Mark Weatherford is the Head of Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy at NVIDIA where he serves as a key advisor and strategist. In this role he helps the company navigate the evolving cybersecurity landscape while positioning NVIDIA’s technologies as critical enablers of secure, mission-driven outcomes for federal agencies and national security partners.
Mark has held a variety of executive level cybersecurity roles including VP of AI Policy at Gretel, Chief Strategy Officer at the National Cybersecurity Center, VP & Global Information Security Strategist at Booking Holdings, Principal at The Chertoff Group, VP & Chief Security Officer at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and Chief Information Security Officer for the state of Colorado.
Mark was also appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008 to serve as California’s first Chief Information Security Officer and in 2011 he was appointed in the Obama Administration as the nation’s first Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Mark is a former U.S. Naval Officer where he served as the Director of Navy Computer Network Defense Operations, Director of the Navy Computer Incident Response Team, and established the U.S. Navy’s first operational red team.
Mark is a Board Director and on the Advisory Board of several technology companies where he has a successful track record in helping startups from founding to acquisition.
Among his many professional awards, Mark was an inductee into the 2023 Global Cyber Security Hall of Fame, the 2021 International CSO Hall of Fame, the 2018 Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) Hall of Fame, and was SC Magazine’s CSO of the Year in 2010.
During my XO tour in Keflavik, Iceland in the early 1990s, I could see that technology in the Cryptology/1610 community was advancing at Moore’s Law speed, and I wanted to be part of that future. When my detailer offered me the opportunity to attend NPS, I couldn’t say “yes” fast enough. While I was considering topics for my thesis research, my sponsor at Naval Security Group Headquarters suggested that cybersecurity (then called information security) would play a critical role in the Navy’s future.
It seems unremarkable today, but in 1994 information security wasn’t even a defined technology discipline. “C4I for the Warrior” was still a concept aimed at improving interoperability among the services, and the Navy’s Copernicus architecture was being developed to restructure all Navy C4I systems. It looked like a perfect target for my research and, fortuitously, it established my future path in both my follow-on Navy tours and my post-Navy career in cybersecurity. Coincidentally—and unknown to me at the time—the founders of NVIDIA were starting their company just a few miles up the road from Monterey in Silicon Valley.
The experience is still crystal clear in my mind. I was sitting in my computer networks class in the summer of 1993 when we were introduced to the MOSAIC web browser. The World Wide Web was only a couple of years old, and MOSAIC suddenly opened up the Internet universe by making it user-friendly. Google was still a few years away, but I could immediately see a future where the ability to integrate text and graphics into web pages was going to change not just the Navy but the entire world. It was truly a “present at the creation” moment to be at NPS.
That experience—and the remarkable faculty at NPS, who I didn’t realize at the time were some of the most brilliant technology thinkers in the world—opened our eyes to the revolution underway and encouraged us to challenge assumptions and think beyond the status quo. That isn’t always popular in the military, but my education at NPS gave me the confidence and credibility as a junior officer to be recognized as an information security expert for the rest of my career.
After 26 years in uniform, service didn’t end when I left the Navy—it just took a different form. My time on active duty taught me that national security isn’t defined solely by physical defense, but also by protecting the digital and economic systems our society depends on.
Whether working in government or the private sector, I’ve always viewed cybersecurity as more than a technical discipline—it’s simply a continuation of service. The same sense of purpose that motivated me in the Navy continues to guide me today, and ensuring our nation’s critical systems remain safe, reliable, and resilient has been my north star. The challenges may evolve—from securing ships and satellites to safeguarding AI and cloud infrastructure—but the mission remains unchanged: defending the systems that defend us.
Each of those experiences demanded vision and persistence more than resources—a reminder that leadership matters most when the playbook doesn’t exist. In California, the idea of a statewide cybersecurity program was new and untested. We had to build a foundation from the ground up—establishing statewide policy, governance, and trust among dozens of agencies with very different missions. The key was helping leaders understand that cybersecurity wasn’t a technical afterthought, but essential to mission success and continuity of government.
At DHS, the scale and stakes were much higher. The mission was to bring coherence to a fragmented federal cybersecurity landscape and to engage all sixteen critical infrastructure sectors as true partners. That meant building teams, frameworks, and relationships that could endure beyond any single administration.
In the private sector—and especially in the fast-paced world of technology start-ups—I learned how to translate those same lessons into a business context, aligning security priorities with organizational goals and risk. Across all of these environments, the constants were leadership, communication, and patience. Technology matters, but people, collaboration, and trust remain the foundation for building effective cybersecurity programs.
It’s an extraordinary time to be alive. We’re at an inflection point where computational power and data are redefining what’s possible in national security. AI and advanced computing can help decision-makers see patterns faster, manage complexity more effectively, and respond with greater precision to evolving threats. When developed and applied responsibly, these technologies can enhance resilience, efficiency, and situational awareness across both defense and civilian missions.
But with that opportunity comes responsibility. We have to ensure these systems are trustworthy, explainable, and secure. Building confidence in how AI systems are trained, deployed, and protected is just as important as the innovations themselves. The real promise lies in partnerships like the one formalized through the NPS–NVIDIA Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA)—collaborations that ensure innovation strengthens our collective security and advances shared values.
The NPS–NVIDIA Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) is a powerful example of how public institutions and private industry can work together to advance national objectives through technology and research. NPS brings deep operational insight and an ability to translate mission needs into applied research. NVIDIA contributes expertise in accelerated computing and artificial intelligence to help explore new ways to solve complex problems. Together, this partnership is enabling mission-relevant experimentation, workforce development, and research on the responsible use of advanced technologies.
Looking ahead, as new computing architectures and AI capabilities emerge, partnerships like this will play a vital role in ensuring that innovation remains aligned with national security priorities and ethical frameworks. As an alumnus, it’s incredibly rewarding to see NPS once again at the leading edge of technological change—just as it was when I was there as a student.
