As a senior advisor to The Chertoff Group, Cathy Handford shares her industry knowledge after more than thirty years of experience performing domestic and international market assessments and successful contract capture for key security initiatives involving cyber security and information systems as well as Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) programs.
From 2002 to 2012, Ms. Handford worked at Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC). Most recently, she was Sector Director of the Cyber Initiatives Group of the Information Systems Sector where she was responsible for market analysis and strategy development for both U.S. and international cybersecurity markets, which included the United Kingdom, Australia and the Middle East. Specifically, she focused her efforts on marketing NGC cybersecurity capabilities; coordinating cybersecurity marketing and technology development; managing strategic business relationships; developing advanced cyber training and participating in Red Teams; and consulting on cyber-related capture and proposal efforts within the company.
Before joining the Cyber Initiatives Group, Ms. Handford served as NGCs Division Director of Strategic Development for Intelligence Systems Division where she led nine mission area strategy teams offering important national security support solutions in the development of their market campaign strategies. These mission areas included Cyber, Geospatial Intelligence (GeoINT), Special Access, Agile Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR); Integrated Intelligence, Irregular Warfare, Ground Systems, and Space Superiority. Previously at NGC, she worked in numerous business development positions helping to develop, implement and support different strategic campaigns and corporate priorities for the company. Before joining NGC, Ms. Handford held positions with TRW Inc., Harris Corporation and In-Q-Tel, where she helped create the organizations process for making technology investment decisions.
Ms. Handford holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Randolph-Macon College and is currently pursuing her Master of Science in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University. She is a member in the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.
Expertise
National Security Market Assessment and Business Development Strategy
Technology Investment
Cybersecurity, C4ISR and Intelligence
