LAUREN KNAUSENBERGER
TITLE : CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
COMPANY : DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE
LOCATION : WASHINGTON , US
Image : Lauren Knausenberger ( centre ), director of Cyberspace Innovation , talks about women in technology career fields during the Air Force Conference , also known as AFCON , at the Pentagon , July 19 . AFCON is a one-day immersion into Air Force technology , culture and operations designed for long-form storytellers who typically do not cover the military .
Wharton Business School and held a number of roles in the entrepreneurial and investment industry .
Most recently working in a high-profile role in the defence sector , the call to serve her country came literally in the form of a call from an Air Force captain who had been inspired by a speech by then-DAF CIO , Lieutenant General Bill Bender .
“ My husband got a call from an Air Force captain one day , and he just said , ‘ We need more companies like your wife ’ s company in the defence space . We have so many barriers to innovation . I ’ d really love to chat with someone like her about how we can solve some of these problems ’.”
EXECUTIVE BIO
Lauren Barrett Knausenberger is the Chief Information Officer for the Department of the Air Force , comprised of the US Air Force and US Space Force . Ms . Knausenberger leads three directorates – Enterprise Information Technology , Data and Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity – and supports 20,000 cyber operations and support personnel around the globe with a portfolio valued at U $ 17bn . She provides oversight of the Air Force ’ s Information Technology investment strategy from networks to cloud computing , Enterprise policies , data management , digital transformation , information resources management , information technology innovation initiatives , information assurance and related matters for the Department of the Air Force .