Sarah Norcross has supported the Department of Homeland Security since 2004, long enough to have worked with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency before it was CISA.
She came to the work through an unlikely route: a civics class on Cape Cod, a Georgetown degree in international politics, a junior year in Munich, an internship at the German Parliament. She was halfway through a master’s at the London School of Economics when Sept. 11 happened. Academic theory stopped being enough.
Now vice president at ICF, she leads a portfolio covering cybersecurity, data analytics and infrastructure protection — and with a federal employee at home, she’s watching this particular moment in government from two angles at once.
In this Q&A, she talks about growing ICF’s DHS footprint, the enduring pressure on agencies to do more with less and what two decades in a tight-knit contracting community teaches you about showing up with no surprises.
Can you provide a brief overview of your professional background and career progression?
After graduate school, I joined a small government contracting firm, where I spent nearly 19 years building my career. As the company grew, I was given increasing responsibility by leaders who trusted my contributions, along with meaningful opportunities for professional development. During this period, I was deeply involved in the full lifecycle of the proposal process, allowing me to build strong capture and proposal management skills early on.
My role evolved from analyst to program manager and ultimately portfolio director, supporting a broad range of Department of Homeland Security missions across the Office of Policy, FEMA, TSA, and CISA, including its predecessor organizations.
Following the company’s acquisition in 2020, I decided it was the right time to pursue a new challenge. Through networking, I was recruited by Mike Boggs to join ICF’s Security & Resilience line of business. I joined ICF in October 2021 as a Program Manager supporting a DHS cybersecurity program, was promoted to Portfolio Director in October 2022, and advanced to Vice President in April 2025.
Having spent much of my career at a single firm, I was drawn to ICF’s culture of long-tenured leadership and shared values. Joining ICF has allowed me to scale my experience by leading a larger, more complex portfolio and pursuing increasingly significant contract opportunities.
Why was this the path you chose, and how influential was it to your career?
My interest in public service began early, shaped in large part by my participation in a high school civics program that sparked my desire to pursue a career in the government space. I went on to major in International Politics at Georgetown University, spent my junior year studying in Munich, and later interned at the German Parliament in Berlin, experiences that deepened my understanding of global governance and public-sector missions.
I began graduate studies at the London School of Economics just weeks after September 11, 2001, a moment that profoundly influenced my career direction. At a time when world events were rapidly unfolding, I found myself drawn away from purely academic theory and toward a more operational, mission-driven path where I could contribute directly to real-world challenges. Since 2004, I have supported the Department of Homeland Security in various capacities, building a career focused on advancing its mission and impact.
Do you have a personal connection to the current mission you support? If so, please explain.
My husband is a Federal employee so we’ve experienced the changes of the past year in my family from both the contractor and Federal employee perspective. This has made me particularly attuned to the changes and uncertainties my clients have faced.
What are your current top priorities and responsibilities? How do these relate to your company’s overall mission/growth strategy?
In my current role, I oversee ICF’s programs supporting the Department of Homeland Security, with a focus on cybersecurity, data analytics, infrastructure protection, and stakeholder engagement. A top priority is sustaining and growing our current programs by ensuring our services continue to align with our clients’ evolving needs and priorities. We also plan to build on these accomplishments and leverage broader ICF capabilities in areas like digital optimization, communications, strategic planning, and workforce development to expand our DHS footprint.
I’m fortunate to lead a very talented team with deep technical and subject matter expertise. As the portfolio grows, we’re always looking for opportunities to foster the professional development of our staff.
Where do you and your team see growth opportunities in your current field or portfolio you support, or what do you anticipate to be your customers’ top pain points?
The need for cybersecurity, data analytics, and infrastructure protection services spans the Department of Homeland Security’s mission and continues to grow amid an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape. At ICF, we are focused on leveraging our strong reputation and proven accomplishments in these areas to expand our support across additional DHS components.
At the same time, we anticipate that the ongoing pressure for organizations to “do more with less” will remain a significant challenge for our customers in the years ahead. In response, we are continuously looking for ways to incorporate automation and process improvements into our solutions, including the thoughtful use of AI technologies where appropriate, to help clients operate more efficiently while maintaining mission effectiveness.
How are you and your team planning to address/prepare for these opportunities?
We are actively socializing our capabilities and experience supporting the DHS mission with a broader audience, including components where we do not yet have a significant footprint. At the same time, we continue to seek out teaming partners with complementary capabilities to best position ourselves for future opportunities, whether as a prime contractor or as a subcontractor.
How important is mentorship & networking in GovCon? Were they influential to your career?
Mentorship has been very important in my career. Earlier in my career, mentors instilled concepts of “no surprises” and being a good steward of the taxpayer dollar, which I have carried with me to today and hopefully instilled in the teams I lead. I learned a long time ago that the DHS GovCon community is relatively small and it’s common at industry events and even my children’s activities to cross paths with colleagues from other firms with whom I’ve collaborated in the past as well as former clients.
What is something most people don’t know about you personally?
I’m a native of Cape Cod. I graduated from what at the time was one of the smallest public school system in Massachusetts (43 students in my graduating class). I’m fortunate to have family still living there so I have a built-in vacation destination.