Billington CyberSecurity Creates Advisory Board Led by Former NSA Dep. Director George Barnes and Former CIA Director of CCI Andy Boyd

Board will Provide Guidance and Insights into Firm’s Offerings

Billington CyberSecurity today announced the formation of an advisory board comprised of nine cyber leaders to help guide and bolster the firm’s growing educational cybersecurity programming that is focused on protecting the nation from cyber threats.

“In response to our extraordinary growth, we have formed an advisory board to ensure we continue to meet and exceed the learning needs of the cybersecurity government community at the federal, international, and state and local level,” explained Founder and CEO Thomas K. Billington. “These leading experts will provide important perspectives and insights as we create dialogues that matter most to those in the public sector entrusted with our nation’s security.”

The inaugural board has nine prominent cyber leaders with outstanding and deep experience in the cyber space including:

• George Barnes, president, Cyber Practice, Red Cell Partners, LLC, where he oversees new-start incubations that are focused on cybersecurity opportunities spanning commercial and government sectors. Barnes is the former deputy director and senior civilian leader of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) from 2017 to 2023. As deputy director, Barnes acted as NSA’s COO. He served at NSA for 35 years.
• Andy Boyd, owner, Faze 2 Strategy, LLC, and is a former senior intelligence service officer in the Central Intelligence Agency’s Directorate of Operations and was director of the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence, which focuses on intelligence collection, analysis, and operations related to foreign cyber threats to U.S. interests.
• Matt Hayden, vice president, Cyber & Emerging Threats, GDIT, and former assistant secretary of Homeland Security for Cyber, Infrastructure, Risk, and Resilience, where he led the policy development for department-wide efforts to reduce national risks with a focus on critical infrastructure cybersecurity, federal network security, and cyber-crime.
• Kenny Holmes, director, U.S. Public Sector Security, Cisco, is a senior leader for the Cisco United Security team for Government and Education. He has 28 years of experience in cybersecurity, government, and the education sectors.
• Brad Medairy, executive vice president, Booz Allen Hamilton, where he leads the firm’s National Cyber account, focusing on the cyber missions of national-level clients, including the intelligence community, U.S. Cyber Command, FBI, the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Department of Defense.
• Jason O’Connor, senior vice president, Cyber & Analytics, Leidos, where he supports mission critical activities to include software development, cybersecurity, cloud innovations, intelligence analysis, linguistics, IT and managed services.
• Nancy Rainosek, senior fellow, Center for Digital Government, and the former CISO for the State of Texas. With more than 40 years of IT experience, she helped lead Texas’ successful response to the 2019 ransomware attack that impacted 23 local government entities.
• Netta Squires, president, Cybersecurity Strategy & Resilience, Open District Solutions, and former director of local cybersecurity for the State of Maryland where she coordinated with the Maryland Department of Emergency Management to improve cybersecurity preparedness throughout Maryland’s counties and municipalities.
• Bryan Ware, founder & CEO, Stealth, and former assistant director, Cybersecurity Division at CISA, and former assistant secretary for Cyber, Infrastructure and Resilience at Homeland Security.

Founded in 2010, Billington CyberSecurity is the leading cyber education company for executives, hosting high-caliber summits and workshops that explore key cyber issues that advance the cybersecurity of the U.S. government, its allied partners, and critical infrastructure. These events convene seniormost government officials and industry partners, highlighted by its signature conference—the annual Billington CyberSecurity Summit held each fall.

The Billington CyberSecurity Summit has long been recognized as the essential gathering for public sector cyber leaders, and in 2024 attracted more than 2,700 attendees, 130 sponsors and nearly 200 expert speakers. The 16th Annual Summit will take place September 9-12, 2025, at the Washington Convention Center. Billington’s State and Local CyberSecurity Summit, which debuted in 2024, was held again March 10-12, 2025, at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. The event drew more than 1,000 attendees.

Learn more at https://billingtoncybersecurity.com/.

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"We have formed an advisory board to ensure we continue to meet and exceed the learning needs of the cybersecurity government community at the federal, international, and state and local level,” said CEO Thomas K. Billington, Billington CyberSecurity.