Booz Allen hires cyber expert, lands US Army recruitment contract
Management and technology consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton has hired Jerry Bessette, a former senior cybersecurity official at the FBI, as the leader of its incident response team for commercial US clients. The firm also won a $152 million contract to build a recruiting platform for the US Army.
As senior vice president and head of the US commercial group’s incident response team, Bessette will help Fortune 500 clients deploy cybersecurity solutions to defend against domestic and international threats.
“It’s critical that organizations are equipped both with a modern defense and an advanced response when threat actors break through,” Bill Phelps, executive vice president and head of Booz Allen’s US Commercial business. “Jerry’s unique background and law enforcement experience will be a vital asset for our commercial clients who, like the FBI, work every day to protect sensitive information and combat highly sophisticated actors.”
Bessette joins Booz Allen from Ankura Consulting, where he was a managing director and a leader in their cyber program, serving as an outsourced CISO for several large corporations. Bessette previously spent 24 years at the FBI, where he focused on high-profile cyberattacks on government agencies and companies. He was agent-in-charge of the investigation of the 2014 cyberattack on Sony Pictures, and was also responsible for the creation and management of a national strategy to combat computer intrusions.
Prior to the FBI, Bessette was an artillery officer in the US Marine Corps. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Virginia Military Institute.
Booz Allen also announced that it won a three-year, up to $152 million contract from the US Army to support recruitment efforts. The firm will build an enterprise technology platform – the Accessions Information Environment – which will use social media and community outreach channels to recruit new soldiers.
According to Major General Frank Muth, the army typically requires 14 million identified prospects to recruit 75,000 soldiers.
“Booz Allen is honored to have been selected by the US Army to develop this mobile, commercial off-the-shelf-based solution for the recruiting and accessioning of its workforce and commanders,” said Michele Hintz, senior vice president at Booz Allen. “Our team of technology and analytics experts brings extensive experience delivering the latest open and smart solutions to overcome the increasingly complex challenges facing the US Army.”
The firm recently won a $116 million contract with the Department of Energy to provide cyber analysis and security services.
