Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: CACI’s Serenity Paez
Serenity Paez Vice President and Division Manager, Homeland Security Enterprise Solutions, CACI Serenity Paez brings over 20 years of IT and service delivery expertise to her role at CACI, where she leads strategy and execution across the company’s homeland security enterprise solutions division. She’s focused on delivering emerging enterprise IT technologies and developing a future-ready
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: Buchanan & Edwards’ Alessandro Alveario
Alessandro “Alex” Alveario Account Manager, National Security Accounts, Buchanan & Edwards Over the past few years, Alex Alveario has led BE’s most strategic, mission-critical bids supporting national security and U.S. diplomatic operations. Most recently, he drove the company’s pursuit of the multibillion-dollar State Department Evolve IDIQ, securing a prime position on the full and open
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: CTEC’s Audra Upchurch
Audra Upchurch Interim Chief Executive Officer, CTEC Audra Upchurch’s biggest recent achievement was guiding the team through multiple transitions and pivots this year, including new contract starts, unexpected contract changes, leadership shifts and government shutdowns. Throughout these changes, her team stayed focused on supporting clients and the federal missions they serve. As federal priorities shifted
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: Booz Allen Hamilton’s Carl Ghattas
Carl Ghattas Senior Vice President of Law Enforcement and Homeland Security, Booz Allen Hamilton When America gathers for its biggest celebrations, like upcoming major sporting events or America’s 250th birthday, it takes careful coordination across many partners to keep everything running smoothly. Carl Ghattas supports that orchestration behind the scenes. He partners with federal, state
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: CGI’s Clay Goldwein
Clay Goldwein Senior Vice President & Business Unit Leader for National Security and Justice, CGI Clay Goldwein’s work spans several initiatives across multiple federal agencies, all focused on protecting America’s assets and citizens. He leads a multiyear expansion of the Cybersecurity Shared Services Platform at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, where CGI teams deliver
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: Intel Government Technologies’ Eric Eberline
Eric Eberline Director, US Army and Intelligence Community, Intel Government Technologies Eric Eberline drove significant momentum for Intel Government Technologies in 2025, leading more than 60% year-over-year growth across the U.S. Army and intelligence community. His success stems from a simple formula: deeply understand the mission, meet customers where they are, and deliver solutions that
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: BryceTech’s Jeff Mujsce
Jeff Mujsce Chief Growth Officer, BryceTech Jeff Mujsce’s biggest recent achievement was leading BryceTech through a challenging 2025 while maintaining stability, growth and mission delivery for government customers. Despite shifting priorities, contract cancellations and a government shutdown, BryceTech’s leadership team stayed disciplined and focused, delivering over 10% growth and significantly expanding the company’s prime footprint.
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: GDIT’s Holly Canevari
Holly Canevari Vice President and General Manager of Homeland Security, GDIT Holly Canevari’s greatest achievement has been building a mission-first culture rooted in partnership and collaboration. “It’s our ethos,” she said. “I’m proud of being part of and leading a team that supports the National Security space with a mission- and people-first approach.” Under her
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: Amentum’s Jennifer Walsmith
Jennifer Walsmith President of Intelligence & Cybersecurity Business, Amentum Jennifer Walsmith’s most significant recent achievement is completing her first year at Amentum. “It has been incredibly exciting to collaborate with amazing colleagues to build a new Intelligence & Cyber Group and solve hard challenges for our customers,” she said. In terms of aligning Amentum’s work
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: Accenture Federal Services’ Kevin Heald
Kevin Heald Senior Managing Director & Defense & Intelligence Portfolio Lead, Accenture Federal Services Kevin Heald’s biggest recent achievement has been leading the strategic reorganization of Accenture Federal Services’ defense and national security portfolios. This restructuring ensured leadership is squarely focused on enabling customers’ missions, unifying capabilities to better serve defense and intelligence needs. “By
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: Palo Alto Networks’ Mark Valcich
Mark Valcich District Director, Federal Law Enforcement, Diplomacy, Judicial and Legislative, Palo Alto Networks As leader of Palo Alto Networks’ business serving federal law enforcement, diplomatic, judicial and legislative agencies, Mark Valcich’s most significant recent achievement is advancing post-quantum cryptography-capable network security. Palo Alto Networks’ next-generation firewalls combine post-quantum cryptography, unified management and operations, AI-powered
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: Epoch Concepts’ Kevin Mackey
Kevin Mackey President, Epoch Concepts Kevin Mackey’s biggest recent achievement was helping lead Epoch Concepts into record growth in all sectors of business in 2025. That growth is reflected in recent deliveries supporting U.S. Space Force programs, the U.S. Navy’s Flank Speed initiative and the Department of Veterans Affairs’ consolidation efforts, along with the company’s
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: ITC Federal’s Ryan Beauchemin
Ryan Beauchemin Vice President – DOJ, ITC Federal ITC Federal is focused on supporting federal law enforcement initiatives across the Justice Department. Ryan Beauchemin’s team delivers real-time data to law enforcement officials wherever and whenever it is needed. By prioritizing consolidation and eliminating redundancies, the team enables mission success for federal law enforcement and DOJ
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: ECS’ Rob Mills
Rob Mills Vice President, Business Development, ECS Rob Mills and his team’s biggest achievement in 2025 has been driving a more unified approach to how ECS engages with its national security and civilian customers. Mills’ team is focused on bringing the full strength of ECS — integrating its expertise across AI/ML, cyber, cloud, data engineering,
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: ICF’s Sarah Norcross
Sarah Norcross Vice President and Portfolio Director, ICF In 2025, delivering strong results while growing ICF’s business with existing clients were achievements that, in other years, might have been taken for granted, Sarah Norcross said. She also credited ICF’s program management teams for anticipating and delivering on clients’ evolving needs, ensuring solutions address national security
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: LMI’s Scott Recinos
Scott Recinos Senior Vice President, Homeland Security, LMI Last year, LMI made significant strides in expanding its offerings and value for homeland security customers, Scott Recinos said. The company evolved from a traditional consultancy into a commercial technology platform provider focused exclusively on the federal government. Its GenAI platform, LIGER, is supporting Federal Protective Service
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: Peraton’s Tip Underwood
Tip Underwood Vice President & General Manager, Homeland & Diplomacy, CS&PS Sector, Peraton Last year’s biggest achievement has been raising the bar for customer delivery by aligning the right talent and capabilities to the mission. Tip Underwood and his team drove innovative, tech-forward solutions by engaging customers in thoughtful conversations and leveraging emerging technology through
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: Clarity’s Wes Daniels
Wes Daniels CEO, Clarity Wes Daniels’ biggest achievement in 2025 was completing a successful integration and expanding Clarity’s operational capabilities to deliver measurable mission impact for the nation. This enabled faster execution, broader reach and greater reliability for our customers in critical environments. The results reflect a team focused on outcomes, not activity. Why Watch
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026
National security leaders are responsible for modernizing, protecting and defending the technologies that support missions across land, sea, air and space. Their work underpins one of government’s most critical responsibilities: safeguarding the nation’s people, economy and institutions. The missions highlighted here span critical infrastructure, cyber-connected systems, internet of things, enterprise IT, border protection and space.
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