WorkingNation logo with the tagline of "Covering the Future of Work"
DONATE
Search
Play Video

Cracking the Code

Closing the cybersecurity skills gap

Cybersecurity is one of the hottest jobs of the future but there is a lack of skilled workers to meet this demand. Moderator Ron Insana leads WorkingNation's Town Hall conversation with cybersecurity experts as they discuss solutions for training this workforce.
Cybersecurity is one of the hottest jobs of the future but there is a lack of skilled workers to meet this demand. Moderator Ron Insana leads WorkingNation's Town Hall conversation with cybersecurity experts as they discuss solutions for training this workforce.
Tags   
Tags 

They work in windowless bunkers in front of walls of monitors. Constantly tracking attacks with military precision, outmanned as they fight a 21st-century war. Whenever we hear about the latest website hack, the effects can be felt from the boardroom to the consumer who innocently clicks on an infected website.

With losses accounting in the trillions of dollars and a tight labor market, that is good news for job seekers with cybersecurity skills. Millions of cybersecurity professionals will be needed, yet they cannot be trained and hired fast enough, making this a job of the future.

A great crowd joined WorkingNation at the campus of Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island in New York City for our Town Hall event focusing on the talent gap in cybersecurity, an issue that will define the future of Computer Science and Information Technology careers.

“Cracking the Code: A Town Hall on Bridging the Cybersecurity Skills Gap” was an in-depth discussion with leading experts on the topic of cybercrime and how to develop a skilled workforce to confront the scale of this global problem.

Moderated by CNBC and MSNBC contributor Ron Insana and featuring panelists representing the corporate, education and government sectors, our Town Hall brought together stakeholders with an active interest in matching workers to cybersecurity and related IT roles.

There are an estimated 40,000 information security jobs which go unfilled each year and the employment gap for cybersecurity professionals is predicted to reach 2 million by 2019. According to the IT governance nonprofit organization ISACA, that number is projected to grow to 3.5 million by 2021.

In what can seem like a one-sided battle against the rising threat of hackers and rogue states, higher education institutions are recognizing the need to create and adapt their curriculum to attract and train new talent. Companies have been slower to adjust to the speed of technological change and the majority of them lack a plan to address skills gaps within their organizations let alone cybersecurity.

Our Town Hall panel talked about the strategies and best practices of organizations which are staying ahead of cybersecurity trends and shared this insight with the audience.

  • Ari Juels, Professor, Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech
  • Will Markow, Manager Client Strategy and Analytics, Burning Glass Technologies
  • Bridgette Gray, Executive Vice President, Per Scholas
  • Amanda Gould, Chief Administrative Officer, The American Women’s College at Bay Path University
  • Nicholas Lalla, Senior Project Manager, Urban Innovation, New York City Economic Development Corporation
  • Kelly Isikoff, CISO, RenaissanceRE
  • Andy Ellis, Chief Security Officer, Akamai Technologies
  • Joseph Santamaria, Vice President Information Technology & Chief Information Officer, PSEG Services Corporation
  • Annemarie Johnson, Field Technical Representative, Unisys
  • Wayne Kunow, Head of Cyber & Information Security Governance, Barclays International
  • John Bosco, CIO, Northwell Health
  • Patrick Heim, Operating Partner & CISO, ClearSky

Town Halls is our signature digital series that shines the spotlight on the most innovative initiatives helping to train and re-skill Americans for the most in-demand jobs now and in the future.

Town Halls

Keeping America's Promise

Bridging the gap between military service and the civilian sector

The Future Is Now

Closing the data analytics skills gap

Cracking the Code

Closing the cybersecurity skills gap

Shaping the Future of Work

Modernizing the skies will call for a more STEM-ready workforce

Reskilling the Mid-Career Workforce

Connecting people, their skills, and the jobs that are out there

Get the latest from WorkingNation
DONATE
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Our Mission
Contact Us

© Copyright 2025 by Structural Unemployment, LLC dba WorkingNation

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.

Share Bio