Holly Baroody
Executive Director
United States Cyber Command

CURRENT POSITION
Ms. Holly Baroody assumed her current position as Executive Director (EXDIR), United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) on December 4, 2022. In this role, she supports the Commander in leading the Cyber Mission Force to direct, synchronize, and coordinate cyberspace operations. She leads strategic initiatives to advance CYBERCOM’s capabilities, talent management, and partnerships.

BACKGROUND
Ms. Baroody has 20+ years of experience in the Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community (IC) through both military and civilian service. She served in the United States Navy (USN) from 2002 – 2009 as a Cryptologic Technician, with her first duty station in Yakima, Washington serving as a signals analyst with the National Security Agency (NSA). In 2005, she became a plank owner within the Navy’s newly established Cryptologic Technical Networks (CTN) field, and subsequently went on to serve on NSA’s Red Team as an operator conducting simulated adversary computer network operations in support of NSA’s cybersecurity mission. She joined NSA as a civilian in 2009 and, through a variety of technical and leadership assignments within NSA’s Computer Network Operations (CNO) and predecessor organizations, gained a broad and deep perspective of NSA’s computer network exploitation operations supporting NSA’s foreign intelligence and cybersecurity missions. She served as an executive assistant to NSA’s Assistant Deputy Director for Operations from 2016 to 2017 where she gained a broader strategic and operations view of NSA and its partners, then re-joined the CNO in 2017 to lead CNO’s newly established Joint Cyber Product Group (JCPG) to support USCYBERCOM’s offensive cyber operations efforts and NSA’s cybersecurity counter-cyber threat requirements. Prior to assuming her current position as USCYBERCOM Executive Director (EXDIR), Ms. Baroody served on a Joint Duty Assignment (JDA) as the Deputy to the Commander of the Cyber National Mission Force (CNMF) in USCYBERCOM from 2021 – 2022, where she supported the CNMF Commander in leading a 2000+ person organization with an Enterprise footprint to plan, direct, and synchronize full spectrum cyberspace operations to Defend the Nation from foreign adversary cyber threats.

EDUCATION
Ms. Baroody holds an undergraduate degree in Information Technology (IT) Management from the American Military University, and a graduate degree in Cybersecurity Technology from the University of Maryland Global Campus.

LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
Ms. Baroody strives to embody the servant style of leadership and believes in empowering individuals and teams toward clear strategic goals, enabling innovation, and building bridges across interagency, industry, academia, and international partners to achieve common objectives in support of our Nation’s security and defense. She invests in the growth of others, actively coaching and mentoring junior and mid-level personnel as they navigate their careers.

PERSONAL
Ms. Baroody lives in Ellicott City, MD with her husband Michael and their two children. She is an avid reader and enjoys walks with her family.

Kathleen McCollum
President & Chief Executive Officer
University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center

Ms. McCollum serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center (UM BWMC), a member of the University of Maryland Medical System. She started her career at the University of Maryland Medical Center in strategic planning. She then joined UM BWMC as Vice President and Executive Director of the Tate Cancer Center, an affiliate of the UM Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center. She was promoted to Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President for Clinical Integration, with oversight for operations, nursing, local HR and strategic planning.

Ms. McCollum holds a bachelor’s degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Health Science degree in Health Finance and Management from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. A resident of Anne Arundel County, Ms. McCollum is active in the community, having served on boards or volunteered for several community organizations, including Hospice of the Chesapeake, Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation, BWI Business Partnership and Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

Valerie Sheares Ashby
President
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Valerie Sheares Ashby began as the sixth president of UMBC on August 1, 2022. The first woman to serve in this role, she also holds a faculty appointment in UMBC’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Sheares Ashby joined UMBC from Duke University, where she had served since 2015 as dean of the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. As dean, she led the development and implementation of strategic plans that resulted in significant new investments in faculty recruitment and development, philanthropy, and student engagement, and a realignment of operations that enhanced services and created operational efficiencies. Throughout, she consistently advanced diversity, equity, and inclusion as imperative to excellence in both teaching and research.

Prior to her tenure at Duke, Sheares Ashby chaired the chemistry department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) from 2012 to 2015. As a faculty member at UNC since 2003, she held numerous leadership positions and had experience at all levels of academic administration. She served on UNC’s Arts & Sciences Foundation Board of Directors and Research Advisory Council and chaired the university’s Institutional Conflict of Interest Committee and the College of Arts & Sciences Faculty Diversity Task Force. She engaged in all aspects of the undergraduate educational experience as director of undergraduate studies in the chemistry department, and she directed the UNC National Science Foundation Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate. Sheares Ashby was instrumental in UNC’s collaboration with UMBC to launch the Chancellor’s Science Scholars Program, which was among the earliest replication pilots by a research university of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program.

She began her academic career in 1996 as an assistant professor at Iowa State University and was promoted to associate professor in 2002. At Iowa State, Sheares Ashby served as a mentor for the Iowa State University Program for Women in Science & Engineering, a summer research program for undergraduate and high school students.

As a researcher, Sheares Ashby has focused on synthetic polymer chemistry, with an emphasis on designing and synthesizing materials for biomedical applications such as X-ray contrast agents and drug delivery materials. She is the recipient of the National Science Foundation Career Development Award, DuPont Young Faculty Award, and 3M Young Faculty Award, as well as numerous teaching and service awards, including the UNC Chapel Hill General Alumni Association Faculty Service Award and the Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professorship for excellence in undergraduate teaching and research. In 2022, Women of Color Magazine named Sheares Ashby its Technologist of the Year.

She received her B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed postdoctoral research at Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz in Germany as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and NATO Postdoctoral Fellow.

Roxanne Wood
Moderator
Chief Executive Officer & President
Boeing Intelligence & Analytics

Roxanne Wood is Chief Executive Officer and President, Boeing Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A) In this position, Wood leads program management, business strategy, technological integration, campaign strategy, customer engagement, and production of intelligence solutions.
Roxanne is also Senior Director of the Ground Systems and Intelligence (GS&I) Organization, The Boeing Company. In this position, Wood leads Boeing’sSpace Mission System’s integrated Ground Systems business.

Wood has more than 25 years of experience in technology, strategy and business development across the U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence community with emphasis on Cyber, SIGINT and analytic operations. Prior to her current role as CEO, she held BI&A’s COO position, overseeing and implementing business operations, strategies and policies.

In addition, Wood was BI&A’s director of strategic capture, providing strategies for growth within the MPO market segment, as well as adjacencies such as USCYBERCOM, DIA and other intelligence agencies and has experience in delivering profitable revenue results, building organization talent, market expansion, and developing new product strategies.

Wood holds a Master of Science in Technology Management from University of Maryland, University College and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a minor in mathematics from Towson State University. Additionally, she holds a PMP certification.