Plenary Session: Supply Chain and Critical Infrastructure Resilience Investments

Bob Kolasky is Senior Vice President for Critical Infrastructure at Exiger where he focuses on developing cutting-edge risk management solutions for critical infrastructure companies and supporting government agencies.  In this role, Mr. Kolasky leads market strategy for addressing third party and supply chain risk in critical infrastructure and delivering analysis to support enhanced business and government operations.   

Mr. Kolasky also serves as a Nonresident Scholar in Technology and International Affairs Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as a Senior Associate for the Center on Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and a Senior Fellow at Auburn University’s McCrary Institute.  He is the former Chair of the High-Level Risk Forum for the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).  

Mr. Kolasky joined Exiger after 15 years as a senior leader in the Federal government, where he was responsible for foundational work in national security risk management and election security, to include the development of the National Critical Functions risk framework.

He was the founding Director for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) National Risk Management Center (NRMC) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As one of CISA’s Assistant Directors, he oversaw efforts to facilitate a strategic, cross-sector government and industry risk management approach to cyber and supply chain threats to critical infrastructure including U.S. elections systems. As head of the National Risk Management Center, he co-chaired the Information and Communications Technology Supply Chain Risk Management Task Force and led CISA’s efforts to support development of a secure 5G network.  He also led the Agency’s work to support the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).  

Mr. Kolasky has served in a number of other senior leadership roles for DHS, including Acting Assistant Secretary and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection.  He served as the Director of the DHS Cyber Physical Critical Infrastructure Integrated Task Force to implement Presidential Policy Directive 21 on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, as well as Executive Order 13636 on Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity. 

Earlier in his career, Bob was a management consultant, a journalist and an entrepreneur. He graduated from Dartmouth College and from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.  He is the proud father of three wonderful teenagers.  

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Suzanne Spaulding is senior adviser for homeland security and director of the Defending Democratic Institutions project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She also serves as a member of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. Previously, she served as undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where she led the National Protection and Programs Directorate, now called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), managing a $3 billion budget and a workforce of 18,000 that is charged with strengthening cybersecurity and protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure, including election infrastructure. Ms. Spaulding has worked in the executive branch in Republican and Democratic administrations and on both sides of the aisle in Congress. She was general counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and minority staff director for the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. She also spent six years at the Central Intelligence Agency, where she was assistant general counsel and the legal adviser to the director’s Nonproliferation Center. She was executive director of two congressionally created commissions, on weapons of mass destruction and on terrorism. Following the attacks of 9/11, Ms. Spaulding worked with key critical infrastructure sectors as they reviewed their security posture and advised the CEOs of the Business Roundtable. In 2002, she was appointed by Governor Mark Warner of Virginia to the Secure Commonwealth Panel to advise the governor and the legislature regarding preparedness issues. She was managing partner of the Harbour Group, a principal in the Bingham Consulting Group, and of counsel to Bingham McCutchen LLP. In addition to her work at CSIS, Ms. Spaulding currently serves on a number of corporate boards and advisory boards and is a member of the Homeland Security Experts Group (HSEG).

Moshe Nelson, Partner at Guidehouse, has provided strategy and advice for clients across Development, Diplomacy, Homeland Security and Defense throughout his career. Guided by a sense of purpose to make a meaningful impact globally, Moshe forms expert teams and leverages leading technology to solve the greatest challenges facing business and the public sector today. His deep technical specialization in asset and supply chain management combined with executive strategy and knowledge brings both best practice experience and creative solutions to solve clients’ most pressing challenges.

Daniel Kaniewski is Managing Director, Public Sector at Marsh McLennan. Dr. Kaniewski is also chair of the Committee on Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate at the National Institute of Building Sciences, a Senior Fellow at the McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security, and an advisor to Juvare, developer of the market-leading emergency management software WebEOC.

He was previously Deputy Administrator for Resilience at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In this role, he served as FEMA’s second ranking official and led the agency's pre-disaster programs. He was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in September 2017.

In addition to his FEMA role, he was Chair of the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) High Level Risk Forum, comprised of risk managers from the 36 OECD member nations.

Prior to FEMA, he led the Global Resilience practice at a leading catastrophe risk modeling firm, directed resilience programs at a DHS research center, and co-founded a homeland security think tank at George Washington University.

Dr. Kaniewski was Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Senior Director for Response Policy in the George W. Bush Administration, where he managed over 200 Presidential disaster declarations at the White House.

He earlier held positions at FEMA, the Congressional Fire Services Institute, and on Capitol Hill. Dan began his career in homeland security as a firefighter/paramedic.

He holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from George Washington University, an M.A. in National Security Studies from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, and a B.S. magna cum laude in Emergency Medical Services from George Washington University.

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