Paul Nakasone is the longest-serving leader of the U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency/Central Security Service, and is regarded among an elite class of leaders whose strategic expertise at the nexus of cybersecurity, technology, and geopolitics has laid the groundwork for upholding our nation’s security in the modern age. General Nakasone’s career spans more than three decades of pivotal moments in modern warfare and digital defense and he draws upon his experiences constantly at the epicenter of conflict to share battle-tested lessons on transformational leadership, while also examining the challenges and opportunities organizations face in the ever-evolving tech and security landscape.  

A native of Newport, Rhode Island, Admiral Christopher W. Grady graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1984 and received his commission through the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps program.  Grady is also a distinguished graduate of both Georgetown University, where he participated as a fellow in Foreign Service at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, and the National War College.

A career Surface Warfare Officer, Grady served aboard USS Moosbrugger (DD 980) as combat information center officer and antisubmarine warfare officer.  As a department head, he served as weapons control officer and combat systems officer aboard USS Princeton (CG 59).  He then commanded Mine Countermeasures Rotational Crew Echo aboard USS Chief (MCM 14), and later deployed to the Arabian Gulf in command of USS Ardent (MCM 12).  Grady subsequently commanded USS Cole (DDG 67), deploying as part of NATO's Standing Naval Forces Mediterranean.  In command of Destroyer Squadron 22, he deployed to the Arabian Gulf as sea combat commander for the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group in support of Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM.

Ashore, Grady served in the Joint Chiefs of Staff and then as naval aide to the Chief of Naval Operations, as the assistant branch head of the Europe and Eurasia Politico-Military Affairs Branch (OPNAV N524), as executive assistant to the Navy's Chief of Legislative Affairs, as the deputy executive secretary of the National Security Council in the White House, and as the executive assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations.