Laura Nelson

Laura Nelson serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Cryptologic Foundation since January 2019. Previously, Laura held various senior leadership positions at the United States Department of Defense and the National Security Agency from April 2002 to February 2018. Notably, Laura was the inaugural leader of the Enterprise Discovery Operations, overseeing a global workforce of over 1,000 personnel focused on enhancing NSA’s discovery and analytics through innovative technologies and methodologies. Laura's background includes leadership roles in SIGINT strategy and cryptanalysis, where significant contributions were made towards advancing national intelligence capabilities. Academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering from Virginia Tech and Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering, respectively.