INDUSTRY ADVISOR – Cybersecurity
Richard J. Wilhelm
Richard J. Wilhelm has had a distinguished 50-year career in national security affairs in both the public and private sectors. He is currently an Industry Advisor at Astra Capital Management and a Senior Executive Advisor at Booz Allen Hamilton, having retired in 2014 as a Senior Partner and Executive Vice President at the firm. Mr. Wilhelm led the firm’s business with the U.S. intelligence agencies, including its Cyber Security work. Previously he led the firm’s Analytics business. He was a member of the Booz Allen Executive Management Committee.
Mr. Wilhelm’s professional experience is in military and strategic intelligence, cyber operations and infrastructure protection. Prior to joining Booz Allen in 1998, he was a 29-year career naval intelligence officer. Subsequently, he was a political appointee in the Clinton Administration, first as a senior policy advisor on Vice President Al Gore’s national security staff, where he was responsible for intelligence, counterterrorism, covert action and a range of global national security issues. He then served as Executive Director for Intelligence Community Affairs, the then number 3 ranking national intelligence official. He has had military command experience, was the first Director of Information Warfare at the National Security Agency and was the Director of the Joint Intelligence Center for the first Gulf War where he produced and coordinated intelligence for the President, the Secretary of Defense and ground, air, naval and special operations combatant forces, operating from both the Pentagon and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
In addition to his current roles at Astra and Booz Allen, he is on the boards of several early stage IT services and cyber security companies. He is a member of the Board of Advisors at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He has lived in England, Germany, Italy, Spain, Scotland and Japan. He is a Russian Area Studies graduate of Syracuse University and a distinguished graduate of the Naval War College.