Kirstjen Nielsen

Kirstjen Nielsen has worked across the globe as a speaker, author and thought leader in addressing critical global security issues, including emerging threats, resilience, and cybersecurity for over two decades.

Ms. Nielsen’s breadth of experience stands uniquely at the crossroads of policy, strategy, and operations, enabling her to steward integrated initiatives in complex enterprise environments, preparing organizations to navigate ever-emerging cybersecurity threats, manage risk, and ensure resiliency. She is currently the founder of her second global advisory services firm, Lighthouse Strategies, and advises investors and technology companies on risk management, government mission requirements, new technology use cases across the public and private security spectrum, and the mitigation of potential threats or vulnerabilities posed by new technologies.

Ms. Nielsen most recently served as the sixth U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, where she oversaw 240,000 law enforcement, civilian and military employees and a $70 billion annual budget. During her tenure, Secretary Nielsen drove major organizational change at DHS to protect the nation against evolving threats and better equip frontline defenders, including increasing consequences for malicious cyber actors, launching sophisticated efforts to block terrorists from infiltrating the US, successfully working with Congress to create the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and crafting new legislative authorities to protect civilians against weaponized drones and chemical/biological weapons. Previously, Ms. Nielsen held various positions in government, including White House Principal Deputy Chief of Staff, Senior Director on the Homeland Security Council and other senior positions in the executive and legislative branches of government.

Internationally recognized as a national security expert, Ms. Nielsen is active on a variety of advisory and policy boards, promoting government, non-profit, and private sector security collaboration. She holds a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.