Major General Suzanne Vautrinot
Director
Boards: CSX, Ecolab, Parsons, Wells Fargo.
Suzanne “Zan” Vautrinot is president of Kilovolt Consulting Inc. and currently serves on the boards of directors for Wells Fargo, ECOLAB, CSX, Parsons, Battelle Memorial Institute, and City of Hope. Previously, Zan achieved the rank of Major General in the United States Air Force, where she accumulated more than three decades of experience in space and cyber operations. She began her career in development and operations of national security satellite systems in the National Reconnaissance Office just as the nation was establishing both United States and Air Force Space Command (now the Space Force). Zan went on to lead multiple space units. She commanded the Joint Space Operations Center, which was responsible for command and control of space units worldwide, as well as the 50th Space Wing, which was responsible for flying more than 150 satellites and operations of the nation’s global satellite telemetry, tracking, control, and communications network. Her space and network expertise were leveraged into emerging cyberspace operations. Zan was deputy commander of Network Warfare and then commander of all Air Force cyber forces, where she oversaw a multibillion dollar cyber enterprise and led a workforce of 14,000+ while conducting worldwide cyber operations. She was instrumental in the establishment and early operation of United States Cyber Command.
Zan is universally respected as a motivational leader, speaker, and change agent. As a cyber subject matter expert, she has addressed technical, business, and university forums, guided key task forces, and provided testimony before Congress. She currently advises industry and academia as well as government agencies and laboratories on cybersecurity strategy, technology, innovation, and workforce development.
Zan has received numerous prestigious awards, including National Defense citations, the Symantec Cyber Award, Women in Aerospace Leadership, Air Force Association Aerospace Citation of Honor, the Presidential Training Award, and American College for Financial Services Soldier-Citizen Award. She was named to the following lists: Women Worth Watching by Diversity Journal and Top Women in Cybersecurity and 50 Politicos to Watch by CyberScoop. She was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2017.
Zan earned a bachelor of science degree as one of the earliest female graduates of the United States Air Force Academy, has a master of science degree from the University of Southern California, and was a national security fellow at Harvard University. She is also a graduate of the United States Air Force’s Air Command and Staff and Air War Colleges as well as the Harvard Black Sea and International and National Security programs.