Cyber leader with deep expertise in cybersecurity strategy, policy, threat intelligence, and education for the financial, government, technology, and academic sectors.
- Demonstrate strategic leadership by guiding and advising Bank of America, and previously at NSA and the Department of Defense, on cyber strategy, policy, threats, and national security initiatives.
- Expertise in cyber crisis/risk management, resiliency, and operations for cyber incidents to predict, prepare, and defend against geopolitical, criminal, nation state, technical, and other threats.
- Leverage technical depth, business development, and marketing skills developed from 20 years of private sector experience in product and service development, marketing, and sales including four years in Silicon Valley during the early stages of the internet era.
- Sought after speaker and educator for business and academia on cybersecurity topics. Passionate about protection of governance processes to instill confidence in electoral processes and prevent rogue actors from interfering with rights of citizens to hold honest, open, and accountable elections.
Describe your industry experience:
- Senior Vice President of Strategy at Bank of America leading business optimization planning, modeling, and analysis to develop predictive strategies to bolster cyber resources addressing threats and risks.
- Over 10 years of experience in the intelligence community leading cybersecurity and technology programs, including writing and implementing Department of Defense and national cyber policies.
- Instructor in Cybersecurity Graduate program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) teaching three different graduate-level courses.
- Legislative experience with emphasis on cybersecurity laws, policies, and advocacy.
- Extensive technology experience in data base, networking, cloud, business intelligence, and many other technology areas.
Describe your functional experience:
- Leading team of strategists to follow business optimization models analyzing and addressing gaps in global cyber capabilities and program plans for the Global Information Security division at Bank of America, the second largest Bank in the United States.
- Informing decision makers on geopolitical, criminal, nation state, technical, and other threats to develop predictive strategies to bolster cyber defenses.
- Experience providing briefings to executive leadership, speaking at cyber conferences, and other oral presentations to various government contractor customers, academia, and consumers.
- Developing and delivering curriculum on new, uncharted areas in Cybersecurity, such as election security, government policy, cyber threat intelligence, resiliency, and crisis management.
Describe your key business transaction experience:
- Completed 2020 Global Cybersecurity Strategy for Bank of America, the second largest bank is the United States, with a cybersecurity budget exceeding $500 million.
- Led and supported Congressional appropriations and certification programs for cybersecurity initiatives that were included in the National Defense Authorization Act $692 billion funding.
- Worked with various business development teams to identify new market opportunities for growth and carried a quota for various technology companies.
What is the most important skill you bring to a corporate board?
As the Cybersecurity landscape grows, Ms. Parr brings her technical understanding and strategic vision working in the Financial, Cyber, Intelligence, and Technology fields. She is keenly aware of worldwide threats and can prepare a company for dealing with a potential cyber attack. She is a strong communicator and often asked to provide lectures and keynotes for various industry and education groups. She understands how to prepare a company for the risks and chaos that may result in a cyber breach and will be invaluable in building the infrastructure to prepare for an unfortunate cyber incident.
Ms. Parr’s legislative and executive branch experience provides her insight to the players and mechanics of creating new laws, governance and policy. She understands how to advocate for solutions that protect privacy rights while also benefiting national security. She is passionate about protecting democracy and is an expert on foreign influence campaigns affecting democratic election processes.
As an educator, Ms. Parr has demonstrated her ability to teach, mentor and coach the next generation on the skills needed to be successful in the cyber field. She has served as a role model for various women in technology groups and has demonstrated her passion for this industry, emphasizing the use of cybersecurity technology to help people be safer, whether it involves national security, financial security, or other important facets of life.
