Melissa Hathaway served in two U.S. presidential administrations, spearheading the Cyberspace Policy Review for President Barack Obama and leading the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) for President George W. Bush. She built a broad coalition from within the executive branch and established an unprecedented partnership with Congress to obtain bipartisan support for addressing cybersecurity priorities. She developed and created a unified cross-agency budget submission for FY 2008 and for 2009–2013, assembling disparate funding sources into a coherent, integrated program. Hathaway stood-up the Cybersecurity Office within the National Security Staff and set the expectation and pace to move the United States toward a stronger more resilient information and communications infrastructure. At the conclusion of her government service she received the National Intelligence Reform Medal and the National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation Medal in recognition of her achievements.
After her government service, Hathaway established Hathaway Global Strategies, LLC. She is a leading expert in cyberspace policy and cybersecurity and brings a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional perspective to strategic consulting and strategy formulation for public and private sector clients. Having served on the board of directors for two public companies and three non-profit organizations, and as a strategic advisor to a number of public and private companies, Hathaway brings her clients a unique combination of policy and technical expertise, as well as board room experience that allows her to help clients better understand the intersection of government policy, developing technological and industry trends, and economic drivers that impact acquisition and business development strategy in this field.
Hathaway has a B.A. degree from The American University in Washington, D.C. She has completed graduate studies in international economics and technology transfer policy and is a graduate of the U.S. Armed Forces Staff College, with a special certificate in Information Operations.