WHS Leadership

 Please meet the WHS Board of Directors:

We are excited to be led by such a dynamic and diverse group of women in the field of homeland security.  Some tasked with protecting critical infrastructure, others in charge of cyber operations, agents in the field, practitioners protecting their company assets, all of our WHS Board members represent critical pieces of the homeland mission.

Founder & President Kristina Tanasichuk CEO, Government Technology & Services Coalition Kristina Tanasichuk founded Women in Homeland Security in March 2009 and has grown the organization to nearly 4500 members.  Her “day job” is CEO of the Government Technology & Services Coalition, a non-profit, non-partisan association of innovative, agile small and mid-sized company CEOs that create, develop, and implement solutions for the Federal homeland and national security market.  She is also President of the InfraGard National Capital Region — a non-profit, public private partnership with the FBI to share information to protect critical infrastructure.

Previously, she worked for another non-profit organization representing large companies in the homeland security market, where she was responsible for thought leadership and programs, strategic partnerships, internal and external communications, marketing and public affairs.  Tanasichuk also co-founded and served as executive director of the American Security Challenge, an event that awards monetary and contractual awards millions to emerging security technology firms.  Tanasichuk began her career in homeland security shortly after September 11, 2001 while at the American Public Works Association where she managed homeland security and emergency management issues before Congress and the administration on first responder issues, water, transportation, utility and public building security. Prior to that she worked on electric utility restructuring and domestic energy issues for a boutique lobbying firm and as professional staff for the Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce Tom Bliley.  Tanasichuk also worked at the American Enterprise Institute, several Washington, D.C. associations representing both the public and private sectors, and interned at the White House under President George H.W. Bush. Tanasichuk serves as  a Contributing Editor for Homeland and National Security to Government Contracting Weekly.  She served on the Coast Guard Mutual Aid Board of Control, as a trustee for the Coast Guard Memorial Enlisted Foundation and the Fairfax County Law Enforcement Foundation Board.  She is a graduate of St. Olaf College and earned her Masters in Public Administration from George Mason University.  She also graduated from the DEA and FBI Citizens’ Academies and from the Marine Corps Executive Forum.  Ms. Tanasichuk was awarded the AFCEA Small Business Person of the Year award in 2016, Excellence in Partnership award by the U.S. Department of Treasury for her work at GTSC, “Woman of Distinction” by HERLife magazine, and nominated as a Friend of the Entrepreneur by the NVTC Hot Ticket awards.

Patty Todaro Bolin served in Treasury Department’s legacy U.S. Customs Service and its predecessor Customs and Border Protection (CBP) under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for 20+ years in various leadership and functional capacities on major Agency-wide initiatives. She served on the Executive Team that determined mission sets, budget and staffing for major components (CIS, ICE and CBP) when DHS was stood up. Patty has been a senior leader at major consulting firms since leaving the Government. She leads internal programs and projects, account planning, business development, acquisition, contract management activities and, provided internal coordination for those firms. She leads/has led Programs, projects and provides subject matter-level expertise in support of various DOJ (DEA) and DHS (CBP, S&T, ICE, TSA, FEMA, USCG and USSS) projects.

Kristin Cooke is Vice President of Business Development at Acuity, Inc., a successful prime contractor and management and technology consulting provider for federal clients. Ms. Cooke is focused on strengthening business relationships and identifying opportunities to fuel the firm’s growth, with a concentration on Acuity’s two new DHS EAGLE II contracts. Ms. Cooke brings strategy and organizational expertise from more than 25 years in the industry. Throughout her career she has worked with a variety of federal agencies through consulting organizations including Arthur Andersen, Booz Allen Hamilton, Unisys and, most recently, SCI Consulting where she served as Vice President. Ms. Cooke holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics from Siena College and is a certified ITIL 3.0 Advanced Practitioner and a Change Management Advanced Practitioner. She is also a long-time member of several industry organizations including the Government Technology Services Coalition, Women in Homeland Security, Women in Technology and AFCEA.

Sue Crow graduated from the University of Delaware where her father was a professor in Animal Science. As a result, her childhood and younger years were spent growing up on a Guernsey Farm which eventually led to her to marring a dairy farmer. Sue helped raise 3 sons on the Eastern Shore of Maryland on a very successful Holstein Farm earning many National awards. After 25 years, it was time for a change and she moved to Tysons Corner. Here she continued her love of retail landing a position at Bloomingdales as a Selling Specialist for Eileen Fisher. Her career then took a turn as she moved into the administrative world working where she now works for a commercial real estate firm. Along the way she has volunteered her time for different organizations such as WHS, GTSC, AFCEA, AFFIRM, ACT-IAC and most recently the Yellow Ribbon Fund.

Courtney Hammond is a leader in Deloitte’s National Security Sector. She has more than 12 years of professional experience supporting four components within the Department of Homeland Security.   She currently leads several project teams for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration and Services. She has extensive experience leading complex program management efforts for large-scale system modernizations and balancing diverse public/private stakeholder needs. Her solution offerings include program management, human capital, strategic communications, technology adoption and workforce planning

Vice President, Law Enforcement Kara Sidener Special Agent & InfraGard Coordinator, FBI Kara D. Sidener is a Special Agent with the FBI and is currently serving as the InfraGard Coordinator for the Washington Field Office (WFO). Her 13+ years with the FBI have all been in the Washington, DC area, having had assignments at the WFO, FBI Headquarters, and the FBI Academy. Kara has experience in a number of areas to include counterintelligence, cyber, evidence response, instruction and training, and private sector outreach. She has co-authored two articles, “Proactive Human Source Development” and “Office Paper DeCopier,” which appeared in the Law Enforcement Bulletin and Journal of Forensic Sciences, respectively. Kara has a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and a Master of Forensic Science degree, both from The George Washington University.
Board Member Eileen Parise, PhD Vice President, Nathan Associates.  Eileen was formerly Vice President, Federal Civilian and Commercial Programs at Rapiscan Systems where she oversaw program management and business development for federal civilian programs in the US Government, and for commercial programs for North America.  Prior to joining Rapiscan, Eileen was at FLIR Systems, Inc.as Director of Federal Business Development. She was also a strategist with numerous firms including TRG, The Rendon Group, Global Resource Solutions, a veteran disabled and minority owned company, working with senior executives in business and government to achieve significant results quickly. We provide tailored capabilities and solutions to deliver high impact outcomes including enhanced performance, rapid organizational change, new opportunity identification and downside mitigation. In short, we help clients succeed through highly effective counsel and implementation. Prior to her work in the private sector Elaine served as Senior Strategist to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the U.S. Department of Defense, a Defense Fellow and Deputy White House Liaison to DOD and as White House Advance to President Bill Clinton.