Former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has become a Strategic Advisor at Halcyon, advising the leadership team on cybersecurity strategy, national security trends, and strengthening public and private sector collaboration to combat the rapidly evolving ransomware threat.
Nielsen served as the sixth U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, where she led more than 250,000 personnel and managed a budget exceeding $75 billion. During her tenure, she helped drive major reforms to prepare the homeland security enterprise for emerging threats and technological change and played a central role in establishing the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), now the nation’s lead civilian cyber defense organization. Today, Nielsen is President of Lighthouse Strategies, where she advises governments, technology companies, and investors on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, risk management, and resilience planning.
“Ransomware has evolved into a persistent, high-impact threat to organizations, especially those with the greatest operational exposure, including critical infrastructure owners and operators. The consequences extend far beyond data loss, disrupting operations, impairing revenue and eroding public trust. Attacks will occur. The imperative is to move beyond prevention-focused postures towards operational resilience, ensuring organizations can continue to operate, contain impacts and recover rapidly when incidents happen. Halcyon’s focus on resilience and continuity reflects the direction the industry must go, and I look forward to supporting that mission.” — Kirstjen Nielsen.
