Meet the Conference Speakers

Click a card to scroll to the corresponding bio.

The Honorable Susan M. Gordon
Former PDDNI

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Susan M. Gordon is the former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, serving from 2017-2019, where she advised the President on intelligence matters and provided operational leadership of the 17 agencies and organizations of the Intelligence Community (IC). She is a widely respected authority on risk management, technical innovation, and cyber and space issues. Today, she is an active board member, university fellow, and advises private companies in the areas of technology, strategy, and leadership.

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Throughout Ms. Gordon’s more than three decades in the IC, she led large scale organizational change and delivered revolutionary outcomes. Ms. Gordon worked to adapt the IC to emerging economic, military, and political trends impacting the current operating environment. Ms. Gordon led the establishment of In-Q-Tel, the Central Intelligence Agency’s venture arm, in the 1990s. In the last several years, she focused on advancing intelligence integration across the IC, expanding outreach and partnerships to the private sector and international allies, and driving innovation across the Community.

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Brad Smith

President, Microsoft

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As Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith leads a team of more than 1,500 business, legal and corporate affairs professionals located in 54 countries and operating in more than 120 nations. He plays a key role in spearheading the company’s work on critical issues involving the intersection of technology and society, including cybersecurity, privacy, artificial intelligence, environmental sustainability, human rights, immigration and philanthropy. In his recent bestselling book, coauthored with Microsoft’s Carol Ann Browne, Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age, Smith urges the tech sector to assume more responsibility and calls for governments to move faster to address the challenges that new technologies are creating.  The New York Times has called Smith “a de facto ambassador for the technology industry at large” and The Australian Financial Review has described him as “one of the technology industry’s most respected figures.” He has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress and other governments on these key policy issues.

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The Honorable Leslie Ireland
Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Intelligence and Analysis

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Leslie Ireland is the former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Intelligence and Analysis. She joined Treasury in 2010 after 25 years at CIA where she specialized in Iran, the Middle East and WMD. Ms. Ireland retired in November 2016 after more than 31 years in the Intelligence Community.

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Prior to joining the Treasury Department, from 2008-2010 Ms. Ireland served as daily intelligence briefer to President. As the first DNI Iran Mission Manager from 2005-2008, she served as the principal advisor to the DNI on Iran and was responsible for overseeing the intelligence process on Iran for the entire US government.

Ms. Ireland is the recipient of the Alexander Hamilton Award, the highest award bestowed by the Secretary of the Treasury, the Intelligence Community Seal Medallion, personally awarded by the DNI, the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal (2016 and 2008), and the CIA Intelligence Commendation Medal. She is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College and Georgetown University.

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Kevin Mandia
CEO, FireEye

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Kevin has been FireEye CEO since June 2016 and a member of the FireEye Board of Directors since February 2016. He previously served as FireEye President, from February 2015 until his appointment as CEO. Kevin joined the company as Senior Vice President and Chief operating Officer in December 2013, when FireEye acquired Mandiant, the company he founded in 2004.

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Dmitri Alperovitch
Executive Chairman, Silverado Policy Accelerator

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Dmitri Alperovitch is the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator, a non-profit focused on advancing American prosperity and global leadership in the 21st century and beyond. He is a Co-Founder and former CTO of CrowdStrike Inc., a leading cybersecurity company. A renowned computer security visionary, he is a thought-leader on cybersecurity strategy and state tradecraft and has served as special advisor to the Department of Defense. He is a frequent strategic cybersecurity advisor to CEOs and Board of Directors of public and private companies. Alperovitch is also an active angel investor and board member at multiple high-growth technology companies.

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With more than two decades of experience in the field of information security, Alperovitch is an inventor of 36 patented technologies and has conducted extensive research on reputation systems, spam detection, web security, public-key and identity-based cryptography, malware and intrusion detection and prevention. As a recognized authority on cyberespionage, cyber warfare, online organized criminal activity, and cybersecurity, Alperovitch has significant experience working as a subject matter expert with all levels of U.S. and international policy makers, intelligence and law enforcement agencies on analysis, investigations, and profiling of transnational organized criminal activities and cyber threats from terrorist and nation-state adversaries. He is a well-respected technical and policy thinker on the most difficult global cybersecurity issues, and is a frequent speaker at military, intelligence, law-enforcement, academic and security industry conferences. Alperovitch has published and given numerous talks on the contemporary issues in cybersecurity policy such as cyberdeterrence doctrine, Chinese-sponsored cyberespionage and the use of cyber weapons on the future battlefield. Alperovitch is frequently quoted as a cyberpolicy and cybersecurity expert source in national media, including 60 Minutes, Frontline, The New York Times and The Washington Post. He has testified before US Senate Armed Services Committee.

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General David H. Petraeus
Chairman, KKR Global Institute

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General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) is a Partner and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he established in May 2013. He is also a member of the boards of directors of Optiv and FirstStream, a venture investor in some 20 startups, and engaged in a variety of academic endeavors. Prior to joining KKR, General Petraeus served over 37 years in the U.S. military, culminating his career with six consecutive commands, five of which were in combat, including command of the Surge in Iraq, command of U.S. Central Command, and command of coalition forces in Afghanistan.

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Ciaran Martin
Former CEO, National Cyber Security Centre (UK)

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Ciaran Martin founded the UK’s world leading National Cyber Security Centre and headed it for the first four years of its existence. Currently, after stepping down from his role with NCSC at the end of August 2020, Ciaran holds the position of Professor of Practice in the Management of Public Organisations at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government and advises NATO and a number of private sector organisations on cyber security strategies.

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Brandon Wales

Acting Director, CISA

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Brandon Wales was designated by President Trump as the Acting Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), on November 17, 2020. As Acting Director, Mr. Wales oversees CISA’s efforts to defend civilian networks, manage systemic risk to national critical functions, and work with stakeholders to raise the security baseline of the Nation’s cyber and physical infrastructure.

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Prior to this, he was CISA's first Executive Director, serving as the senior career executive overseeing execution of the Director and Deputy Director’s vision for CISA operations and mission support. He was responsible for leading long-term strategy development, managing CISA-wide policy initiatives and ensuring effective operational collaboration across the Agency.

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Chris Inglis 

Former Deputy Director, NSA

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Chris Inglis retired from the Department of Defense in January 2014 following over 41 years of federal service, including 28 years at NSA and seven and a half years as its senior civilian and Deputy Director. Mr. Inglis’ military career includes over 30 years of service in the U.S. Air Force from which he retired as a Brigadier General in 2006. Mr. Inglis currently serves in the U.S. Naval Academy’s Robert and Mary M. Looker Distinguished Chair for Cyber Studies.

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David Luber 

Deputy Director, NSA’s Cybersecurity Directorate

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David P. Luber recently took over as Deputy Director of the National Security Agency’s Cybersecurity Directorate, which is charged with preventing and eradicating threats to U.S. National Security Systems and critical infrastructure.

Prior to assuming this role, Dave served as the Executive Director (ExDIR) in the United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM). The ExDIR position represents the highest-ranking civilian and third-in-command at USCYBERCOM. Mr. Luber led an organization of over 12,000 personnel, to include a headquarters element, six large Service Cyber Components,133 Cyber Mission Force Teams consisting of over 6,000 cyber warriors, and Department of Defense (DoD) enterprise defense forces. He drove global cyber operations to defend the DoD network, provides cyber options for combatant commanders, and defends U.S. critical infrastructure, while shaping a budget of nearly $700M, and elements of DoD budgets totaling in the billions.

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Mark Warner 
U.S. Senator from Virginia, Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee

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Senator Warner was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2008 and reelected to a third term in November 2020. He serves on the Senate Finance, Banking, Budget, and Rules Committees as well as the Select Committee on Intelligence, where he is the Chairman. During his time in the Senate, Senator Warner has established himself as a bipartisan leader who has worked with Republicans and Democrats alike to cut red tape, increase government performance and accountability, and promote private sector innovation and job creation. Senator Warner has been recognized as a national leader in fighting for our military men and women and veterans, and in working to find bipartisan, balanced solutions to address our country's debt and deficit.

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From 2002 to 2006, he served as Governor of Virginia. When he left office in 2006, Virginia was ranked as the best state for business, the best managed state, and the best state in which to receive a public education.

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The first in his family to graduate from college, Mark Warner spent 20 years as a successful technology and business leader in Virginia before entering public office. An early investor in the cellular telephone business, he co-founded the company that became Nextel and invested in hundreds of start-up technology companies that created tens of thousands of jobs.

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Conrad Prince

Former Deputy Director of GCHQ 

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Conrad Prince served as the Director General for Operations and Deputy Director of GCHQ from 2008 – 2015. In those roles he led GCHQ’s intelligence operations and was responsible for the development of the UK’s national offensive cyber capability. From 2015 – 2018 he was the UK’s first Cyber Security Ambassador, leading cyber capacity building work with a number of key UK allies. He retired after 28 years of Government service in January 2018, and now holds a range of advisory roles in cyber and security.

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Kelly Bissell

Global Managing Director, Accenture Security

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Kelly leads Accenture’s Global Security business. In his role, Kelly oversees the spectrum of security services including strategic consulting, cyber defense, digital identity, response and remediation services, and managed security services. He also helps chief executives and the boards of companies understand ‘the new’ and approach cybersecurity with a balance of cost and risk.

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With more than 25 years of security industry experience, Kelly specializes in breach incident response, identity management, privacy and data protection, secure software development, and cyber risk management. His role as the Accenture Security lead spans strategic consulting, proactive risk management and digital identity to cyber defense, response and remediation services, and managed security services—across all industries. Kelly is also affiliated to OASIS, a non-profit consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of open standards for the global information society.

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Matt Olsen

Chief Security and Trust Officer, Uber

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Matthew Olsen is the Chief Trust and Security Officer at Uber. Olsen spent over twenty years working for the U.S. government, most recently as the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC).  Prior to his appointment to NCTC, Olsen served as the General Counsel for the National Security Agency and Special Counsel to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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Matt Hayden

Former Assistant Secretary; Homeland Security for Cyber, Infrastructure, Risk and Resilience Policy

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Matt Hayden served as the Assistant Secretary for Cyber, Infrastructure, Risk and Resilience Policy at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In this role, Mr. Hayden was responsible for leading DHS policy development in support of department-wide efforts to reduce national risks with a focus on critical infrastructure cybersecurity, federal network security, countering cyber-crime, and improving the security and resilience of the global cyber ecosystem, as well as national resilience initiatives that enhance Federal, State, and local government and community preparedness and response capabilities. Additionally, Mr. Hayden served as an expert advisor on Cyber, Infrastructure, Risk and Resilience matters to the Under Secretary, Secretary, and other high-level officials.

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Mr. Hayden previously was the Senior Advisor to the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Private Sector within the Office of Partnership and Engagement at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In these roles, Mr. Hayden advised the Secretary, and Director on the impact of the Department’s policies, regulations, and processes on private sector companies, and enhanced strategic communications to help the public and private sectors jointly meet their shared responsibility for protecting and strengthening the nation’s critical infrastructure against cyber and physical threats.

Prior to joining DHS, Mr. Hayden was a senior executive with the National Disability Rights Network focusing on the use of technology and modernization for the national membership including, accessibility of digital content, securing PII, cloud utilization, and e-records management.

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Alex Cresswell

Former Member, British Foreign Service

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Alex left the British Foreign Service in 2020 after 27 years in a variety of National Security roles, often including a technology angle. He has led an operational division of GCHQ and has served in the Cabinet Office, directing the team of analysts (the Joint Intelligence Organisation) which provides the British Prime Minister’s daily briefing and strategic assessments for the NSC. From 2017, Alex served as FCO Mission Lead for Cyber and Technology, working with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to provide an important element of the UK’s operational defense against cyber threats. Alex did postings in South Africa, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan and Mexico. He is currently Chair in AI and Digital at Manchester University.

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Andrew Stewart

National Security and Government Senior Strategist for Cybersecurity, Cisco Systems, Inc.

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Andrew D. Stewart is a National Security and Government Senior Strategist for Cybersecurity at Cisco Systems, Inc. He works across Cisco’s Global Government practice but focuses primarily on National Defense and Intelligence. He has been with Cisco for the last 3 years after retiring from almost 30 years in the U.S. Navy where he last served as the Chief of Cyber Operations for Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. TENTH Fleet. He also served as the Commanding Officer and Program Manager of the Navy Cyber Warfare Development Group (NCWDG). He is a graduate of the Sellinger School of Business, Loyola University Maryland and the Cybersecurity and Policy Executive Program from the Harvard Kennedy School.  He is also a graduate from the Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, CA, the United States Naval Academy, the National Defense University, and the Naval War College. 

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Frank J. Cilluffo

Director, McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security at Auburn University

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Frank J. Cilluffo is the director of Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security.
 
Cilluffo is a member of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission and the Department of Homeland Security’s Advisory Council, and he’s routinely called upon to advise senior officials in the executive branch, U.S. Armed Services, and state and local governments on an array of matters related to national and homeland security strategy and policy. In addition to briefing Congressional committees and their staffs, he has publicly testified before Congress on numerous occasions, serving as a subject matter expert on policies related to cyber threats, counterterrorism, security and deterrence, weapons proliferation, organized crime, intelligence and threat assessments, emergency management, and border and transportation security. Similarly, he works with U.S. allies and organizations such as NATO and Europol. He has presented at a number of bi-lateral and multi-lateral summits on cybersecurity and countering terrorism, including the U.N. Security Council.
 
Following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Cilluffo was appointed by President George W. Bush to the newly created Office of Homeland Security. There, he was involved in a wide range of homeland security and counterterrorism strategies, policy initiatives and served as a principal advisor to Director Tom Ridge, directing the president’s Homeland Security Advisory Council.

Cilluffo then joined George Washington University in 2003, establishing the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security as a prominent nonpartisan "think and do tank" dedicated to building bridges between theory and practice to advance U.S. security. He served as an associate vice president where he led a number of national security and cybersecurity policy and research initiatives. He directed the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security and, with the School of Business, launched the university’s World Executive MBA in Cybersecurity program.

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Prior to his White House appointment, Cilluffo spent eight years in senior policy positions with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank. There, he chaired or directed numerous committees and task forces on homeland defense, counterterrorism and transnational organized crime, as well as information warfare and information assurance.

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John Davis

U.S. Army Major General (Ret.); Vice President of Public Sector, Palo Alto Networks

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Retired U.S. Army Major General John Davis is the Vice President, Public Sector for Palo Alto Networks, where he is responsible for expanding cybersecurity initiatives and global policy for the international public sector and assisting governments around the world to successfully prevent cyber breaches. Prior to joining Palo Alto Networks, John served as the Senior Military Advisor for Cyber to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and served as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy. Prior to this assignment, he served in multiple leadership positions in special operations, cyber, and information operations. John earned a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, Master of Military Art and Science from U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and Bachelor of Science from U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

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Ryan Whelan

Industry Innovation Fellow, Cyber Portfolio, Defense Innovation Unit

Ryan Whelan is an Industry Innovation Fellow at the Defense Innovation Unit's Cyber Portfolio. As a fellow he supports commercial engagement, technology scouting, and prototype portfolio management. His fellowship was made possible through a DOD CIO program called the Cyber Information Technology Exchange Program, which supports collaboration between the Department and industry through professional exchanges. He joined DIU from Mandiant Intelligence, where he leads their Global Intelligence Services business. In that role he advances FireEye's mission to relentlessly protect its customers by helping intel clients optimize their intelligence investment through expertise and leveraging new technologies. Ryan is an Army veteran and reserve officer with an intelligence community background where he worked as a government civilian and later as a strategy consultant focused on executive advisory for digital transformations and new technology investment. Ryan lives in Sunnyvale, CA with his wife, three kids, and two dogs.

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Michael Chertoff

Former Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Co-Founder, The Chertoff Group

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Michael Chertoff is the Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of the Chertoff Group.  He served as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2005-2009.

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James Lewis
Senior Vice President and Director, Strategic Technologies Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) 

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James Andrew Lewis is a senior vice president and director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He has authored numerous publications on the relationship between technology, innovation, and national power. His current research examines international security and governance in cyberspace, the geopolitics of innovation, the future of warfare, and the effect of the internet on politics. Mr. Lewis is an internationally recognized expert on cybersecurity and technology and was one of the first to approach cybersecurity as a policy and strategic problem. His writings include the best-selling Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency, the national cybersecurity strategy cited by President Obama in the first speech by a U.S. president on cybersecurity and that became a template for cyber strategy in other countries. Mr. Lewis was the rapporteur for the United Nations' successful 2010, 2013, and 2015 Group of Government Experts on Information Security, whose reports set out the global agenda for cybersecurity by emphasizing norms for responsible state behavior, confidence building, and capacity-building measures.
 
Before joining CSIS, Mr. Lewis worked at the Departments of State and Commerce as a foreign service officer and as a member of the Senior Executive Service. His government experience included a range of politico-military and negotiating assignments, including the development of groundbreaking policies on commercial remote sensing, encryption, and advanced conventional weapons. He was assigned as a political advisor to the U.S. Southern Command for Operation Just Cause, the U.S. Central Command for Operation Desert Shield, and the Central American Task Force. Mr. Lewis served on the U.S. delegations to the Cambodian peace process and the Permanent Five talks on arms transfers and nonproliferation, and he negotiated bilateral agreements on transfers of military technology to Asia and the Middle East. He led the U.S. delegation to the Wassenaar Arrangement Experts Group on advanced civilian and military technologies. Mr. Lewis led a long-running Track 2 dialogue on cybersecurity with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. He has served as a member of the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, the Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy, and the Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing and as an advisor to government agencies on the security and intelligence implications of foreign investment in the United States. Mr. Lewis is frequently quoted in the media and has testified numerous times before Congress. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. 
 

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Glen Gerstell
Former General Counsel, National Security Agency

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Glenn S. Gerstell, a Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, served as the General Counsel of the National Security Agency and Central Security Service from 2015 to 2020. He has written and spoken widely about the intersections of technology and national security and privacy.

Prior to joining NSA, Mr. Gerstell practiced law for almost 40 years at the international law firm of Milbank, LLP, where he focused on the global telecommunications industry and served as the managing partner of the firm’s Washington, D.C., Singapore, and Hong Kong offices.

Mr. Gerstell served on the President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council, which reports to the President and the Secretary of Homeland Security on security threats to the nation’s infrastructure, as well as on the District of Columbia Homeland Security Commission.

A graduate of New York University and Columbia University School of Law, Mr. Gerstell is an elected member of The American Academy of Diplomacy and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Earlier in his career, he was an Adjunct Law Professor at the Georgetown University School of Law and New York Law School. He is a recipient of the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service and the NSA Distinguished Civilian Service Medal.

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David Sanger
National Security Correspondent, The New York Times

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David E. Sanger is a White House and national security correspondent, and a senior writer. In a 38-year reporting career for The New York Times, he has been on three teams that have won Pulitzer Prizes, most recently in 2017 for international reporting. His newest book, “The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age,’’ and an HBO documentary by the same title, examine the emergence of cyberconflict and its role in changing the nature of global power.

He is also the author of two Times best sellers on foreign policy and national security: “The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power,” published in 2009, and “Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power,” published in 2012. For The Times, Mr. Sanger has served as Tokyo bureau chief, Washington economic correspondent, White House correspondent during the Clinton and Bush administrations, and chief Washington correspondent.

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Norm Roule
Former National Intelligence Manager for Iran, ODNI

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Norman T. Roule served for 34-years in the Central Intelligence Agency, managing numerous programs relating to Iran and the Middle East.   He served as the National Intelligence Manager for Iran (NIM-I) at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence from November 2008 until September 2017.  As NIM-I, he was the principal Intelligence Community (IC) official responsible for overseeing all aspects of national intelligence policy and activities related to Iran, to include IC engagement on Iran issues with senior policy makers in the National Security Council and the Department of State.

Mr. Roule’s service in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations included roles as Division Chief, Deputy Division Chief and Chief of Station.  He has held multiple senior assignments in Washington as well as during his 15 years working overseas.

Mr. Roule currently serves as a Senior Adviser to the Counter Extremism Project and United Against Nuclear Iran.

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Gilman Louie

Partner, Alsop-Louie Partners

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Gilman Louie is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of LookingGlass Cyber Solutions and a founding partner at Alsop Louie Partners. He is also the Chairman of the Federation of American Scientists and a director at the Markle Foundation. He founded and formerly led In-Q-Tel, a strategic venture fund created to help enhance national security by connecting the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Intelligence community with venture-backed entrepreneurial companies.

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Ellen Nakashima

National Security Reporter, The Washington Post

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Ellen Nakashima is a national security reporter for The Washington Post. She covers cybersecurity counterterrorism and intelligence issues. She has probed Russia’s efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election and contacts between aides to President Trump and Russian officials, work which led her and her colleagues to win a Pulitzer Prize in 2018. She was part of another team awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2014 for reporting on the hidden scope of government surveillance and its policy implications. Ms. Nakashima has also served as a Southeast Asia correspondent and covered the White House and Virginia state politics. She joined The Post in 1995.

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Lauren Zabierek

Executive Director, The Cyber Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center

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Lauren Zabierek is the Executive Director of the Cyber Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. She comes to this role as a 2019 graduate of the Kennedy School's mid-career MPA program.

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Lauren served as an intelligence officer in the United States Air Force at the beginning of her career. Later, as a civilian intelligence analyst with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) assigned to the Office of Counterterrorism, she completed three war zone deployments where she worked to identify and dismantle terror networks. Throughout her six years at NGA, she became a subject matter expert on Activity Based Intelligence (ABI) and served as an adjunct professor in ABI at the NGA college.

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After leaving NGA, she joined the cybersecurity threat intelligence startup Recorded Future, and was instrumental in building its Public Sector business practice. In her role as a Senior Intelligence Analyst, she fused intelligence methodologies with cybersecurity and machine learning technologies to help public and private sector customers improve their cyber posture. She also managed a team of analysts and worked alongside the Product Management and Training teams to improve her customers' experience with the software.

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A Gold Star Sister, Lauren is committed to supporting families of the fallen and has volunteered several times as a mentor with the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). She co-founded the Recorded Future Women's Mentorship Initiative, helped to start a women's initiative at NGA, is a member of the NatSecGirlSquad, and is the co-founder of the online social media movement called #ShareTheMicInCyber, which aims to dismantle racism and sexism in cybersecurity and privacy.

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Dr. Catherine Lotrionte

Founding Director, Institute for International Cyber Stability​

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Dr. Catherine Lotrionte is Founding Director of the Institute for International Cyber Stability and is a Senior Researcher at Georgetown University, a Senior Associate in the Technology Policy Program at CSIS and a Senior Fellow at the McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security at Auburn University. Previously she served as the Brent Scowcroft scholar at the Atlantic Council. She is also the founder and former Director of the CyberProject at Georgetown University, where she has taught and written on international and national security law, international affairs and technology.  At Georgetown she founded the CyberProject in 2008 and the Annual International Conference on Cyber Engagement which draws on the experience of government practitioners, industry representatives and academic scholars, providing technical, corporate, legal and policy perspectives from the international community. Lotrionte served as Counsel to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board at the White House, on the Joint Inquiry Committee of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence investigating the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as an Assistant General Counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency and in the U.S. Department of Justice. 

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She is an internationally recognized expert on international law and cyber conflict and has testified before Congress and NATO on cyber issues.  She has authored numerous publications on a broad array of topics, including espionage, information technology, international law, and deterrence and is a frequent speaker at cyber conferences across the global.

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Dr. Lotrionte holds a MA and Ph.D. from Georgetown University and a J.D. from New York University.  She currently serves on the board of directors of the American Federation of Scientists and is a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council. She served on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Cybersecurity, the Center for Strategic and International Studies Cyber Policy Task Force, and the CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force on Defending an Open, Global, Secure, and Resilient Internet.  She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.   

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Thomas Fanning

Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer; The Southern Company

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Thomas A. (Tom) Fanning is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Southern Company, America’s premier energy company. Elected by the board of directors in July 2010, he became president of Southern Company in August 2010, and assumed the additional responsibilities of chairman and CEO in December 2010. 

He has worked for Southern Company for four decades and has held 15 different positions in eight different business units, including numerous officer positions with a variety of Southern Company subsidiaries in the areas of finance, strategy, international business development and technology.

Fanning has served as chief operating officer, where he was responsible for Southern Company’s generation and transmission, engineering and construction services, research and environmental affairs, system planning and competitive generation business units. He also was responsible for leading Southern Company’s efforts on business strategy and served as a director of Southern Nuclear, Southern Company’s nuclear plant operating company. 

Also, Fanning previously was the company’s chief financial officer, where he was responsible for the accounting, finance, tax, investor relations, treasury and risk management functions. In this role, he served as the chief risk officer and had responsibility for corporate strategy. Prior to assuming the role of chief financial officer, Fanning was president and CEO of Gulf Power. 

Fanning is co-chair of the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council, which serves as the principal liaison between the federal government and the electric power sector to protect the electric grid from threats that could impact national security, including cyber and physical terrorism as well as natural disasters. He also collaborates with the Tri-Sector Executive Working Group, which was formed by the electricity, finance, and communications sectors to enhance national and economic security by developing a cross-sector strategic framework to address existential threats, risk and consequence management. 

His leadership in the cybersecurity area was recognized by the U.S. Senate with an appointment to the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, a group developing a protection strategy for the cyberspace interests of the United States.

From 2012-2018, Fanning served on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and is a past chairman.  He is also a past chairman of the Conference of Chairs of the Federal Reserve Banks and the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). 

Fanning sits on the advisory board of the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business, the board of trustees of the Georgia Tech Foundation, the board of directors of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations and the regional governing board of the World Association of Nuclear Operators’ Atlanta Centre. He also serves on the board of directors of Vulcan Materials Company and is a member of the Business Roundtable. Fanning also is a member of the international advisory board of the Atlantic Council, which promotes constructive leadership and engagement in international affairs, and the American Energy Innovation Council, a group of America’s leading business executives working to build broad bipartisan support for public and private investments in innovation. 

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Suzanne Kelly

CEO and Publisher

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Suzanne Kelly is CEO & Publisher of The Cipher Brief and most recently served as CNN’s Intelligence Correspondent before spending two years in the private sector. She also worked as an Executive Producer for CNN and as a news anchor at CNN International based in Berlin and Atlanta. In Berlin, she anchored a morning news program that was broadcast live in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and from Atlanta, she anchored a number of world news programs. She covered the NATO campaign in 1999 from Kosovo and Macedonia.

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Rick Ledgett

Former Deputy Director, NSA

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Rick Ledgett served as the Deputy Director of the National Security Agency from January 2014 until his retirement in April 2017, culminating a nearly 40 year career in cryptology at NSA and in the U.S. Army. He previously led the Media Leaks Task Force, the Agency’s response to the Snowden leaks. He was the first National Intelligence Manager for Cyber at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and he directed NSA’s 24/7 cyber threat operations center. Ledgett currently serves on the board of M&T Bank, is a senior visiting fellow at MITRE, a member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, and a Board Trustee at IDA.