John Sahlin
Vice President of Cyber Solutions, Defense Division, GDIT
John Sahlin’s biggest achievement this year was leading a team to develop GDIT’s Everest Zero Trust Digital Accelerator that goes beyond slideware and platitudes and delivers real capability from the enterprise down to the tactical edge.
Sahlin and his team constructed a flexible, modular architecture that enables GDIT to help clients tackle real-world mission challenges swiftly and efficiently, avoiding vendor lock-in or analysis paralysis. Focused more on solutions than philosophy, Sahlin found it exciting to deliver GDIT’s tactical zero trust kit for the Army during the Talisman Sabre 23 exercise, facilitating data sharing with coalition and joint partners.
Why Watch
In the future, Sahlin’s team aims to strengthen cybersecurity by adding AI and digital tools to GDIT’s existing services. Their goal is to help clients actively protect and manage important data. They plan to work closely with various agencies to solve real-world challenges by identifying key issues and using technology to address them.
“Cybersecurity is not about compliance or even IT,” he said. “It’s about enabling the mission. Done right, zero trust is not only a lock to protect data but a key to improve mission effectiveness and efficiency.”