Marianne Bailey
Partner & Head of Advanced Solutions Cybersecurity Practice, Guidehouse
As former deputy national manager for U.S. national security systems at the National Security Agency, Marianne Bailey brings over 30 years of experience in government leadership, spearheading IT security and information sharing initiatives across the Defense Department, the intelligence community and civilian government sectors.
One of the key areas Bailey and her team are focused on is cyber resilience: integrating cybersecurity with business and mission information to enable organizations to make informed, prioritized cyber risk decisions that support strategic and operational business objectives.
She strongly believes the time has come for companies to finally get serious about their cyber defenses — and stop overlooking “basic things” she says allow threat actors to “walk into” their networks.
“Marianne is a dedicated, passionate and strategic cybersecurity professional who not only steps up to new challenges in addressing cyber risks and vulnerabilities, but also leverages her deep knowledge and keen awareness of the threat landscape to help our clients develop innovative and effective security programs that truly outwit complexity,” said John Hunt, partner at Guidehouse who leads the advanced solutions segment.
Why Watch
Bailey and her team are working with the government and companies to develop cyber resilience programs. Critical industries aren’t resilient from nation-state adversaries, she said, and cyber adversaries are very creative in creating impact.
An unprepared corporation is most likely protecting the wrong things. Developing a cyber resilience strategy looks at a business in depth to identify areas to protect, including ones that might not be obvious.
“Never underestimate how providing guidance and support can impact someone’s life,” Bailey said. “Throughout my career I prided myself on coaching and mentoring anyone who was interested, and I was honored to have many people ask me. Helping people grow and achieve success is rewarding in so many ways. I am a strong cheerleader; I hold them accountable to take the steps they define to improve, and I have such pride in watching their success. Establish a learning culture. It starts with you. Never stop learning and promote that mindset in your organization. A tech organization cannot remain relevant without constant learning. Be the role model.”