Close Menu
WashingtonExec
    Podcast Episodes
    LinkedIn Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    LinkedIn Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    WashingtonExec
    Subscribe To The Daily
    • News & Headlines
    • Executive Councils
    • Videos
    • Podcast
    • Events
      • 🏆 Chief Officer Awards
      • 🏆 Pinnacle Awards
    • About
    • Contact Us
    LinkedIn YouTube X (Twitter)
    WashingtonExec
    You are at:Home»Execs to Know»Inside Draper’s Security Strategy: How Jennifer Doherty Aligns Innovation with Protection
    Execs to Know

    Inside Draper’s Security Strategy: How Jennifer Doherty Aligns Innovation with Protection

    By Adam StoneApril 6, 2025
    Share
    LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Email
    Jennifer Doherty, Draper

    Securing a company’s operation against outside threats and ensuring employees work safely is paramount to most organizations. At Draper, Jennifer Doherty, vice president, chief security officer and chief information officer for an innovative engineering company, says these are some of the unique challenges she faces.

    Doherty’s team of about 190 security and IT experts work hand in hand with the company’s roughly 2,600 employees to align security with the company’s business goals.

    “We partner within the functions and the business areas to determine what they need to be successful,” she said. “This includes looking across the organization from a tool, network and facility perspective.”

    Engineers at Draper require secure classified spaces and networks to execute on their programs. As such, security is “integral to our businesses, in order for them to operate,” Doherty said. For example, the company is currently expanding its footprint nationwide with multiple new campuses for highly classified work, and the security team is supporting that effort.

    “We are providing expertise on how to design and ensure flexibility both with the network and classified areas, to ensure that we have future growth opportunities,” Doherty said.

    As part of her role, Doherty also is working to develop AI governance, putting in place the high-level controls that will safeguard engineers’ use of AI supports. Even as she manages internal risks, Doherty has to remain vigilant in the face of the increasingly adversarial cyber activity that challenges virtually every government and GovCon organization.

    “We have a nationally recognized threat-management program,” she said. “Drawing insights from a team that includes former employees of the FBI, NCIS and other federal law enforcement agencies, we leverage our connections and relationships to ensure we have the understanding to manage or avert risks.”

    To drive security awareness and provide day-to-day program support throughout Draper, Doherty takes a structural approach.

    “As a best practice that provides integral support to the organization, we also infuse the businesses with program security managers that has led to solid success,” she said. “Everything security or IT-related goes to that individual, and that individual is able to get the right people involved within our organization, to provide that business area with threat information relevant to their business and their technology,.“

    “That structural approach is really a differentiator for us,” she added.

    Between securing internal processes and fighting external threats, Doherty has a full plate. Still, she sees her biggest challenge as keeping up with changing security requirements in government.

    She points to the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification 2.0, the government’s cybersecurity framework for federal contractors, as an example. The requirements continue to evolve to protect against threats, and the landscape is constantly changing.

    To keep pace with that evolution, Doherty tries to embed her team within industry and within the government to keep a pulse on what’s coming down the pipeline.

    “We go to conferences and take part in working groups,” she said. “We lead conversations within industry and meet with our government peers often.”

    Looking ahead, Doherty is putting the finishing touches on a newly revised formal security and IT 5-year strategy to ensure security efforts are aligned with mission outcomes.

    “We’re aligning the IT and security strategy to the Draper corporate strategy,” she said.

    With over 15 years’ experience in the GovCon space, Doherty said she takes personal pride in the work.

    “At the end of the day, we’re driving innovation and technology to the warfighter,” she said. “That gives me a sense of purpose, something bigger than myself. That’s really what keeps me engaged.”

    Previous ArticleTop Space Execs to Watch in 2025: Riverside Research’s Shiloh L. Dockstader
    Next Article T-Rex Solutions, Ábaco Strategy Form SBA Mentor-Protégé Joint Venture

    Related Posts

    TekSynap Corp.’s Susan Case on Supporting the Intel Community and Leading with Purpose`

    Top Chief Technology Officers to Watch in 2025: CACI’s Jason Bales

    Recognizing Real Impact: WashingtonExec Launches Public Service Awards

    Comments are closed.

    LinkedIn Follow Button LinkedIn Logo Follow Us on LinkedIn
    2025 Chief Officer Awards - Finalists
    Latest Industry Leaders

    Top General Counsels & Compliance Execs to Watch in 2025

    Top Space Execs to Watch in 2025

    Load More
    Latest Posts

    TekSynap Corp.’s Susan Case on Supporting the Intel Community and Leading with Purpose`

    May 13, 2025

    Top Chief Technology Officers to Watch in 2025: CACI’s Jason Bales

    May 13, 2025

    Recognizing Real Impact: WashingtonExec Launches Public Service Awards

    May 13, 2025

    Top Chief Technology Officers to Watch in 2025: Parsons’ Ricardo Lorenzo

    May 13, 2025

    At Nightwing, Offense Informs Defense — and AI Never Sleeps

    May 12, 2025
    Quick Links
    • Executive Councils & Committees
    • Chief Officer Awards
    • Pinnacle Awards
    • Advertise With Us
    • About WashingtonExec
    • Contact
    Connect
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube
    • Facebook
    • Twitter

    Subscribe to The Daily

    Connect. Inform. Celebrate.

    Copyright 2023 © WashingtonExec, Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Powered by J Media Group

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.