National Security Institute expands advisory board to include new industry, government experts

The Virginia Tech National Security Institute recently expanded its advisory board to include 10 new members.

“Our mission at the National Security Institute is to meet the pressing needs of the defense and intelligence communities,” said Eric Paterson, executive director. "The new board members bring a wealth of expertise that will greatly enhance our ability to developing their future workforce and advancing interdisciplinary research and technology"

Composed of high-profile experts who represent government, industry, and higher education institutions, the board works with the institute’s team to gain new insights, anticipate opportunities and future challenges, forge new connections, explore sustainable growth strategies, and cement the institute as the destination for talent, research, and innovation in Virginia and beyond. 

“Over the next few years, advice from our advisory board will be critical as we scale up the vision so clearly defined by the founding of the Hume Center with an intentional focus on the intersection of research execution with student experiential learning,” said Paterson. “We endeavor to see our model deployed to thousands of Virginia Tech students. The guidance from our board will be very important to make sure we align our faculty expertise with critical and emerging technologies that serve the needs of industry and government.“

The advisory board was created in 2022 with the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology advisory board serving as a foundation.

New advisory board members are:   

• Bear Ard, retired brigadier general, Air Force, Office of the Director of National Intelligence
• Jason Bales, chief technology officer, CACI Inc.
• Phil Eichensehr, chief technology officer, BT Design LLC
• Kevin Fogarty, senior vice president and chief technology officer for Commercial and International Sector, Leidos
• George Barnes, president, Cyber Practice, and retired deputy director, National Security Agency
• Chris Jones, chief technology officer, Nightwing
• Kevin Keating, senior vice president, Aerospace Corp
• Kirk McConnell, retired, U.S. Senate staff member
• Gregory Simer, vice president, Northrop Grumman
• Karen Warack, founder and chief executive office, Techtonic Shift

Returning advisory board members are:

• David Appel, vice president, national security division of Amazon Web Services
• Timothy Barton, chief technology officer, DESE Research Inc. 
• Kenneth Bible, retired chief information security officer, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• Valerie Browning, vice president for research and technology, corporate technology office of Lockheed Martin
• Leanne Caret, retired executive vice president and senior advisor, Boeing
• Chris Cummisky, chief executive officer, Cummiskey Strategic Solutions LLC
• John Saad, president, Guidehouse
• Robert Wilkie, former Secretary of Veterans Affairs
• Charles Clancy, senior vice president, general manager, chief futurist, MITRE
• Bob Flores, founder and chief executive officer, Applicology Incorporated
• Ted Hume, retired, U.S. government
• Scott Stapp, chief technology officer, DEFCON AI

Emeritus advisory board members are:

• Lisa Finneran, vice president of engineering, General Dynamics Mission Systems
• Glenn Kurowski, retired senior vice president, chief technology officer, CACI International Inc.
• Fran Landolf, principal, Core Consulting LLC
• Letitia A. "Tish" Long, chairman, Board of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, director, NGA
• Stephanie O’Sullivan, consultant and retired principal deputy director, national intelligence
• Victor R. McCrary Jr., vice president for research, professor of chemistry, University of the District of Columbia
• Jeanne Tisinger, U.S. government
• John Treichler, chief technical officer, Raytheon Applied Signal Technology
• B. Lynn Wright, independent consultant, T.S. Pilgrim LLC