The State Department’s first Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy leader began work Thursday, a week after confirmation by the Senate.
Ambassador at Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy Nate Fick was nominated to the role in June.
The Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy (CDP) began operations in April and includes three policy units: International Cyberspace Security, International Information and Communications Policy, and Digital Freedom. Jennifer Bachus, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the CDP bureau and as Senior Bureau Official until an Ambassador-at-Large was confirmed.
Fick led Elastic’s information security business globally as Vice President, Security Strategy. Previously, he was CEO of Endgame, a cybersecurity software company, from 2012 through its acquisition by Elastic in 2019. He also led Endgame’s professional services business through its acquisition by Accenture in 2017.
Fick spent nearly a decade as an operating partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, where he worked with management teams to build technology businesses. He writes and speaks regularly on leadership, corporate governance, security and technology issues. Fick was named by Fast Company magazine as one of the “100 Most Creative People in Business” and Endgame was selected by Forbes as one of the “100 Best Cloud Companies in the World.”
From 2009-2012, Fick was CEO of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). While at CNAS, he launched the Center’s program on technology and national security, and oversaw work related to NATO readiness, diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific, and support for veterans and military families.
Fick served as a Marine Corps infantry and reconnaissance officer, including combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Fick graduated with high honors in Classics from Dartmouth College and holds an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He serves as a board member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and on the Military and Veterans Advisory Council at JPMorgan Chase & Co.