Consulting Magazine - April 2020

INTHE

Jordan Rae Kelly has al- ways been interested in technology, but her career focus in cybersecurity
was not entirely deliberate. She
minored in computer science in
college, and when she joined the
Federal Bureau of Investigation,
there were only a limited num-
ber of vacancies available to her.
“Because of that college minor, I
requested to be placed in the open
position in the Cyber Division,”
Kelly says. “That choice has
made all the difference!”
Kelly is a Senior Managing Di-
rector and the Head of Cybersecu-
rity for the Americas at FTI Con-
sulting. Kelly has more than 12
years of experience managing cy-
ber policy planning and coordinat-
ing incident response. She joined
FTI Consulting from the U.S. Gov-
ernment, where she served as the
Director for Cyber Incident Re-
sponse on the National Security
Council at the White House.
“Technological problems can
seem very daunting to people
who are not well versed in those
fields,” Kelly says. “I enjoy
speaking to people about cyber-
security and helping them think
about these challenges in a way
that is completely digestible.”
During her tenure at the White
House, she was responsible for
both national incident response
coordination, as well as manage-
ment of the U.S. Government’s
process for managing zero-day
exploits. She was also a chief au-
thor of the National Cyber Strat-
egy, the first of its kind in the
United States in 15 years.

“I will always be proud of my
participation in the creation of the
National Cyber Strategy in 2018,
during my time at the White House
on the National Security Council,”
she says. “Cybersecurity is a bi-
partisan issue, and the publication
of the document served as a call to
action for all American businesses
to take steps to enhance our na-
tional cybersecurity.”
Ask her if she’s ever experi-
enced unique challenges being a
woman consultant in the technolo-
gy field? She says there are many
occasions where she found herself
serving as the only woman in a
meeting, on a call, or in a room.
“While these situations might cre-
ate extra pressure or attention,
I see them as opportunities to
make a great impression and to set
the stage for the many other capa-
ble women on our team,” she says.
In addition, she says she is look-
ing forward to the newest class of
college graduates who will join
ghe FTI Consulting team. “Two-
thirds of this group is actually
women, and I’m looking forward
to continuing to grow and develop
new professionals on our team.”

As far as being recognizedas one of the Women Leaders inTechnology award, Kelly saysbeing recognized for the awardis a great honor. “Each of the female professionals who are in thisgroup are continuing to impactthis industry as it evolves, andwinning this award means thatthere is a great, visible network ofwomen in this field available forcollaboration and partnership.”