Theaters for conflict have grown in the last several decades to now include the digital universe and cyberspace. The borderless nature of these forums enables perpetrators to attack critical infrastructure, large populations and pose a serious threat to U.S. national security. Cyber disruptions are widespread with the potential to impact every aspect of society in both the public and private spheres. With the importance of protecting intellectual property also being a major consideration in the cyber realm, this event will answer questions regarding how the U.S. and private industry can innovate to protect against malign actors using technology for nefarious purposes.
About the Speakers
Hon. Manisha Singh has over 25 years of public and private sector experience in business, finance and trade. She currently provides strategic advisory services for companies. She sits on the board of advisors for the American Foreign Policy Council. She is also a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Center for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University.
She is a former Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs at the U.S. State Department. She also served as Acting Undersecretary of State and she was nominated to be U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). She was previously Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In addition to government, she was a senior executive at J.P. Morgan Chase. She is an attorney and has practiced corporate law at Reed Smith and Squire Patton Boggs.
Manisha has a B.A. from the University of Miami and a J.D. from the University of Florida College of Law. She studied international law at the University of Leiden in The Netherlands and has an LL.M in International Legal Studies from the American University Washington College of Law. She has bar admissions in Florida, the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania. She speaks fluent Hindi and conversant Spanish.
Guillermo Christensen is the Office Managing Partner of Ice Miller’s Washington DC Office. Guillermo combines his experience as a former CIA intelligence officer, a diplomat with the U.S. Department of State and an attorney to shape and inform the advice he provides to clients on enterprise risks involving cybersecurity, national security and complex international business matters.
As an intelligence officer, Guillermo served in numerous inter-agency roles with the Departments of Defense and State, the FBI and several national intelligence fusion centers. In 2001, Guillermo was selected by the CIA Director to serve as the National Intelligence Fellow to the Council on Foreign Relations and from 2010 to 2011 Guillermo served as the Science and Technology Advisor to the U.S. Mission to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Guillermo received his Bachelor of Arts in International Relations in 1988 from American University, earned his master’s degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and his Juris Doctor in 2005 from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Glenn S. Gerstell is the former General Counsel of the National Security Agency and Central Security Service from 2015 to 2020, spanning both the Obama and Trump administrations, and a thought leader on the role of technology in national security, cybersecurity, privacy, and geo-political affairs.
Gerstell is currently a non-resident Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, as well as a consultant and corporate board member in a variety of industries. Gerstell previously served on the President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council, which reports to the president and the secretary of homeland security on security threats to the nation’s infrastructure, as well as on the District of Columbia Homeland Security Commission.
Prior to the NSA, Gerstell practiced law at Milbank LLP, where he focused on the global telecommunications industry, international business strategy and political-risk analysis, and served as the managing partner of the firm’s Washington D.C., Singapore, and Hong Kong offices (residing in Asia for eight years). He is an honors graduate of Columbia University School of Law.
