Speakers
Retired four-star Army General 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.
As a flag officer, he first served as Director of Maritime Operations, Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet (N2/3/5/7), then subsequently commanded Carrier Strike Group 1/Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group, where he deployed for nearly 10 months to the Western Pacific and the Arabian Gulf conducting combat operations in support of Operation INHERENT RESOLVE. He later served as Commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic; Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet/Commander, Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO/Deputy Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and U.S. Naval Forces Africa. From May 2018 until December 2021, he served as the Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, and the Naval Component Commander to both U.S. Northern Command and U.S. Strategic Command, as the Joint Force Maritime Component Commander for U.S. Strategic Command and executed Task Force Atlantic in coordination with U.S. Naval Forces Europe.
Admiral Grady was sworn-in as the twelfth Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s second highest-ranking military officer, on 20 December 2021. The admiral represents the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the Deputies Committee of the National Security Council and chairs the Joint Requirement Oversight Council (JROC) which is responsible for reviewing and establishing acquisition priorities for major weapon systems amongst the military branches. He also co-chairs the Deputy’s Management Action Group (DMAG) and the Deputy’s Workforce Council (DWC) with the deputy secretary of defense to address departmental budgetary priorities and serves as the senior member of the Nuclear Weapons Council, responsible for managing the atomic stockpile and coordinating nuclear weapon-related programs and budgets.
The admiral is currently the Navy's "Old Salt", its longest-serving surface warfare officer on active duty.
Congressman Glenn Ivey is an attorney who served on Capitol Hill as chief counsel to the Senate Majority Leader, as counsel to Senator Paul Sarbanes during the Whitewater investigations, Chief Majority Counsel to the Senate Banking Committee, and on the staff of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI). He also worked for U.S. Attorney Eric Holder as an assistant U. S. Attorney, and as chair of Maryland’s Public Service Commission. He was twice elected as State's Attorney for Prince George's County where he worked with the Obama Administration to cut crime.
Congressman Ivey established Ivey & Levetown in 2020, and recently represented a Lafayette Square protestor, arguing that the facial recognition software used to identify him compounds discrimination against dark-skinned people. The Department of Justice threw out the case. As chair of the County Executive Angela Alsobrooks’ Police Reform Taskforce in 2020 Ivey led the committee that examined the police department’s internal policies.
Ivey grew up in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where the schools of his hometown were still segregated when he started attending. But he watched his mother, a librarian, desegregate four different white schools, as well as his father, who worked for a federal War on Poverty agency that helped unemployed workers in eastern North Carolina get job training and find jobs. It was then Ivey saw the power of public service and the impact that advocates can have on social justice. And ever since, he has been a tireless fighter for our community. As Prince George's County State's Attorney, he created a first-of-its-kind Domestic Violence Prosecution Unit and pushed for stronger witness intimidation penalties. When the real estate market went south, he established an award-winning mortgage fraud unit that stood up for homeowners.