Wade Saunders

Wade Saunders has an extensive work experience in the field of information security. Wade began their career in 2007 as a Senior Systems Consultant at IBM, where they were responsible for endpoint security and system hardening for Gap Clothing Inc.'s European growth initiative. In 2008, they became a Senior Systems Consultant/Owner at Saunders Solutions LLC, managing an IT decoupling project of a major grocery retail chain divestiture. Later that year, they joined Serco as a Deployment Adviser, where they were the IT manager for Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) site issues and the site security manager for DEERS processing and issuance of government Common Access Cards (CAC). In 2011, they joined the US Army as a Theater All Source Intelligence Section Lead, where they were responsible for the battalion operations security officer, managing training, assessments, working groups and overall operations security policy. Wade also served as the Assistant S3 coordinating major training events. In 2017, they joined the North East Cyber Protection Center, US Army Reserve Cyber Protection Brigade as the Threat Intelligence Mission Element Lead, leading a Cyber threat intelligence fusion cell specializing in enemy tactics, techniques and procedures. In 2018, they joined Raytheon as an Information System Security Manager, responsible for the Information Assurance (IA) program. In 2020, they joined the US Army Cyber Protection Brigade as an Analytic Support Cell Lead, leading a Joint Chiefs initiative to establish the defensive cyber operations internal defense measures of the Joint Systems Integration Laboratory (JSIL) enclaves. Finally, in 2021 they joined the Joint Communications Support Element as a Defensive Cyber Operations Planner, responsible for technical advisement of Operational Plans (OPLANS), Operational Orders (OPORDs), Planning Orders (PLORD), and Fragmentary Orders (FRAGOs). Currently, they are an DOD Account Manager at Sealing Technologies Inc.

Wade Saunders obtained a Bachelor's degree in Computer and Information Systems Security/Information Assurance from the University of South Carolina between 2000 and 2004. In 2018, they obtained a Master's degree in Enterprise Architecture from Penn State University. During their time at Penn State, they also obtained a Project Management Graduate Certificate in 2019, an Enterprise Information and Security Technical Architecture Graduate Certificate in 2018, and an Enterprise Architecture Graduate Certificate in 2018. Additionally, Wade Saunders has obtained a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) from EC-Council in 2020, a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) from (ISC)² in 2019, and a Certified Network Defense Architect (CNDA) from EC-Council in 2020.