachigian served as the first Deputy Mayor for International Affairs for the City of Los Angeles for five years. From 2014 to 2017, Ambassador Hachigian served as the second U.S. Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Obama Administration. Earlier, she was a Senior Fellow and a Senior Vice President at the Center for American Progress focused on Asia policy and U.S.-China relations. Before that, Ambassador Hachigian was the director of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy for four years.
Ambassador Hachigian served on the staff of the National Security Council in the Clinton White House from 1998-1999. She is the editor of Debating China: The U.S. – China Relationship in Ten Conversations (Oxford University Press, 2014) and co-author of The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise (Simon & Schuster, 2008). She went to Yale University and got her JD from Stanford University.
The Honorable Robert M. Scher is a recognized expert in strategic planning, geopolitical risk assessment and mitigation, and government advocacy across the energy and defense sectors and on issues of international, national security, and US domestic politics. He has served in the public sector, worked in the private sector, and was appointed to a congressionally mandated commission by the Senate Majority Leader.
Bob was most recently the Vice President and Head of International Affairs for BP America. In this position he tracked and analyzed US foreign and national security policy as it affected BP’s businesses around the world.
Jamie Jackson is an attorney and public speaker who provides insider political analysis on U.S. public policy developments. Drawing on her unique blend of experience as a former White House, Pentagon, and congressional leadership aide, she has built a career advising political leaders and organizations on complex legal and policy issues. Her areas of expertise include defense policy, emerging technologies, social justice reform, congressional investigations, and legislative procedure.
In her role as Senior Counsel to then-U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Jackson played a pivotal role in shaping consequential federal legislation. As Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. House Armed Services Committee (HASC), Jackson was integral in drafting and negotiating defense policy legislation, as part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). She also held key national security roles during the Obama and Biden administrations.
Deborah Rosenblum has spent over 35 years working in the national security and defense field. Most recently, she served, from 2021 to 2025, as the Senate confirmed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs as well as the Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. In these roles she was responsible for all matters pertaining to acquisition; contract administration; logistics and materiel readiness; installations and environment; operational energy; chemical, biological and nuclear defense; as well as the defense industrial base.
From 2009 through 2021, she served as Executive Vice President at The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a global nonprofit focused on reducing catastrophic risks. She also advised corporate clients as a Vice President at The Cohen Group, a global consulting firm, on business opportunities in the defense and homeland security markets. Deborah is currently serving as a Senior Consultant to a range of defense companies; non-profits as well as academia.
She was educated at Middlebury College as well as Columbia University.
Veronica Daigle is the President of National Security Practice at Red Cell Partners. She was previously the Director of Acquisition & Innovation Policy, Federal Legislative Affairs, Government Operations at The Boeing Company. Prior to joining Boeing in 2020, Ms. Daigle was the Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness in the Department of Defense (DoD), where she served as the principal staff advisor to the Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness on all matters related to military readiness. In that position, Ms. Daigle managed three deputy assistant secretaries of defense, with a combined staff of over 50 military and civilian personnel.
Ms. Daigle entered the Federal Government in 2008 as a Presidential Management Fellow at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and subsequently served as an operations research analyst in DoD’s office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE). From 2008 to 2013, Ms. Daigle assessed a wide-ranging portfolio of issues, including the operational requirements and costs for Army ground operations, the potential effect of continued Overseas Contingency Operations funding on readiness programs, and the sufficiency of resources to support mental health services for Service Members.
Laura A. Dickinson is the Oswald Symister Colclough Research Professor of Law and Professor of Law at The George Washington University Law School. Her work focuses on national security, human rights, the law of armed conflict, and foreign affairs privatization. She has authored numerous articles and book chapters, including scholarship that has appeared in the American Journal of International Law, the Yale Journal of International Law, the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics, the William & Mary Law Review, the Emory Law Journal, and the Southern California Law Review. She also contributes regularly to the national security blog, Just Security. Professor Dickinson’s prizewinning book, Outsourcing War and Peace, published by Yale University Press, examines the increasing outsourcing of military and security functions, considers the impact of this trend on core public values, and outlines mechanisms for protecting these values in an era of privatization.
In addition to her scholarly activities, Professor Dickinson has a distinguished record of government service.
Prior to returning to Stanford University, Dr. Van Schaack served as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice in the U.S. State Department office where she once served as Deputy. GCJ advised the Secretary of State and the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights on issues related to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide and the deployment of the whole range of transitional justice mechanisms in states emerging from violence or repression. Prior to returning to public service, Dr. Van Schaack was the Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor in Human Rights at Stanford Law School, where she taught international criminal law, human rights, human trafficking, and a policy lab on Legal & Policy Tools for Preventing Atrocities. In addition, she directed Stanford’s International Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic. Ambassador Van Schaack has published numerous articles and papers on international human rights and justice issues, including her 2020 thesis, Imagining Justice for Syria (Oxford University Press). From 2014 to 2022, she served as Executive Editor for Just Security, an online forum for the analysis of national security, foreign policy, and rights.
Stacie Pettyjohn is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Her areas of expertise include defense strategy, posture, force planning, the defense budget, and wargaming. Her current projects focus on munitions stockpiles, the effect of drones on warfare, and deterring the use of nuclear weapons in a multipolar world. Prior to joining CNAS, Pettyjohn spent over ten years at the RAND Corporation where she served as the Director of the Strategy and Doctrine Program in Project Air Force and the co-director of the Center for Gaming. In2020, she was a volunteer on the Biden administration’s defense transition team.
She has designed and led strategic and operational games that have assessed new operational concepts, tested the impacts of new technology, examined nuclear escalation and warfighting, and explored unclear phenomena, such as gray zone tactics and information warfare. Previously, she was a research fellow at the Brookings Institution, a peace scholar at the United States Institute of Peace, and a TAPIR fellow at the RAND Corporation.
AT Johnston currently serves as a Professional Staff Member on the House Armed Services Committee.
AT Johnston is an experienced senior government official with twenty-five plus years of service. She is an inclusive, mission-driven leader who demonstrates a heart for supporting people and organizations in service to others. She is passionate about growing the next generation of leaders.
As a senior leader at the Pentagon, AT served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs (OSDLA) where she advised the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense on legislative strategy and developed and executed the congressional engagement strategy. She managed the DOD legislative interface as part of the whole of government response to the COVID 19 pandemic, during a time of civil unrest and transition.
Sherri Goodman serves as Vice-Chair of the US Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board (ISAB). She is also the Secretary General of the International Military Council on Climate & Security (IMCCS), representing over 40 military and national security organizations addressing the security risks of a changing climate. She is credited with educating a generation of U.S. military and government officials about the nexus between climate change and national security, using her famous coinage, “threat multiplier,” to fundamentally reshape the national discourse on the topic.
She is a Senior Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center’s Polar Institute and Environmental Change & Security Program, as well as a Senior Strategist at the Center for Climate & Security.
Sherri chairs the Board of the Council on Strategic Risks and chairs the External Advisory Board on Energy and Homeland Security for Sandia National Laboratories. She is the Vice-Chair of the Board of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).
Jamie Jones Miller is the inaugural Dean and CEO of Northeastern University’s Arlington, VA campus, blending her passion for national security and developing the next generation of leaders. She most recently served as a Senior Advisor at The Roosevelt Group, a strategic advocacy and consulting firm, where she worked with a wide range of clients in the defense, security, and intelligence sectors.
Jamie’s 16 years of government service includes roles as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs (SES III) and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (SES II) where she advised the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense on legislative strategy and managed relationships with members of Congress and key congressional staff, the military departments as well as the White House, National Security Council and federal departments and agencies in support of DoD priorities. Jamie is a 2018 graduate of National Defense University’s PINNACLE flag and general officer course and was awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service by the Secretary of Defense in 2020.
Carole House is a strategic technology executive who has spent her career focusing on leveraging innovative technologies to combat national security threats. She is the founder and CEO of a strategic technology and national security advisory practice, Penumbra Strategies, and serves as a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Association for Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) and a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center. Carole recently departed the White House National Security Council (NSC) as Special Advisor for Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure. She previously served as the NSC Director for Cybersecurity and Secure Digital Innovation. During her time at the White House, Carole architected two Executive Orders driving critical steps to promote innovation in cybersecurity, digital identity, artificial intelligence, and digital assets. Carole has held positions in the private sector as an Executive in Residence at Terranet Ventures, Inc., co-founder and interim COO for a stealth fintech startup, and served on advisory boards for three financial regulatory agencies and three non-profits. She also has been recognized for her leadership in cyber and emerging tech initiatives, including the prestigious “Fed100” award and AFFIRM’s “Leadership in Crisis” award, in addition to various publications across the Atlantic Council, Bloomberg, the Small Wars Journal, and the Military Review. Carole’s prior government experience includes service as a U.S. Army Captain as well as positions leading emerging tech, cybersecurity, and national security initiatives across the White House, Senate Homeland Security Committee, and the U.S. Treasury.
M. Tia Johnson, Visiting Professor of Law, was Director of the National Security Law LL.M Program at Georgetown Law and a Visiting Fellow at Georgetown’s Center on National Security and the Law. She is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. Immediately prior to her appointment at Georgetown, she served in the Obama Administration as the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Before that, Professor Johnson was the Senior Advisor to the Director at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Professor Johnson retired from the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where she specialized in international and national security law. In 2002, she became the first African-American female to be selected to the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army’s JAG Corps’ 227-year history. In her final assignment, she served as the Senior Military Assistant to the Department of Defense General Counsel.
Alice Albright is a global executive with more than two decades of leadership across international development, global health, education, and innovative finance. Her career has focused on building institutions, pioneering new approaches to development finance, and advancing equitable growth and opportunity around the world. As Founder and Principal of Acadia Advisory, she advises philanthropic and development organizations as they navigate a shifting global landscape. Her work centers on supporting institutions as they consider how development models and financing approaches may need to evolve in the years ahead.
Albright served most recently as Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). At MCC, she led a strategic refresh and helped secure the passage of bipartisan legislation expanding the agency’s country eligibility, adding 33 countries to its potential footprint. At GPE, she guided the organization’s evolution into a major multilateral funder and expanded its financing toolkit, including the launch of the Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX), the GPE Multiplier, and a $500 million COVID-19 emergency window to sustain learning during school closures.
Previously, Albright helped establish the field of innovative development finance beginning at GAVI, where she co-designed and launched the International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFIm) and the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) — mechanisms that transformed global vaccine access and mobilized more than $10 billion. She continued advancing new financing approaches at the Export-Import Bank of the United States, where she helped launch its first direct lending program for small businesses. Her work has taken her to more than 60 countries, engaging leaders at all levels to align diplomacy, finance, and policy in support of inclusive and sustainable growth.
Albright serves on the Board of the National Democratic Institute, is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and sits on the Food Security Leadership Council. She is a graduate of Williams College and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Stephanie Barna is Of Counsel in the Public Policy Practice Group of Covington & Burling LLP. She draws on more than three decades of U.S. military and government service to provide advisory and advocacy support and counseling to clients facing policy and political challenges in the aerospace and defense sectors.
Prior to joining the firm, Stephanie served as General Counsel of the Senate Armed Services Committee. A member of the Committee’s senior leadership team, she was responsible for shepherding the annual National Defense Authorization Act through the Committee and on the Senate floor. She oversaw the Senate confirmation process for military general and flag officers and for civilian nominees for Presidential appointment to positions in the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy nuclear enterprise. She also managed an expansive portfolio encompassing the use of military force and war powers, the organization and structure of the Department of Defense, and the uniform code of military justice. She was the Committee lead for investigations.
Leah Nodvin is the Director of Government and External Affairs at the BMW Group, where she supports U.S. – European relations and covers the federal sustainability portfolio. Previously, Leah served as the Chief of Staff for the Bureau of Europe and Eurasia at USAID. Prior to joining USAID, she worked on Capitol Hill and most recently served as the Staff Director for the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee for Europe, working on behalf of Congressman Bill Keating of Massachusetts. During her time on Capitol Hill, Leah also served as a Professional Staff Member on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee for Europe as well as a Foreign Affairs Legislative Assistant for a Senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Prior to her time in Washington, Leah completed a research Fellowship with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna, Austria. Leah holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University as well as master’s degrees from the University College’s London School of Slavonic and East European Studies and the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Leah is currently completing a master’s degree in Defense and Strategic Studies at the Naval War College. Leah grew up in New Hampshire and speaks basic French, intermediate Russian, fluent German and is a native English speaker.
Margaret Boatner serves as Vice President of National Security Policy at the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), where she leads the development and execution of strategic initiatives related to defense acquisition, procurement, and the defense industrial base. With nearly 15 years of experience at the Pentagon, Boatner has played a pivotal role in shaping Department of Defense (DOD) acquisition policy and developing and implementing acquisition reform efforts.
Most recently, Boatner served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Strategy and Acquisition Reform (DASA(SAR)). In this role, she was the lead executive for the design and implementation of Army-wide acquisition policy affecting the development and production of warfighting capabilities. Boatner was also responsible for leading consistent implementation of new statutory authorities affecting Army programs of record, engaging with Congressional committee staff on legislation affecting the acquisition process, and guiding the development of related acquisition legislative proposals. During her tenure, Boatner orchestrated Army-wide initiatives that overhauled policy on intellectual property, software development and acquisition, and industrial base resilience. Boatner also led a broad effort to streamline and simplify the DOD acquisition processes in collaboration with OSD stakeholders.
Julie Myers Wood has more than 30 years of experience in the public and private sector working on regulatory and enforcement issues from many perspectives, including as federal prosecutor, defense counsel, government investigator and compliance consultant. Key highlights include leading 15,000 special agents, lawyers, and officers at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS); helping the President choose cabinet members to serve in his administration; and co-founding a compliance software and consulting startup, which was later acquired by Guidepost Solutions. Ms. Wood is currently the Chief Executive Officer at Guidepost Solutions, a leading investigations, compliance, monitoring, and security firm with offices throughout the United States, as well as England, Colombia, Mexico and Singapore.
Before joining the private sector, Ms. Wood held several high-level positions with the U.S. government at four government agencies (DOJ, DHS, Treasury and Commerce), as well as the White House. At the White House, she helped President George W. Bush identify key cabinet and sub-cabinet officials, including at DOJ, DHS, and DOD. At DHS, she led 15,000 special agents, lawyers, and officers at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest investigative component and second largest investigative agency in the federal government. She oversaw the Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) division at ICE and the agency’s initiatives to combat human trafficking as well as its investigative work to prevent child exploitation. While serving as Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement at the Department of Commerce, Ms. Wood was responsible for all dual-use export enforcement and special agents and she oversaw the enforcement of criminal and civil violations of export enforcement laws, including those involving telecommunications companies and encryption issues. At the Department of Justice, she served as Chief of Staff for the Assistant Attorney General of DOJ’s Criminal Division and also prosecuted cases as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, including securities fraud, organized crime, money laundering, and bankruptcy fraud. As a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Treasury, she developed policy and ran a team responsible for money laundering and customs enforcement matters.
Ms. Wood serves on several nonprofit boards and advisory boards relating to national security and immigration. She has been recognized with numerous industry and leadership awards, including the naming of the Julie L. Myers Conference Center at ICE Headquarters, in honor of her contributions and leadership at the Department of Homeland Security.
Caroline Tess is Executive Director of National Security Action and former Executive Director of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security.
Caroline served as Special Assistant to the President at the National Security Council during the Obama Administration. She also served at the State Department focusing on North America and U.S. relations with the United Nations. Caroline worked on Capitol Hill for several years, serving on the Senate Intelligence Committee and in the offices of Senators Harry Reid and Bill Nelson.
Allison Peters previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the U.S. Department of State where she oversaw the Bureau’s Office of Multilateral and Global Affairs, including its work on technology and human rights, Office of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Office of Policy Planning and Public Diplomacy. Previously, Ms. Peters served as the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights and the Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs where she worked to advance rights-respecting approaches to technology and cyber policy and counter threats.
Prior to her time in government, Peters served as the Deputy Director of the National Security Program at the think tank Third Way where she regularly advised policymakers on a broad spectrum of foreign policy and national security issues. In this capacity, she helped to lead the Program’s Cyber Enforcement Initiative where her writing, research, and policy development focused on strengthening global cooperation and capacity to identify and bring to justice malicious cyber actors.
Jen Daskal is a Partner at Venable LLP. She is a national security legal and policy expert, with years of experience managing crisis, mitigating risk, and working at the intersection of technology, policy and law. From October 2023 to January 2025, Daskal served as the Deputy Homeland Security Advisor at the White House. Before that, she was the Principal Deputy Legal Advisor at the National Security Council and served as Acting General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, where she oversaw over 3,000 attorneys, including the Department’s cybersecurity, intelligence, litigation, and law enforcement legal teams.
Before joining the federal government, Daskal was a tenured law professor at American University Washington College of Law (WCL) until February 2021. In 2020, she founded and served as the first Faculty Director of WCL’s Tech, Law & Security Program. As a law professor, she wrote extensively on issues of data security and data privacy, testified multiple times before Congress, and won several awards for her work.
Senate Confirmed in August 2017, the Honorable Ellen M. Lord formerly served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (A&S). In this capacity, she was responsible to the Secretary of Defense for all matters pertaining to acquisition; developmental testing; contract administration; logistics and materiel readiness; installations and environment; operational energy; chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons; the acquisition workforce; and the defense industrial base.
Prior to this appointment, from October 2012 – June 2017, Ms. Lord served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Textron Systems Corporation, a subsidiary of Textron Inc. In this role, she led a multi-billion dollar business with a broad range of products and services supporting defense, homeland security, aerospace, infrastructure protection, and customers around the world.
Ms. Lord has more than 30 years of experience in the defense industry, serving in a variety of capacities, to include Senior Vice President and General Manager of Textron Defense Systems, now Weapon & Sensor Systems; and Senior Vice President and General Manager of AAI Corporation, now known as Textron Systems’ Electronic Systems, Support Solutions, and Unmanned Systems businesses. Earlier in her career, Ms. Lord served as Vice President of Integration Management for Textron Systems and Vice President of Intelligent Battlefield Systems for Textron Defense Systems, in addition to other business and operations positions.
Reta Jo Lewis most recently served as President and Chair of the Export Import Bank. Previously, she was Senior Fellow and Director of Congressional Affairs at The German Marshall Fund of the United States where she was the principal liaison between GMF and Congress and built extensive congressional relationships. During the Obama Administration, from 2010 to 2013, she served as the U. S. Department of States’ first-ever Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs, under Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. Lewis led the office charged with building strategic peer- to-peer relationships between the Department of State, U.S. state and local officials, and their foreign counterparts. In her post, she served as the State Department’s lead interlocutor in negotiating and executing the first historic agreements to solidify subnational cooperation and engagement efforts with BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries and with targeted countries in the European Union. She was the principal architect that led the global engagement of U.S. state and local government leaders’ integration into and strategy regarding sustainability and climate change to RIO+20, COP-16, COP-17 and COP-18. In 2013, she was awarded the Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award.
Dr. Nora Bensahel is a Professor of Practice at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and a Contributing Editor and Columnist for War on the Rocks. She is also an Adjunct Research Staff Member at the Institute for Defense Analyses. Her work focuses on the future of warfare, and military strategy and operations. She is the co-author of the recently-published book Adaptation Under Fire: How Militaries Change in Wartime, and previously served on the Board of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security (LCWINS).
Before joining SAIS, Dr. Bensahel was a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the School of International Service at American University and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Prior to that, she was a senior fellow and co-director of the Responsible Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security. Her early career included over eleven years at the RAND Corporation, where she rose to the position of senior political scientist. She also spent more than a decade as an adjunct professor in the Security Studies Program at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, where she taught graduate classes and received the Alumni Leadership Council Teaching Award.
Julia McQuaid is the Vice President of the Strategy, Policy, and Plans Division at CNA. A seasoned political-military affairs expert, she brings over 20 years of experience advising the U.S. Navy, Department of Defense, and other national security agencies on strategic and operational issues. Her expertise spans areas such as strategic competition, adversary threats, emerging technologies/unmanned systems and autonomy, coalition building and alliance maintenance, terrorism, nuclear policy, and global maritime security.
As a researcher, McQuaid led several high-profile projects at CNA, including a congressionally directed assessment of the 17-year U.S. effort to defeat Al-Qaeda. Her work influenced substantial revisions in U.S. counterterrorism approaches overseas. She has also conducted in-depth research on adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures, particularly within non-state actor groups, and supported DOD efforts to develop countermeasures. Her analytical leadership extends to wargames and strategic studies, addressing global challenges with a focus on homeland defense, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Additionally, she consults for the Defense Science Board. McQuaid holds a Master of Arts in Arab Studies from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts in French and government from Franklin & Marshall College.
Dr. Van Winkle currently serves as the Industry Executive for Federal Government at Oracle, where she supports federal agencies in using innovative technology to solve complex challenges.
Prior to joining Oracle, Dr. Van Winkle served as Director of Strategic Analytics within Raytheon Intelligence and Space. She was previously a member of the Senior Executive Service within the Department of Defense and served in multiple leadership roles across the Department focused on assessing and ensuring the readiness of the military force. Most recently she served as the Deputy Director of Military Force Management for the U.S. Air Force, establishing and overseeing military force management policies to guide the readiness and retention of the Air Force’s human capital. Prior to that role, Dr. Van Winkle served as the Executive Director of the Office of Force Resiliency and was the principal staff advisor to the Secretary of Defense on policies related to the response and prevention of interpersonal violence; developing the Department’s first integrated prevention policies and framework, for which she received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service.
Former Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Malta and Former President of the Middle East Policy Council.
Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley is the Non Resident Scholar of the Middle East Policy Council, a think tank that contributes to American understanding of the political, economic and and cultural issues that affect U.S. interests in the Middle East, Senior Advisor at the strategic advisory firm, West Exec Advisors, a BBC Contributor and a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Before her current appointments, she held a series of senior positions that included Ambassador to the Republic of Malta, Foreign Policy Advisor to the Commander of U.S. cyber forces, Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism for the Department of State where she negotiated the establishment of the International Institute for Justice and Rule of Law, and Country Director for Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley was the first woman to lead a diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia as the Principal Officer in Jeddah after taking on the position of Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for the Middle East and Africa.
Rachel Vogelstein is a Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and Director of the Women’s Initiative at the Columbia Institute of Global Politics, where she focuses on gender equality in the U.S. and globally. Most recently, she served in the Biden Administration as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the White House Gender Policy Council and Special Advisor on Gender at the National Security Council, leading policy development on health and reproductive rights, economic security, and democracy and political participation, among other issues. For over a decade, Rachel was an advisor to Secretary Hillary Clinton on women’s issues, serving on both of her presidential campaigns and as the Director of Girls’ and Women’s Initiatives at the Clinton Foundation. During the Obama Administration, she was an official in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State, where she developed a landmark foreign policy agenda for women’s empowerment. Previously, she served as the Douglas Dillion Senior Fellow and Director of the Women and Foreign Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is the author of Awakening: #MeToo and the Global Fight for Women’s Rights, which was recognized by the New York Times for capturing the global impact of the #MeToo movement, and began her career as a lawyer focused on reproductive rights.
Laura McAleer is the University of Notre Dame’s Associate Vice President for Federal and Washington Relations, responsible for the development and execution of the University’s strategic priorities in the Nation’s capital.
Prior to joining Notre Dame, McAleer served for more than twenty years as a defense and foreign policy advisor and analyst, most recently at the Department of Defense as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Senate Affairs and acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs. Previously, she worked on Capitol Hill for more than a decade, serving as a national security and foreign policy advisor to four U.S. Senators and on the Majority Staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In addition to her congressional experience, McAleer’s public service includes assignments as a strategy and plans officer for U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, as an analyst and program manager with the Office of Naval Intelligence, and as the Director for Strategic Initiatives for the Secretary of the Navy. She also served for more than a decade as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
Heather Samuelson is an attorney and strategic advisor with nearly two decades of experience in government, politics and the non-profit sector. She most recently served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Confirmations Counsel in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, guiding hundreds of Biden-Harris Administration nominees through the Senate confirmation process. Heather also served in the Obama-Biden Administration, first as White House Liaison at the U.S. Department of State, and then as Assistant Counsel in the White House Counsel’s Office. In these roles, she directed recruitment and vetting for national security positions and advised officials on federal ethics compliance.
Prior to rejoining government, Heather was the first General Counsel for the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) overseeing all legal matters for NDWA and its sister organization Care in Action. Heather also served as a longtime attorney and advisor to Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, including representing the Secretary before the U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi, and serving as Chief Counsel for the 2016 Clinton-Kaine Pre-Election Transition team.
With a career spanning government, the non-profit sector, and law, Ms. Foster has deep expertise in the economic and political empowerment of women, and how to effectively integrate a gender-focused approach into foreign policy.
She is a co-founder of Smash Strategies, which provides strategic advice to corporations, institutions, and philanthropists to ensure that their investments in women and girls are effective and transformational. In 2021 through early 2023, Foster returned to the U.S. Department of State focusing on Afghan relocation, with a mandate to prioritize the needs of women and girls. She had previously served at the U.S. Department of State from 2012-2017 as a Senior Advisor/Counselor in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues and at the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan where she focused on women and civil society. Foster has also worked in private law practice, as a Chief of Staff to United States Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Chris Dodd (D-CT), and in senior management positions in the non-profit sector. She is a lawyer by training.
Her first book, Take Action: Fighting for Women & Girls was published in October 2021. Her second book, co-authored with Susan Markham, Feminist Foreign Policy in Theory and Practice, was published in September 2023.
Bonny Lin is a senior fellow for Asian security and director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Previously, she was the acting associate director of the Strategy and Doctrine Program of RAND Project AIR FORCE and a political scientist at the RAND Corporation, where she analyzed different aspects of U.S. competition with China, including U.S.-China competition for influence in the Indo-Pacific and China’s use of gray zone tactics against U.S. allies and partners.
Her research advised senior leaders in the Department of Defense, including military leaders at U.S. Pacific Air Forces and U.S. Army Pacific. Dr. Lin also served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2015 to 2018, where she was director for Taiwan, country director for China, and senior adviser for China. Dr. Lin holds a PhD in political science from Yale University, a master’s degree in Asian studies with a focus on China from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard College.
Dr. Richard Verma is chief administrative officer for Mastercard, overseeing the company’s Law, Government Affairs and Policy, Franchise, Corporate Security, and Community and Belonging functions. He is also a member of the company’s Executive Leadership Team and Management Committee.
Rich has a distinguished background as a public servant. Most recently, he was deputy secretary of state for management and resources from 2023 to 2025. Rich acted as chief operating officer of the State Department, leading its efforts on modernization, foreign assistance and a wide range of strategic issues. He also previously served as the U.S. ambassador to India, where he led one of the largest U.S. diplomatic missions and championed historic progress in bilateral ties. He is a former assistant secretary of state for Legislative Affairs and national security advisor to the Senate Majority Leader. Rich has been a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the Weapons of Mass Destruction and Terrorism Commission, and the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board.
Rich also has extensive experience in the private sector. Prior to his most recent State Department tenure, Rich was chief legal officer and head of global public policy at Mastercard. He is a former partner at the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson and the vice chairman of The Asia Group, a global consulting firm. He also served on the T. Rowe Price corporate board of directors.
Rich is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and the recipient of numerous military awards and civilian decorations, including the Meritorious Service Medal, the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award, and the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship. He is a board member of the Ford Foundation, and has previously served on the boards for Lehigh University and the National Endowment for Democracy. He is the inaugural President’s Distinguished Fellow at Lehigh and was a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
Amanda Simpson is an advisor and consultant on aerospace, energy, and DEI as the CEO of Third Segment LLC. She is a nationally renowned speaker and has presented at corporations, government agencies, civic organizations, conferences, and colleges around the country on technology and aerospace innovation as well as gender and diversity.
Formerly she was Vice President for Research and Technology and Head of Sustainability at Airbus Americas, responsible for coordinating technology development, research activities, and innovation for Airbus in the western hemisphere. She was also the Head of Sustainability efforts for Airbus in the Americas and has been an outspoken advocate for future flight concepts and clean aviation.
Ms. Simpson joined Airbus following government assignments in the United States Department of Defense. She was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy, responsible for developing the strategy for the utilization of energy for military operational forces worldwide and was the senior advisor to the Secretary of Defense for all matters pertaining to energy in our military.
Michele Pearce most recently served as Of Counsel at Covington and Burling LLP. Prior to Covington, Michele held several senior staff positions within the Department of Defense (DoD) and Congress. Most recently, she served as General Counsel (Acting) of the Department of the Army, providing legal and policy advice to the Secretary of the Army and other service leadership. In this role, Michele was responsible for legal matters related to modernizing acquisition and contracting practices to meet emerging threats, implementing AI and hypersonic systems, and reforming ethics and diversity and inclusion programs.
Prior to her role in the Army, Michele served as Deputy General Counsel (Legislation) at DoD. She was the principal legal advisor to DoD officials, including the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and General Counsel on matters concerning legislation, investigations, and the Department’s Legislative Review Program, which considers more than 400 legislative proposals annually.
Currently CEO of the think and action tank New America, Anne-Marie Slaughter is a global leader, scholar, and commentator. She was the J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law at Harvard Law School and served as President of the American Society of International Law. From 2002 to 2009, she was Bert G. Kerstetter ‘66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs and Dean of the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. In 2009 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed her as the first woman Director of Policy Planning in the U.S. State Department. Slaughter has written and lectured widely on global network design and leadership; on gender equality and elevating the value of care for both men and women; and on American renewal. The author or editor of nine books, she is a contributing editor to the Financial Times and a regular columnist for Project Syndicate.
Ambassador Laura S. H. Holgate served most recently as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations International Organizations in Vienna and the Representative of the United States of America to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
As an experienced national security leader, Holgate’s public service includes the reduction of threats and management of risks from nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological weapons. She previously served as Vice President at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Special Assistant to the President at the National Security Council, and as a senior official at the Departments of Energy and Defense. She is frequently quoted and published in print and tv and she speaks publicly on nuclear energy, nuclear security, chemical weapons, bioterrorism, and related international organizations.
Holgate received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in politics from Princeton University and a Master of Science Degree in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She lives in Arlington, Virginia.
Lisa Curtis is Senior Fellow and Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. She is a foreign policy and national security expert with over 20 years of service in the U.S. government, including at the NSC, CIA, State Department, and Capitol Hill. Her work has centered on U.S. policy toward the Indo-Pacific and South Asia, with a particular focus on Afghanistan, U.S.- India strategic relations, Quad (U.S., Australia, India, and Japan) cooperation, counterterrorism strategy in South and Central Asia, and China’s role in the region.
Curtis served as Deputy Assistant to the President and NSC Senior Director for South and Central Asia from 2017-2021 under three successive National Security Advisors. During her tenure at the NSC, she coordinated U.S. policy development and implementation of the South Asia Strategy approved by the President in 2017 and was the NSC representative at several rounds of the U.S.-Taliban negotiations held in 2019 and 2020. She was also a key contributor to the Indo-Pacific Strategic Framework approved by the President in 2018.
Phyllis Wilson is a trailblazing leader, trusted advisor, and nationally recognized voice in purpose-driven leadership. As the 5th Command Chief Warrant Officer of the Army Reserve – the first woman in any component of the U.S. Army to hold the highest warrant officer position – she shaped strategy, culture, and the future of the military. Today, she is the President of the Military Women’s Memorial located at Arlington National Cemetery, which is America’s only major national memorial honoring the more than 3 million women who have defended America, from the American Revolution to today. Phyllis also serves on multiple nonprofit boards and offers her expertise as a national speaker on leadership, security, and workforce transformation.
Janine Davidson, Ph.D., has served as president of Metropolitan State University of Denver since 2017. She is a national thought leader in higher education and on topics such as public service, U.S. foreign policy and national security.
Prior to her time at MSU Denver, Davidson served as the 32nd under secretary of the United States Navy. Her appointment by then-President Barack Obama as Navy “under” followed nearly 30 years of academic, civilian and military service.
She has taught at George Mason University, Georgetown University, Davidson College and various professional military schools, and was an aviation and aerobatics flight instructor at the U.S. Air Force Academy. She recently returned to the classroom at MSU Denver, co-teaching a course on the philosophical and legal origins of freedom of speech in the United States.
Davidson began her career as an Air Force officer and cargo pilot. She was a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Squadron Officer School and was the first woman to fly the Air Force’s tactical C-130. Her various honors include: HillVets Top 100 Most Influential Veterans; University of South Carolina Distinguished Alumna; Secretary of the Navy Medal for Distinguished Public Service; Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service; Girl Scouts of Colorado 2018 Woman of Distinction; the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce 2019 Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business; a 2021 Denver Business Journal Most Admired CEO; and a 2022 9NEWS Leader of the Year finalist.
Camille Stewart Gloster is a strategist, attorney and executive whose crosscutting perspective on complex technology, cyber, and national security, and foreign policy issues has landed her in significant roles at leading government and private sector companies including the White House, Department of Homeland Security, Google, and Deloitte. Camille builds global cybersecurity, privacy, emerging technology and election security/integrity programs in complex environments for large companies and government agencies.
As the first Deputy National Cyber Director for Technology & Ecosystem for the White House, Camille advised the President and led national efforts on technology security, supply chain security, data security, emerging technology, and cyber workforce and education. She led the development and implementation of the 2023 National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy, and played an integral part in the drafting and implementation of the 2023 National Cybersecurity Strategy, the 2023 A.I. Executive Order, the 2024 Data Security Executive Order, and the 2023 U.S. National Standards Strategy for Critical & Emerging Technology. She also sat on the White House AI Council and led the Open Source Software Security Initiative.
Previously, she served as Google’s Global Head of Product Security Strategy, and before that as Head of Security Policy and Election Integrity for Google Play and Android.
Victoria J. Taylor is director of the Iraq Initiative in the Atlantic Council’s Middle East program. A national security leader with over two decades of experience in the Middle East and Europe, she led large interagency teams and advanced U.S. economic and national security interests as a Deputy Assistant Secretary, Deputy Chief of Mission, and at the White House National Security Council.
Prior to joining the Council, Taylor served as a career Senior Foreign Service Officer with the rank of Minister Counselor. She served most recently as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Iraq and Iran in the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, where she advised senior State Department leaders on Iraq and Iran in the aftermath of the Gaza conflict. She was the Director for North African Affairs from 2021 to 2023 and the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Croatia from 2018 to 2021. She has served as the Deputy Director for Western Europe in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and as the Director for Balkans, Caucasus, and Black Sea Affairs at the National Security Council, where advanced Montenegro’s NATO accession and strengthened U.S. defense cooperation with Georgia. Other Washington assignments include positions in the Office of Iranian Affairs, on the Turkey Desk in the Office of Southern European Affairs, and as an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Taylor has served overseas at U.S. Embassies in Georgia, Tunisia, and Pakistan, as well as at the U.S. Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan.
Taylor hails from Springfield, Missouri. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and diplomatic history from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in development studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She speaks French, Mandarin, Russian, and Urdu. She served as Chair of the American International School of Zagreb’s Board of Trustees from 2019-2021. She is member of the Council of Foreign Relations. She has been featured on BBC, CNN, Al Sharqiya, Iran International and other international media outlets.
Mary DeRosa is a Professor from Practice at Georgetown University Law Center, where she focuses on national security law. She is Director of Georgetown’s Global Law Scholars program and Co-Director of its Center on National Security and the Law.
Previously, Ms. DeRosa served as Deputy Assistant and Deputy Counsel to the President and National Security Council Legal Adviser in the Obama Administration. She has also served at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations as Alternate Representative of the United States to the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly, an ambassador-level position. Before the Obama Administration, Ms. DeRosa was Chief Counsel for National Security for the Senate Judiciary Committee, working for the Chairman, Senator Patrick Leahy; Senior Fellow for Technology and Public Policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Special Assistant to the President and National Security Council Legal Advisor, and earlier Deputy Legal Adviser, during the Clinton Administration; and Special Counsel to the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Defense. Earlier in her career, Ms. DeRosa was a lawyer at the Arnold & Porter law firm and a law clerk to the Honorable Richard Cardamone, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Lori J. Robinson is a nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute and the Belfer Center. She retired in 2018, after serving 37 years in the United States Air Force. She commanded at several levels of the Air Force from squadron command at the Air Force Fighter Weapons School, wing command for E-3 Airborne Warning and Control Aircraft (AWACS), major command at Pacific Air Forces. She culminated her career as a Combatant Commander at North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)and United States Northern Command (NorthCom). As the Commander, NORAD, she was responsible to both Canada’s and the United States’ most senior leadership for defending both countries against airborne and maritime threats. As the Commander, United States NorthCom, she was responsible for defending the United States against a North Korean ballistic missile attack and supporting several agencies for Defense Support for Civil Authorities. Lori Robinson also served in joint jobs, to include on the Joint Staff, the Deputy Combined Forces Air Component Commander for United States Central Command. Additionally, she worked on the Hill, to include running the Air Force Office for the House of Representatives, and was in charge of Air Force Legislative Liaison.
Mary O’Brien is a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general officer and a leader in cybersecurity, intelligence, emerging technology, and national security. With 34 years of distinguished military service, she commanded at every level of the Air Force and served in pivotal staff leadership roles, including the Joint Staff Director of Command, Control, Communications and Computer/Cyber, and Chief Information Officer, the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Cyber Effects Operations, and the Director of Intelligence, U.S. Cyber Command. An innovator, Mary pioneered advancements in the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles, networked weapons, and advanced intelligence sensors, significantly enhancing military operational capabilities. Mary is also a proud recipient of the National Defense University College of Information and Cyberspace Rear Admiral Grace Hopper Award, recognizing her innovative contributions to the fields of information and cyberspace.
She is the CEO of Mary O’Brien Strategies, LLC, a consulting business which provides clients with expert guidance to navigate complex digital challenges, focusing on risk mitigation, technology integration, and resilience-building strategies.
