Former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Executive Director Bridget Bean has joined Via Stella as president, continuing a career that has spanned more than three decades across homeland security, emergency management, and federal enterprise leadership.
Bean brings deep experience leading large, mission-critical government organizations through crisis response, modernization efforts, and political transitions. Before retiring earlier this year, she served as Executive Director of CISA and previously as Acting Director, overseeing day-to-day operations of the nation’s lead cybersecurity and infrastructure protection agency. In that role, she helped guide a workforce of more than 3,200 employees and a multibillion-dollar budget, while coordinating interagency efforts to address cyber threats, infrastructure risk, and national resilience.
During her tenure at CISA, Bean played a central role in strengthening operational governance, advancing enterprise-wide efficiencies, and supporting the implementation of major cybersecurity regulations, including the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act. She also served as the agency’s key intelligence official, overseeing cyber threat analysis and coordination with federal partners during a period of heightened public and operational scrutiny.
Before joining CISA, Bean held senior leadership roles at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including Deputy Administrator for Resilience. There, she oversaw preparedness programs, mitigation, national continuity initiatives, and grants management, leading more than 1,600 personnel and managing an annual budget of roughly $600 million. She was also responsible for a major grants modernization effort that consolidated multiple legacy systems into a single enterprise platform. Earlier in her career, Bean spent more than two decades at the U.S. Small Business Administration, where she served in several Senior Executive Service roles overseeing field operations, human capital, procurement policy, and large-scale grant and contracting programs.
At Via Stella, Bean is focused on advising public- and private-sector clients on cybersecurity, homeland security, and resilience priorities. Her work includes threat and risk assessments, policy development, and strategic execution support designed to translate complex federal requirements into practical, actionable programs. She also supports broader readiness and resilience initiatives through partnerships with industry and mission-driven organizations.
(AI was used in part to facilitate this article.)
