Modernizing Critical Infrastructure in the Face of Global Threats

Kayla Gunter serves as the Acting Associate Chief Information Officer of Information Technology and Director of Federal IT Program Management within the Office of the Chief Information Officer at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Ms. Gunter manages 225 IT professionals, drives collaboration across the federal government, and oversees over six networks and seven major IT and cybersecurity portfolios—including emergency communications, classified cloud, and international collaboration—while advancing digital transformation.

Before joining NNSA, Ms. Gunter held senior roles at the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), where she led cloud migration efforts and played a key role in establishing DHS’ first Cloud Hosting Blanket Purchase Agreement. She has more than a decade of federal IT experience and holds a Master’s in Leadership and a Bachelor’s in Political Science from Truman State University. Her certifications include senior-level Federal Acquisition credentials and the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

Mr. Daryl Haegley‘s distinguished career includes over 30 years of military, federal, civilian, and commercial consulting experience. In his last assignment within the Office of the Principal Cyber Advisor to the Secretary of Defense, his role encompassed overseeing strategic cyber efforts to protect the control systems and operational technology (OT) enabling the Department of Defense’s (DoD) critical missions. Significant accomplishments include leading a multi-Federal Department coordination and writing of the report to the President addressing cyber physical systems skills and training gaps and drafting the DoD’s Control Systems Cyber Defense Reference Architecture. His current role is the first DoD Senior Executive Service position created to focus on OT, Technical Director-Control Systems Cyber Resilience, he serves as the senior Air Force and Space Force expert providing policy and technical oversight for Air and Space Force world-wide operations dependent upon critical infrastructure control systems. Established the Cyber Resilience Office for control Systems (CROCS) overseeing and prioritizing security for all installation OT. For over decade, Mr. Haegley is readily recognized as DoD’s leading champion in bringing awareness and critical thinking to the ever-increasing cyber threat to control systems.

Prior to joining the GovCIO Media and Research staff, Ross Gianfortune worked at Government Executive, The Washington Post, The Gazette Newspapers and WXRT Radio. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from University of Missouri and a master’s in communications from the American University.