Gina Abate spearheads a women-owned business in Columbia that helps clients improve their productivity, profitability and security. Abate joined the company in 2013 as senior vice president, advanced to president and has held both roles since 2016.

She serves on the board of directors of the Howard County Chamber of Commerce and is a former board chairperson of the Cybersecurity Association of Maryland. In 2019, her company received the Governor’s Service Award from the Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism. Abate earned a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Texas Lutheran University in 1976.

What is the biggest challenge facing your industry today?

The downsizing of large government contracts by DOGE. Government contracting has not fully rebounded in the areas we focus on, causing us to shift prioritization to commercial work.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

The best business advice I’ve ever received is to stay focused on what truly matters; you cannot successfully tackle everything at the same time. Establish clear priorities and create teams that highlight the strengths of the individual. When you stay focused, it is far more effective than reacting to every opportunity or challenge. When you set direction, communicate expectations and empower your teams to make decisions, the organization moves faster, stays focused and delivers better outcomes.

How do you define success?

I define success as partnering closely with my team to develop a clear, thoughtful annual business strategy and then consistently executing against it to achieve meaningful, measurable goals. Success is not only reaching our financial and operational objectives but doing so in a way that strengthens the organization as a whole. This means ensuring our strategy creates long‑term value for the company, supports and develops our employees and delivers tangible benefits and positive experiences for our customers. When alignment, accountability and impact come together across all three groups, I consider that a successful outcome.

A career spanning broadcast journalism, academia and national security shapes the professional identity of Kelli Arena, president and CEO of the National Cryptologic Foundation. Arena launched her career as a television journalist, earning recognition for award-winning national security reporting before transitioning to higher education, where she served as the inaugural Dan Rather Endowed Chair at Sam Houston State University and founding executive director of the Global Center for Journalism and Democracy.

She later joined the National Security Agency as chief of strategic communications, advanced to senior intelligence representative to the State Department and most recently led the Office of Special Projects. Arena holds both the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal and Superior Civilian Service Medal.

Melissa Bryant’s path to the presidency of DP Solutions began with the 2016 merger of Choice Technologies, where she held a series of advancing leadership roles including director, vice president of client experience and chief operating officer. As president, she guides the company’s strategic direction, operations and client-focused initiatives with an emphasis on innovation, operational excellence and long-term client satisfaction.

Bryant earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration from York College of Pennsylvania in 2008, launching a career spanning marketing, information technology management and account oversight. Her leadership philosophy centers on service quality.

This year, Tasha Cornish stepped into a new role as vice president of strategic partnerships of BCR Cyber, a cybersecurity training and job placement services provider. Previously, she was the executive director for the Cybersecurity Association Inc., where she led initiatives to strengthen digital defenses for individuals and businesses.

Her career centers on connecting technology innovation with community well-being. Cornish secured a first-time workforce development grant and has influenced state-level cybersecurity legislation. She organized a collaboration with the National Security Agency to inspire future cyber professionals and has served on the Maryland Cybersecurity Council, the IT Advisory Board for the Maryland Comptroller and the Maryland Apprenticeship and Training Council as a governor-appointed employer representative.

Cornish holds a Master of Science in public health from the Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Science in neuroscience from Cedar Crest College.

What is the biggest challenge facing your industry today?

The cybersecurity field is constantly changing, with shifting geopolitical conflicts and the influx of artificial intelligence-driven attacks, paired with the security flaws in AI-generated code. The biggest challenge is getting everyone on board; building a resilient, secure world is not a responsibility of the information technology department alone.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Some may look at my job history and be perplexed, but the throughline of my career is following my passion and finding new ways to connect the dots in messy, complex ecosystems or workplaces. The best advice I’ve ever received is to follow what you’re curious about.

How do you define success?

Success to me is finding your ikigai: truly understanding the intersection of four core areas: what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs and what you can be paid for. Only through self-reflection and experimentation can you find your unique balance between passion, mission, vocation and profession.

With her triple role, Gwen Greene brings nearly 20 years of experience in the technology industry, including15 years in federal contracting and cybersecurity.

A published author and consultant in effective change in organizational security culture, Greene holds degrees from Bowie State University; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; and Towson University. A strong advocate of diversity and mentorship, she is passionate about empowering others in their career goals.

What is the biggest challenge facing your industry today?

One of the biggest challenges facing the cybersecurity and federal contracting industry today is the increasing complexity of compliance requirements, combined with the pace of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, while small businesses are expected to compete and perform at the same level as large, well-resourced firms.

Frameworks such as National Institute of Standards and Technology, Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program and Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification continue to evolve, requiring significant investment in expertise, tooling and continuous monitoring. For small businesses, maintaining compliance while also delivering innovation and operational excellence can strain both financial and human capital.

At the same time, small businesses face cash flow and scaling challenges driven by delayed payment cycles (often Net 30–60+), contract transition gaps and the need to front payroll and benefits while waiting for reimbursement from prime contractors or government agencies. This creates barriers to growth, even for high-performing companies.

Additionally, the rapid integration of AI into enterprise and government environments introduces new security, ethical and compliance considerations. Small businesses must quickly adapt to support AI-enabled systems while ensuring alignment with existing security frameworks, often without clear, standardized guidance.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I’ve ever received is simple: Keep going.

Building a business, especially in cybersecurity and federal contracting, comes with constant challenges, uncertainty and moments where the path forward isn’t always clear. That advice has grounded me through every phase, reminding me that consistency, resilience and discipline often matter more than perfection.

“Keep going” means pushing through setbacks, adapting when needed and staying committed to the vision even when progress feels slow. It’s a mindset that has shaped how I lead, how I grow my company and how I show up for my team and my family.

How do you define success?

I define success as the ability to prioritize what matters most in a given season of life and having the clarity and discipline to honor that.

At different times, success may look like building and growing a business, being fully present for my family or finding a balance between both. I’ve learned that you can do many things well but not all at the same time. True success comes from understanding that reality, making intentional choices and giving your best to what you’ve prioritized in that moment.

Maria Jones leads Calibyr’s strategic growth, partnerships and employee experience and candidate experience programs, delivering concierge-level support to staff and customers.

Jones brings more than a decade of experience advancing secure software solutions for the intelligence community as a systems engineer and project manager and has presented at over a dozen industry and Intelligence Community conferences. The Daily Record named her to its 2023 Leading Women under 40 list. She earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematics, summa cum laude, with a minor in French from Mount St. Mary’s University, where she serves on the board of advisers for the School of Science, Mathematics and Technology.

A U.S. Air Force veteran, Angie Lienert founded IntelliGenesis LLC in 2007 and has grown the Columbia-based company to more than 80 employees providing analysis, machine learning and data science, mission application development, and computer network operations in support of national security. As president and CEO, she has built a workplace offering 100% tuition reimbursement and an annual technology budget for all staff.

Lienert founded the Women in Technology group and serves on the boards of the Department of Defense’s Woman-Owned Small Business Consortium and the Chesapeake Regional Tech Council.

A Towson University graduate with a Bachelor of Science in marketing, Ryan Morris began his career at Blackwood in 2008 as an account manager, spending his first five years seeding new territories and building the foundation for future growth. He later served as federal director and then senior director of operations before becoming managing partner in 2018.

Today Morris leads the company as president and owner, guiding Blackwood through a period of significant transformation. He developed the company’s modern focus on cybersecurity and data analytics, pioneering a disciplined approach to selecting partners and customers targeting the public sector’s most complex challenges.

A 20-year Army aviator and Black Hawk helicopter pilot, Stanford Oliver channeled his military expertise into entrepreneurship, founding DigiFlight in 1999 to serve government and commercial clients across cybersecurity, information technology, aerospace and space operations. Under his leadership, the firm grew from two employees to more than 300, with over 40 Department of Defense, intelligence community and commercial contracts. In 2023, Oliver launched Camelot Secure, specializing in Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification and Advanced Persistent Threat hunting.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla and a Master of Business Administration from Boston University.

Joshua Toffler launched his career in the U.S. Army, where he specialized in radio equipment repair and military intelligence systems. Over more than 20 years in the security industry, Toffler built expertise across roles as an engineer, architect and chief technology officer for multiple federal systems integrators serving the intelligence and Department of Defense communities, including Dell Technologies.

As CEO of Fornetix, a Frederick-based encryption management software company, he leads a team of approximately 50 employees and oversees the company’s cybersecurity professional services, identity solutions and information assurance offerings. Founded in 2014, Fornetix holds more than a dozen patents and maintains a regional office in Los Angeles with sales and engineering resources deployed globally.

David Tohn helms a technology firm he has guided to fivefold growth since assuming the role in 2014. A retired military officer with more than 24 years in military intelligence and strategic planning, Tohn previously retired from the National Security Agency as Afghanistan mission manager and served as a National Security Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

He holds a Master of Science in strategic intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College and a Master of Military Art and Science from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Gettysburg College.

What is the biggest challenge facing your industry today?

Finding, growing, training and retaining a skilled technical workforce that also has the requisite security clearances and backgrounds to support our customers globally.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

“Remember, unlike in government and the military, your workforce can quit. Lead appropriately.” Leadership in uniform is demanding, but at the end of the day, your workforce does not have a realistic ability to quit. It can allow leaders to develop bad habits by relying on the authority to compel vs. the imperative to inspire. In the private sector, inspirational leadership requires a high emotional quotient and the foundational perspective of putting your people and their personal/professional hopes and dreams first. If you can demonstrate that you are a partner in their life’s journey and that the work you are asking them to do will help them achieve their best selves, they will bring unmatched loyalty and effort. If you treat them as an asset and resource necessary to achieve the company’s goals, they will see it, feel it and flee it as soon as they have the opportunity.

How do you define success?

Creating an organization where leaders at every level are operating with autonomy and authority to act as they see fit to achieve the goals we have as a company. Success is an implemented organizational design and culture that unleashes people and underwrites their growth, risk-taking and successes in equal measure. Meeting and exceeding our customers’ mission requirements through, not by, our people, is the hallmark of a highly successful company.

With nearly a decade of cybersecurity experience, including work with the National Security Agency, Ellison Anne Williams founded Enveil, a data security startup, in 2016 and serves as its CEO. Williams holds advanced degrees in mathematics and computer science.

Through Enveil, she works to build a market around privacy-enhancing technologies, helping organizations execute critical business functions while protecting their most sensitive data. Williams believes that one of the field’s pressing challenges is the lack of shared understanding around emerging topics such as machine learning across cross-functional teams, and she advocates for ensuring stakeholder alignment as essential to cybersecurity’s broader impact.