Rising Star: Robert G. Sheldon

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The federal government has a wide range of resources at its disposal when it comes to research, so it speaks volumes that so many executive branch agencies and congressional staffers rely on Robert Sheldon for advice.

As the leaders of CrowdStrike’s congressional affairs branch, Sheldon provides insight and intelligence to lawmakers and staffers about cybersecurity threats that target critical infrastructure, federal agencies and elections as well as other topics.

He also serves on the IT Sector Coordinating Council, which acts as a conduit between government and the technology industry, and he previously worked for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. That diverse range of experiences makes him ideally suited to be a sounding board for how federal cybersecurity policies might affect other entities in unexpected ways.

“He’s good at bridging the gap between the technology people and the policy people,” said Elliott Phaup, a senior adviser to Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.). “Anyone who knows Rob knows he’s insanely thorough, so if you just let him talk he will go on for 10 to 15 minutes about one topic because he wants to make sure he puts everything on the table.”

Colleagues said Sheldon’s efforts are also having a tremendous impact on state and local agencies’ cybersecurity readiness, particularly through his work with Information Sharing and Analysis Centers to share tools and intelligence for combating the latest threats.