MEET ALYCIA FARRELL
Alycia Farrell is the founder and sole proprietor of Gray Tarian, a consulting firm that specializes in federal budgeting and policy within the cybersecurity, defense, and aerospace industries. She provides expertise to other government relations firms and defense companies who seek to work with and understand the DoD acquisition and Federal appropriations processes.
Alycia worked for 14 and a half years as a Professional Staff Member on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Defense where her portfolio focused on missile procurement for the Army, Navy, and Air Force; funding and policy for the Missile Defense Agency; and individual component work on strategic systems. She is proficient at researching program elements within DoD justification materials and analyzing Federal code and law that directs space and national security policy.
Her areas of expertise have included oversight of military health programs, where she has been instrumental in pushing for reforms to better serve the men and women in uniform and their families. She has tackled the most important issues in military health care over the last decade, including increasing funding for traumatic brain injury, suicide prevention, and implementing electronic health record systems for our veterans. While in the Senate Appropriations Committee Alycia excelled in oversight of missile defense programs, where she was a key voice in promoting the defense of our country while also calling for accountability in these technologically complex and expensive programs. She is a notable expert in the cooperative programs between the United States and Israel, where Alycia has played a key part in obtaining funding for programs such as Iron Dome, which have helped protect a key American ally from harm.
She has an M.A in International Relations, Cyber Diplomacy (Technical Track) from Norwich University, and wrote her thesis on making a case for standardizing cybersecurity protocols on interconnected weapon systems within the NATO Alliance. She is currently studying for her Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) certification. She also has taken courses at the Defense Acquisition University and through the Naval War College Fleet Seminar Program in National Security studies.
Alycia serves as a core organizational member and the current Acting Treasurer of the Association of US Cyber Forces (AUSCF), where she fully supports the mission to advance national security cybersecurity practices and the education of cybersecurity concepts to Members of Congress and congressional staff. She believes having a policy, budget, and technical understanding of cybersecurity policies, practices, and toolkits will help make more informed national security decisions within the Legislative and Executive branches of government and better support the national defense industrial base from U.S. evolving threats and adversaries. Alycia is a bundle of cheerful energy who takes great enthusiasm in everything she does. This is especially true in her love of the outdoors and commitment to hockey.
MEET BRADLEY WOLFENDEN
Bradley is the Director of Cyber Sports at Play Cyber and the Chair of the Human Talent Gap in AI and Cybersecurity Task Force here at the Tortora Brayda Institute. As the task force chair, he looks forward to contributing his expertise in cybersecurity education, workforce development, and competitions to ensure its success.
He brings over eight years of experience in designing, delivering, and managing learning, training and educational experiences for individuals at all levels of proficiency, with a focus on cybersecurity since 2017. Mr. Wolfenden is an Advisory Board member of US Cyber Games, is the active co-chair of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity Skills Competitions Community of Interest, served on the advisory board and as the Competition Platform Lead for the Wicked6 Cyber Games, sits on Microsoft’s Education Partner Advisory Council, and has held leadership roles in support of numerous other global cybersecurity programs.
