Michael Wertheimer, PHD Venly & Peake Fellowship Development Team Cybersecure Collaboration Lead

Dr. Michael Wertheimer serves as the Cybersecure Collaboration Lead for Venly & its Peake Fellowship Development Team based on his career at the forefront of managing risk and national security. Dr. Wertheimer served as Managing Director of Cyber Security Strategy at Morgan Stanley and led all facets of the firm’s technology and information risk strategic portfolio. He was the chief architect of the firm’s defense-in-depth network architecture and led a small team of world-class cyber professionals responsible for threat hunting and adversarial pursuit.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Wertheimer shares Venly’s and the Peake Fellowship’s passion for helping local businesses grow, create jobs, and strengthen each community served. His unique background helps community ecosystems by geography, industry, and demographics develop distributed strategies for the collective cyber defense of their members.

Before Morgan Stanley, Dr. Wertheimer served 26 years as a National Security Agency cryptologist, senior technical leader, and senior executive leader. As NSA Director of Research, he contributed to breakthroughs in mathematics, engineering, and computer science. In this role, he led over 500 civilian scientists in the advancement of cryptology, cybersecurity, trusted systems, big data processing, threat analysis, and high-performance computing.

Dr. Wertheimer was an inaugural member of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. He served as ODNI Assistant Deputy Director for Analysis and Chief Technology Officer, overseeing Intelligence Community efforts to bring increased depth and accuracy to analysis. He launched A-Space, a Time Magazine Best Invention of 2008, and the Library of National Intelligence.

Throughout his career, Dr. Wertheimer has pioneered applied learning initiatives and he served as a Professor of Practice in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Wertheimer is the recipient of many awards for public service, including a Presidential Rank Award, the Exceptional Civilian Service Award, and the Director’s Distinguished Medal. He received a BA Magna cum Laude in Mathematics and Philosophy from the University of Rochester and his MA and PhD in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania where he studied on an NSA graduate fellowship.