Cynthia Wright is a retired U.S. Military officer with over 25 years of experience in national security, cyber strategy and policy, and transformational change leadership.  As a senior military leader, she led more than 700 people in delivering ICT infrastructure and cybersecurity assessments for over 120 locations around the globe.  She is experienced in leading large organizations through the strategic transformation from technology implementation and sustainment to global integration and innovation.  Cynthia is presently a Principal Cybersecurity Engineer and Cyber Strategy Capability Area Lead for the MITRE Corporation, where she co-developed a methodology to assess the cyber needs and capabilities of developing nations that has been used Ghana, Mexico, and Ukraine, and regionally in West Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central/South America.  She also assisted DHS in drafting the U.S. National Cyber Incident Response Plan and incentivizing market-driven approaches to cyber risk management.   Cynthia is also the CEO of Synthus, Inc., which applies Design Thinking approaches to civic and private organizations’ innovation strategies through its subsidiary company Design Thinking Denver.

Ms. Wright has taught graduate-level courses in National Security and Strategy, and was a member of the team of international experts assisting the Organization of American States in formulating a stakeholder engagement approach for Mexico’s national digital strategy.  She is a frequent speaker at technical conferences, and has participated as an international panel member at ICICIS 2016 in Botswana, INCIBE’s international conference on Digital Inclusion in Leon, Spain, and at XConomy’s 2017 ‘Napa Summit on Jobs, Growth and Technology’—addressing various topics including the ties between internet technologies and global innovation, cyber risk management, cybersecurity capacity building, public-private partnerships, and some unique challenges faced by critical infrastructure providers.  Cynthia has a Master’s degree in National Resource Strategy from the National Defense University (Eisenhower School), as well as two additional Masters degrees in military and interdisciplinary studies, and a B.S. from the United States Air Force Academy.