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SandboxAQ’s Jen Sovada Reflects on Core Values, Career Goals & Innovation Challenges
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SandboxAQ’s Jen Sovada Reflects on Core Values, Career Goals & Innovation Challenges

Jen Sovada currently serves as president of SandboxAQ’s public sector arm, where she leads the organization’s efforts to bring artificial intelligence and quantum products to the federal government. Her career began in the U.S. Air Force, where she held a variety of roles focused on technology and intelligence.

Sovada recently took the helm of the Quantum Group for Executive Mosaic’s 4×24 leadership program, where she works to empower government and industry executives to share their insights on quantum technologies, which she said “hold immense potential for transforming the public sector.”

In an interview with the Potomac Officers Club published on Tuesday, Sovada discussed the federal technology landscape, the driving forces behind her career and the core values she embraces as a leader.

This excerpt from the interview offers a glimpse into her career goals:

“I am passionate about ensuring that the global good is protected, and being a part of the federal landscape enables me to do just that. My goal is to build a team that can add value and advance the collective goals of the U.S. government and its allies. I also am passionate about teaching those who make life and death decisions about emerging technology and how it can both benefit and detract from their vision and goals.”

To learn more about Sovada’s leadership values, read the full Executive Spotlight interview on the Potomac Officers Club website.

Interested in participating in your own Executive Spotlight interview? Potomac Officers Club members have exclusive access to this exciting brand-building opportunity and numerous other benefits. Click here to browse our membership options and discover which one is right for you.

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CISA Advisory Committee Submits Recommendations to Strengthen National Cybersecurity; Jen Easterly Quoted
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CISA Advisory Committee Submits Recommendations to Strengthen National Cybersecurity; Jen Easterly Quoted

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s cybersecurity advisory panel submitted more than 100 recommendations to CISA Director Jen Easterly to strengthen U.S. defense against online threats, Cyberscoop reported Wednesday.

The recommendations were finalized at the cybersecurity advisory committee’s third quarter 2023 meeting, which also led to the election of Ron Green and Dave DeWalt as chair and vice chair, respectively, according to CISA.

Some of the proposed actions were to establish a national alert mechanism against threats, and to appoint more cybersecurity experts on the boards of directors in the private sector. The panel elaborated that the experts must be knowledgeable about new Securities and Exchange Commission rules, which will mandate publicly traded companies to report significant data and system breaches.

Easterly, a two-time recipient of the Wash100 Award, said the committee’s report was “transformative.” “I am super grateful to these outstanding professionals who gave their time and expertise to develop recommendations aimed at advancing CISA’s role as America’s cyber defense agency. They’ve made an invaluable impact on the cybersecurity posture of the United States,” she commented.

Easterly is expected to post her responses to the recommendations on CISA’s official website.

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Michael Casey Confirmed as Director of National Counterintelligence & Security Center
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Michael Casey Confirmed as Director of National Counterintelligence & Security Center

Michael Colin Casey, staff director for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence since 2016, has received confirmation from the Senate to serve as director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center.

Avril Haines, director of national intelligence and a three-time Wash100 awardee, said in a statement published Wednesday that Casey brings “deep national security expertise and knowledge” to the intelligence community’s counterintelligence and security work.

“Facing an increasingly complex threat environment, the IC and our partners will benefit tremendously with Mike as the Director of NCSC, and I look forward to having him at ODNI,” Haines said.

In his previous position, Casey coordinated with the minority staff director in overseeing the committee’s staff, daily operations and security.

Before joining the panel, he was a professional staff member in the House Armed Services Committee for over nine years.

List Of Notable General Counsels To Watch In 2023
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List Of Notable General Counsels To Watch In 2023

General counsels play a crucial part of any business as it is responsible for monitoring changes in the law that may affect the company and the industry. Hiring the right general counsel will make it easier for the firm to operate without breaking or interfering with local, state, and country laws.

 

What is a General Counsel?

General Counsel (GC) is typically an executive position in a corporate company responsible for legal and compliance work. The GC represents the company in court, gives legal counsel to the executive team, directs the legal department’s work, and ensures that all requirements are followed. A GC is also expected to attend board and committee meetings to keep up with the latest developments at the company.

 

List of General Counsels To Watch In 2023

The following list of General Counsels is ranked in no particular order. The selection considered its 4×24 membership and its contributions to the company. However, many other leaders who also provide excellent products and services may be excluded from this list.

 

Matthew Madalo, Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary of Siemens Government Technologies

Matthew Madalo, Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary of Siemens Government Technologies
Image from Siemens Government Technologies

Matthew Madalo is currently working as Siemens Government Technologies’ General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary. Siemens is a global technology firm serving numerous infrastructure, transportation, and healthcare sectors and SGT is the company’s federal division in the United States.

Mr. Madalo oversees the legal, contracting, compliance, and infrastructure security departments at SGT. He also manages all government reporting obligations to ensure compliance with all applicable legislation. He believes compliance is an art, as a general counsel creates innovative solutions for the company’s growth or client’s needs.

 

Josh Petty, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Booz Allen Hamilton

Josh Petty, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Booz Allen Hamilton
Image from Booz Allen Hamilton

Josh Petty holds the position of executive vice president and general counsel at Booz Allen Hamilton. In his current role, he is responsible for leading several legal initiatives, such as legal advice to management, overseeing the legal department, and coordinating with outside counsel. He has extensive experience in commercial and government contracts and compliance programs.

Mr. Petty is known for his expertise in giving practical legal guidance that aids in accomplishing corporate goals and staying compliant with relevant laws and regulations. He held several high-level legal positions from different companies, like  Accenture. As the company’s global government compliance officer, Josh was integral to improving  Accenture’s rules, procedures, and training materials.

 

Kevin Boyle, Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of V2X

Kevin Boyle, Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of V2X
Image from V2X

Kevin Boyle serves as Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary at V2X. Since joining the company in October 2018, he has been overseeing all legal business dealings and ensuring corporate and government compliance. V2X is a professional services provider that offers IT solutions, logistics, and supply chain management for the federal government and worldwide markets.

Since 1997, Mr. Boyle has been in various executive legal and business capacities, advising the top management and boards of both public and private companies. His expertise spans multiple business transactions, from mergers and acquisitions to capital-raising initiatives, long-term strategies, risk management, and performance development.

 

Devon Engel, Vice President and General Counsel of General Dynamics Mission Systems

Devon Engel, Vice President and General Counsel of General Dynamics Mission Systems
Image from General Dynamics Mission System

Devon Engel is the Vice President and General Counsel of the business unit of General Dynamics, known as General Dynamics Mission Systems. He oversees all the legal issues and government contracts for General Dynamics Mission Systems. This part of the company makes mission-critical, cyber-secure systems for the military and government. 

Mr. Engel practiced federal contract law as an associate in the Crowell & Moring office in the nation’s capital. He is well-known in government contracts, having written extensively on the subject and given numerous talks. Besides hiss position in GD, he is involved in his community and has been a part of DrugFreeAZKids.org’s Board of Directors since 2004. In 2016, he was recognized as one of the Top General Counsels in Government Contracting by Executive Mosaic.

 

Hilary Hageman, Executive Vice President, Corporate Secretary, and General Counsel of SAIC

Hilary Hageman, Executive Vice President, Corporate Secretary, and General Counsel of SAIC
Image from SAIC

Hilary Hageman serves SAIC executives as a vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary. She is an accomplished business leader with a wealth of legal knowledge spanning public company law, federal contracting, national security law, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and regulatory compliance. She started working in the company in 2016 to 2019.

In 2022, SAIC announced her comeback and was appointed to her current position. She primarily served the defense and aviation sectors as soon as she returned. Ms. Hageman has served in numerous high-level legal positions, including those at CACI (where she was Principal Deputy General Counsel) and the US Department of Defense.

 

Maryanne Lavan, Senior Vice President, Corporate Secretary, and General Counsel at Lockheed Martin

Maryanne Lavan, Senior Vice President, Corporate Secretary, and General Counsel at Lockheed Martin
Image from Lockheed Martin Corporation

Maryanne Lavan is a Senior Vice President at Lockheed Martin, an American defense and aerospace firm worldwide. In addition, she serves as the company’s General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. She oversees the company’s legal affairs, the law department, the Board of Directors, and the top management. 

Before this role, Ms. Lavan was the vice president of corporate internal audit, overseeing impartial reviews of corporate governance, internal control procedures, and risk management. She started serving at Lockheed Martin in 1990 as an attorney and gradually rose in her position.

 

Jeremy Nance, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Legal Operations at V2X

Jeremy Nance, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Legal Operations at V2X
Image from V2X

Jeremy Nance is currently working at V2X as the Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Legal Operations. V2X connects people, technology, and capabilities around the world throughout the lifecycle of a project. The company provides proactive operating solutions that benefit the government and defense sectors.

Mr. Nance was L-3 Vertex Aerospace’s Senior Director of Legal and Contracts until the company was sold. He began working at L-3 as an attorney in 2006 and has since held positions of increasing prominence there.

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Eileen Donahoe Joins State Department as Special Envoy, Coordinator for Digital Freedom
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Eileen Donahoe Joins State Department as Special Envoy, Coordinator for Digital Freedom

President Joe Biden has appointed Eileen Donahoe, most recently executive director of the Global Digital Policy Incubator at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, as special envoy and coordinator for digital freedom within the State Department’s bureau of cyberspace and digital policy.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement published Monday Donahoe’s foreign policy experience and technical knowledge will help advance the country’s priorities related to digital inclusion, online freedoms and information integrity.

Donahoe’s appointment “reinforces the importance of digital freedom and values-based technology governance work as Administration and Department priorities,” added Blinken, a previous Wash100 awardee.

The newly appointed special envoy spent over two years as director of global affairs at Human Rights Watch and was the first U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Donahoe served as a visiting scholar and affiliate at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and as a technology litigation associate at law firm Fenwick & West.

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DLA Awards Small Businesses SBIR Contracts for Advancing Warfighting Capabilities
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DLA Awards Small Businesses SBIR Contracts for Advancing Warfighting Capabilities

The Defense Logistics Agency has awarded contracts to small businesses that responded to solicitations under its Small Business Innovation Research Program to build new warfighting capabilities during the fourth annual Industry Collider Day held at the McNamara Headquarters Complex.

Indianapolis, Indiana-headquartered Crown Magnesium secured an SBIR contract to develop a proof-of-concept to create a domestic source of magnesium metal to reduce reliance on foreign sources, DLA said Tuesday.

Metronome Software, Sentar and Architecture Technology Corporation were selected to help the DLA enhance the detection of cyberattacks.

The final award was given to Stinn Materials to facilitate the domestic manufacturing of new or improved materials and enable innovation in current and future weapons systems.

During the event, Navy Vice Adm. Michelle Skubic, director of DLA, highlighted the importance of collaboration across the military, industry and academia to help build a more lethal force amid a constant race to innovate. 

“We rely on our partners across government, across industry, across academia. That includes the many small business partners that we work with to find solutions across a variety of technical areas,” Skubic said.

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US Agencies Warn Against AI-Generated Deepfake Threats
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US Agencies Warn Against AI-Generated Deepfake Threats

The National Security Agency, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have released a joint advisory warning national critical infrastructure owners and operators against threats from synthetic media, such as deepfakes.

The cybersecurity information sheet describes deepfakes as multimedia synthetically created or manipulated using artificial intelligence and machine learning to spread misinformation, NSA said Tuesday.

According to the joint advisory, threat actors could use AI-generated media to impinge on an organization’s brand, impersonate leaders and financial officers and enable access to networks, communications and sensitive information.

To prevent such threats, the agencies recommend that organizations implement deepfake detection tools with real-time verification capabilities and passive detection techniques.

“The tools and techniques for manipulating authentic multimedia are not new, but the ease and scale with which cyber actors are using these techniques are. This creates a new set of challenges to national security,” said Candice Rockell Gerstner, an applied research mathematician specializing in multimedia forensics.

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Treasury’s Paul Rosen Offers Update on Committee on Foreign Investment in the US
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Treasury’s Paul Rosen Offers Update on Committee on Foreign Investment in the US

Paul Rosen, assistant secretary for investment security at the Department of the Treasury, said the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 provided the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States with key authorities over certain investment structures and enabled CFIUS to process 440 transaction filings in 2022, up from 237 filings in 2017.

Rosen’s remarks are part of his prepared testimony set to be delivered on Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee as part of a congressional hearing on CFIUS and other government efforts to strengthen U.S. national security.

“FIRRMA also strengthened our processes to better enable timely and effective reviews of transactions within our jurisdiction. It also provided the Committee with much needed jurisdiction over certain transactions involving real estate in close proximity to sensitive facilities, such as military bases,” Rosen noted.

The assistant secretary said the department has issued the committee’s inaugural enforcement and penalty guidelines meant to hold transaction parties accountable for failure to comply with laws to mitigate national security risks.

Since FIRMMA’s enactment, he mentioned that CFIUS has ramped up efforts to work with industry stakeholders and international allies to increase awareness of the committee’s mission.

According to Rosen, the office of investment security will launch a program that would direct U.S. individuals to inform Treasury of certain transactions in foreign countries of concern, particularly deals that involve technologies in the fields of artificial intelligence, quantum information technology and semiconductors and microelectronics.

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DOD, Albemarle Partner to Expand Domestic Lithium Production for Battery Supply Chain; Anthony Di Stasio Quoted
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DOD, Albemarle Partner to Expand Domestic Lithium Production for Battery Supply Chain; Anthony Di Stasio Quoted

The Department of Defense and chemical manufacturing company Albemarle have inked a $90 million agreement to expand domestic lithium mining and production and support the U.S. battery supply chain.

Albemarle plans to reopen its lithium mine in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, and make it operational between 2025 and 2030, DOD said Tuesday.

The company will have the support of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Industrial Base Policy through its Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization office. The partnership reflects MCEIP’s five-year investment plan aimed at securing material and mineral supply chains to ensure the availability of essential resources to the defense and commercial sectors.

Commenting on the team-up, MCEIP Director Anthony Di Stasio said, “The agreement with Albemarle demonstrates the DoD’s ongoing commitment to meeting the needs of our warfighter, today and in the future. This investment directly supports President Biden’s April 2022 Presidential Determination for Critical Materials in Large-Capacity Batteries.”

The move is under Defense Production Act Title III authorities and utilizes Inflation Reduction Act funds.

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Senate Confirms Tanya Bradsher as VA Deputy Secretary
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Senate Confirms Tanya Bradsher as VA Deputy Secretary

Tanya Bradsher, chief of staff for the Department of Veterans Affairs since March 2021, has received confirmation from the Senate to serve as the VA’s deputy secretary, becoming the first woman to hold the leadership position.

The retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel has served as senior adviser to Secretary Denis McDonough and helped manage the expansion of Veteran care and benefits through the implementation of the PACT Act, VA said Tuesday.

“Tanya is an incredible leader who has dedicated her life to fighting for this country and her fellow Veterans — and under her leadership, I’m confident that VA will continue delivering more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before,” McDonough said.

Bradsher replaces former deputy secretary Donald Remy, who stepped down after nearly two years in the position.

Guy Kiyokawa, who has served as VA’s deputy secretary on an interim basis, will resume his responsibilities as assistant secretary for enterprise integration.

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