Team
Michael Kaiser, President & CEO
Michael Kaiser is an internationally known cybersecurity and privacy expert. In the decade prior to becoming the President and CEO of Defending Digital Campaigns (DDC), Mr. Kaiser was the Executive Director of the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA). He led and grew NCSA’s efforts promoting a safer, more secure and more trusted Internet, including signature programs such as National Cyber Security Awareness Month. NCSA’s work earned several awards including in 2017 winning the SC Magazine Editor's Choice Award, and two Silver Anvil Awards from the Public Relations Society of America.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Kaiser held executive management positions at the National Center for Victims of Crime in Washington, DC and Safe Horizon in New York City. He led the development and implementation of programs for victims of domestic violence, stalking, teen victims, and others whose lives had been impacted by crime.
In 1998, he co-authored with his wife Laura Fisher Kaiser, The Official Ebay Guide to Buying, Selling and Collecting Just About Anything.
Kaiser has served on several nonprofit boards including the College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine, The ESET Foundation, San Diego, New Destiny Housing, New York City, and currently serves on the board of Adaptable Security, San Jose, California.
Board Members
Debora Plunkett, Board Chair
Former Director of Information Assurance at the National Security Agency
Debora Plunkett is a cybersecurity leader with over 30 years of experience. A former Director of Information Assurance at the National Security Agency, she is currently Principal of Plunkett Associates LLC, a consulting business. She is a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center and a Professor of Cybersecurity at the University of Maryland.
Ms. Plunkett serves on the corporate boards of JCPenney, CACI International and Nationwide Insurance, and is a member of the Strategic Advisory Board of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. She is also a founding member of the board here at Defending Digital Campaigns.
Ms. Plunkett served on the National Security Council at the White House in the Administrations of Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush where she developed national cybersecurity policies and programs. Debora earned an undergraduate degree from Towson University, an MBA from Johns Hopkins University, and a Master of Science in National Security Strategy from the National War College.
Allen Blue, Treasurer
Executive Chairman, DigiDems, Co-founder, LinkedIn
Allen Blue is the Executive Chairman of DigiDems as well as theVice President of Product Management and Co-founder of LinkedIn. At LinkedIn, he is responsible for LinkedIn’s overall product strategy. He also sponsors LinkedIn’s work and education products within the economic graph team, including the products and platforms supporting Skillful.com (a joint effort to close the middle skills gap in the United States between LinkedIn and the Markle Foundation.)
Blue advises several startups in Silicon Valley, most focused on improving health and education. He sat on the U.S. Commerce Department’s Data Advisory Council, helping guide the department’s efforts to make its data broadly available to American businesses. He serves on the boards of the Hope Street Group, a non-profit which focuses on bringing economic opportunity to Americans through a combination of policy and practice, and Change.org, an online destination for making grassroots-driven change easier. Blue graduated from Stanford University.
Robby Mook
President of the House Majority PAC, CBS Contributor, Former Campaign Manager Hillary Clinton
Robby Mook is a nationally recognized political strategist, who has organized winning organizations at the local, state and national level. Mook served as Campaign Manager for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, where he built a $1 billion, 50-state, 4,500-person organization. He also ran Terry McAuliffe’s winning campaign for Governor of Virginia, U.S. Jeanne Shaheen’s first winning campaign for U.S. Senate and led the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2012, when Democrats gained 8 seats.
Mook is now President of the House Majority PAC, which is dedicated to protecting and expanding the Democratic House Majority. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a CBS contributor.
Matt Rhoades
Co-CEO of CGCN Group, Former Campaign Manager, Mitt Romney
Matt Rhoades currently serves as Co-CEO of CGCN Group, an integrated advocacy and strategic communications firm that specializes in helping corporations, nonprofits and trade associations navigate complex legislative and regulatory issues.
In 2017, Mr. Rhoades teamed up with Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign manager, and Eric Rosenbach, former Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s Chief of Staff, to launch the Defending Digital Democracy Project at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. The initiative develops strategies to protect political organizations and election infrastructure from hackers and cyber threats. In 2015, he served as a fellow at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.
Mr. Rhoades gained prominence working at the highest levels of political organizations and campaigns. As campaign manager for Governor Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, he successfully guided Governor Romney’s campaign to victory through a crowded field of candidates in the Republican presidential primary. In 2010, Mr. Rhoades served as the Executive Director to Governor Mitt Romney’s Free and Strong America Political Action Committee. He also served as the Deputy Campaign Manager and Communications Director on Governor Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign.
During the 2006 election cycle, Mr. Rhoades was the Republican National Committee's (RNC) Research Director/Deputy Communications Director and in 2004 played a critical role in President George W. Bush's winning re-election campaign, serving as the Research Director for Bush-Cheney '04. He also served in the Bush White House as an Associate Director in the Presidential Personnel Office and as a White House Liaison in the Office of Personnel Management.
Suzanne Spaulding
Senior Advisor for Homeland Security, Director of the Defending Democratic Institutions Project, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Suzanne Spaulding is a senior adviser for Homeland Security and the Director of the Defending Democratic Institutions Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She also currently serves as a member of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission and as a member of the Homeland Security Experts Group.
Prior to joining CSIS, Spaulding served as Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has since become the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. In this role, she managed a $3 billion budget and a workforce of 18,000, charged with strengthening cybersecurity and protecting the nation's critical infrastructure.
Spaulding has served in Republican and Democratic administrations and on both sides of the aisle in Congress. Prior to working at DHS, she was general counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Minority Staff Director for the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. She also spent six years at the Central Intelligence Agency, where she was legal adviser to the director's Nonproliferation Center. She was Executive Director for two Congressionally mandated commissions on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Additionally, she spent more than 10 years as an attorney in private practice, including serving as Security Counsel to the Business Roundtable.
She is an advisor to Nozomi Networks, on the Advisory Board of Harvard Belfer Center's Defending Digital Democracy Project, former chair of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security, founder of the Cybersecurity Legal Task Force, and was a member of the Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th President, as well as Harvard University's Long-Term Legal Strategy Project for Preserving Security and Democratic Freedoms in the War on Terror. Spaulding has also convened and participated in numerous academic and professional advisory panels, been a frequent commentator in public media, and often testified before Congress.
Spaulding holds a Bachelor's degree in economics and a Juris Doctorate degree in law from the University of Virginia.
Jeff Larson
Board of Directors for Majority Strategies, the American Action Network, and the Congressional Leadership Fund
Jeff Larson has over thirty years of experience in American politics and business.
In the 2014 cycle, he headed the NRSC IE Committee when the Committee was able to pick up 9 seats in the Senate and give control back to the Republicans. In the 2020 cycle, he was the IE director for the NRSC and was responsible for a budget of $120 million dollars. While most pundits agreed the Senate would hold a solid Democrat agenda the NRSC was able to keep the Senate at 50-50 for the ’22 cycle. Larson has served as the Chief of Staff for the RNC from 2011 to 2012 and was the CEO of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
He has worked on numerous political campaigns, including George W. Bush’s 2000 and 2004 presidential bids, both as a campaign staffer and through his telemarketing and consulting firm, FLS Connect. He also serves as CEO of the Roosevelt Group, a political and public affairs company. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors for Majority Strategies and the American Action Network and the Congressional Leadership Fund.
Larson resides in Wisconsin and Washington, D.C., and is an active alumnus of his alma mater the University of North Dakota.
Max Everett
Chief Information Security Officer for Shaw Industries
Max Everett is a cybersecurity risk and information technology modernization expert whose work has spanned Federal government, political organizations, and private sector companies.
He is currently the Chief Information Security Officer for Shaw Industries, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. He has previously served as the Chief Information Officer for the White House and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Mr. Everett has held technology leadership roles at multiple Republican National Conventions and Presidential inaugurations. He worked on both of George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns. He has also advised on cybersecurity risk and digital modernization for private sector companies—from small businesses to Fortune 20 companies.
Mr. Everett received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas in Austin and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Houston Law School. He holds several professional certifications including Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). He currently resides in Charlotte, NC with his wife and two daughters.