Federal 100: Col. Terrence A. Adams
Name: Col. Terrence A. Adams
Title: Director of Communications and CIO, Air Mobility Command
Agency: U.S. Air Force
The cyber coach. Securing any government system is a complicated undertaking, but the Air Mobility Command comes with special complexities. Adams, who stepped into his current role last July, took every challenge in stride. He bolstered a modernization effort that was in danger of stalling, developed a first-ever system architecture and decreased the average time to mitigate critical vulnerabilities by 75 percent. He also finds the time to mentor more than 100 students, staffers and junior officers. As one colleague said of Adams, “His personal relationship with people on staff makes them want to do more than they think is possible.”