Kim Crider

Major General Kim Crider (Ret.) joined The Cohen Group as a Senior Counselor in August 2021 following a distinguished 35-year military career.

She is an executive leader and recognized expert in aerospace, information technology, cybersecurity, data analytics, strategy, governance, and digital transformation, with over 35 years’ experience in managing multi-billion-dollar global operations and technology programs. A retired Major General in the US Air Force, Major General Crider most recently served as the Chief Technology and Innovation Officer for the United States Space Force, Pentagon, Washington, DC, where she oversaw a $2.5 billion Space Science and Technology portfolio and directed a $750 million digital services portfolio to advance the $15 billion global military space enterprise for 16,000 personnel. Prior to that, Major General Crider was the Air Force Chief Data Officer and led the implementation of the $100 million enterprise-data management portfolio to assure availability of operational and business data to over 850,000 military, civilian, and contract users across the Department of the Air Force $126 billion enterprise.

Major General Crider is highly regarded for her strong executive leadership in building successful organizations that deliver competitive advantage and extraordinary results at scale. She is a proven change leader who drives growth strategies, creates public-private partnerships, inspires and guides large scale organizational transformation, builds consensus, gains the adoption of new ideas, and resolves complex enterprise challenges through technology innovation. In her military experience, Major General Crider has served around the world, and has been a seminal leader in global space, air, and cyberspace operations; coalition and allied command, control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; and enterprise-wide IT, data, and digital transformation. Beyond her military responsibilities, Major General Crider built two specialty consulting firms focused on strategic innovation, IT/data strategy, agile development, and digital services in the education, architecture and engineering, cybersecurity, financial services, and health technology sectors. A senior engineer at the MITRE Corporation for 15 years, Major General Crider led the engineering for global enterprise networks, cybersecurity, and advanced surveillance radar systems across the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

Major General Crider is universally respected as a motivational leader, speaker, and subject matter expert in cyber, data analytics, and the diffusion of digital technology into organizational cultures. She has addressed hundreds of technical, business, and university forums, guided key task forces, advised C-suite executives in industry and government, and prepared testimony to Congress. She has received a number of prestigious awards, including National Defense citations, FCW “Federal 100 Top Leaders,” AF Gaming “Inspiring Women Leaders,” FedScoop “Top Women in Technology,” USAF Reserve “Profiles in Leadership,” and the Women’s Center for Leadership Annual Leadership Award.

Major General Crider earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Duke University, a Master of Business Administration degree from Western New England University, and a Graduate Certificate degree in Organizational Behavior from Harvard University. She graduated with distinction from the US Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College and the National Defense University Industrial College of the Armed Forces and has completed numerous executive education courses at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the University of Tennessee.