Leadership

NCSF Founder

Alan Paller, 1945-2021

It is with deep sadness that we share the news that our founder and the Chair of the National Cyber Scholarship Foundation Board of Directors, Alan Paller, passed away on November 9, 2021.

Read the NCSF’s announcement

Alan Paller founded SANS, a professional cybersecurity training school that trains more than 40,000 cybersecurity technologists each year. He also founded and was president of SANS Technology Institute, the nation’s first regionally accredited specialized cybersecurity college and graduate school. For more than two decades, he oversaw a global program that identifies and celebrates people responsible for remarkable improvement in cyber risk reduction, and chaired the annual RSA keynote panel on the “Seven Most Dangerous New Attack Vectors.”

Alan testified before the US Senate and House of Representatives and was an initial member of President Clinton’s National Infrastructure Assurance Council. He was chosen by President Bush’s OMB and the Federal CIO Council as the 2005 Azimuth Award winner, a lifetime achievement award recognizing outstanding service of a single, non-government person to improving federal information technology. In 2010, the Washington Post named him one of seven people “worth knowing in cyber security.” Alan co-chaired the DHS Homeland Security Advisory Committee’s 2012 Task Force on Cyber Skills and headed the Task Force on Best Practices in Cybersecurity for the FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council and was a member of the NASA Advisory Council.

NCSF Board of Directors

Michele Guel

Michele D. Guel has been an avid speaker, influencer and evangelist in the cybersecurity industry for 31 years. She joined Cisco in March 1996 as the founding member of Cisco’s internal security team. During her 24+ years at Cisco, she has worked in all facets of data, information, network security, IoT operational security excellence and has established many “firsts” at Cisco. In her current role in the Office of the CTO for the Security Business Group, she is focused on data security and privacy strategies for Cisco products and offerings.

In 2010, Michele was promoted to Distinguished Engineer (DE), one of 9 female DEs across Cisco today. In 2014 she co-founded Cisco’s Women in Cybersecurity Community which focuses on developing the next generation of women cybersecurity leaders. In 2016 she received the prestigious Anita Borg’s 2016 Women of Vision Technology Leadership Award.

Prior to joining Cisco, Michele spent 11 years at NASA Ames Research Center, where she formulated, founded and headed the information security program for the Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation (NAS) Facility.

Franklin Reeder

Frank was a co-founder and the chairman of the Center for Internet Security, a not-for-profit established "to help organizations around the world effectively manage the organizational risks related to information security ..." He served at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for more than 20 years between where he was chief of Information Polic, Deputy Associate Director for Veterans Affairs and Personnel, and Assistant Director for General Management. While a member of the information policy staff and later as its chief, he represented the Administration in negotiating and securing enactment of the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Computer Security Act of 1987 and wrote the guidelines on implementing the Privacy Act. From 1995-97, he served as Director of the Office of Administration of the Executive Office of the President under President Bill Clinton.

From 2000 to 2006 Frank chaired the Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a federal advisory committee. He was a member of the Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency, the Arlington County Virginia Information Technology Advisory Commission and the Social Security Commissioner’s advisory panel on Future Systems Technology. He was a member of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team serving on the OMB and White House agency review teams and the technology innovation and government reform team.

Frank created and taught a course in the use of information technology in a democratic society for the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. He also served as a leadership coach for the Council on Excellence in Government and helped conceive and build several programs designed to recognize individuals and teams who have made singular contributions to technology in Government, including the Federal 100 Awards.

Essye Miller

Essye recently retired as the Principal Deputy, Department of Defense Chief Information Officer (DoD CIO) where she was the primary advisor to the Secretary of Defense for Information Management / Information Technology (IT) and Information Assurance, as well as non-intelligence space systems; critical satellite communications, navigation, and timing programs; spectrum; and telecommunications. She was responsible for ensuring that the DoD CIO has a well-defined and executed cybersecurity program, and coordinating cybersecurity standards, policies, and procedures with other federal agencies, coalition partners, and industry. Prior to joining the DoD CIO, Ms. Miller was the Director of Cybersecurity for the Army CIO and served as the Army's Senior Information Assurance Officer, responsible for the development, implementation, execution, and oversight of the Army's Cybersecurity Program. Ms. Miller was awarded the Presidential Rank Award as for exceptional service over an extended period of time.

Ms. Miller is actively engaged developing programs that encourage students of color, especially from historically Black Colleges and Universities, to discover their talent and develop careers in information technology and cybersecurity.

Contact us

If you have any queries related to the National Cyber Scholarship Foundation, please contact us on hello@nationalcyberscholarship.org.