From 2013 to 2015, John played a key role in developing the Obama administration's cybersecurity and technology policy as the National Security Council's director for federal cybersecurity. He led policy, technical, and process efforts to reduce cybersecurity risk and improve metrics and measurement for all civilian, military, and intelligence community agencies. He served as a primary advisor on cybersecurity incidents and preparedness and led the National Security Council’s efforts to address significant cybersecurity incidents, including those at OPM and the White House, among others. He also spent several years at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), both as a cybersecurity researcher and in the Office of the Undersecretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology. John also worked as a senior cybersecurity advisor for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, providing leadership to the cybersecurity preparations for the Healthcare.gov website.
Prior to joining Venable, John was the senior director for Trusted Engineering for Microsoft. In this position, he coordinated multiple teams to develop, implement, and oversee strategy for government adoption of Microsoft’s Azure cloud services. Part of the implementation involved meeting strict federal and Defense Department compliance requirements.
Early in his career, John was a technology leader at several private sector companies, including, Booz Allen Hamilton and the Center for Internet Security.