Board of Directors
William J. Fallon, Chairperson
A retired four-star Admiral with a distinguished 40-year career of military and strategic leadership, Admiral Fallon led U.S. and Allied forces in eight separate commands and played a leadership role in military and diplomatic matters at the highest levels of U.S. government.
The former head of both U.S. Central Command and U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Fallon has worldwide experience in international security, political and commercial affairs.
Through his military service, Admiral Fallon gained insight into the role of cyber security in protecting our nation’s most sensitive communications and critical assets. This experience helped shape his unique perspective and ongoing commitment to ensuring that government and enterprise can actively respond to today’s ever-evolving cyber advanced threats.
Admiral Fallon currently owns his own consulting and advisory business, William J. Fallon & Associates, LLC, and is a partner at Tilwell Petroleum, LLC. Admiral Fallon was a Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for International Studies, and serves as chair of the center’s advisory board.
He is a Director at the American Security Project, and Cylance, Inc., a cyber security services company.
Admiral Fallon is a distinguished Fellow at the Center for Naval Analyses and is a member of the U.S. Secretary of Defense Science Board.
Admiral Fallon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and an Honorary Doctorate degree from Villanova University as well as a Master of Arts degree in international studies from Old Dominion University. He is a graduate of the Naval War College and the National War College.
Watch Chairman Admiral William Fallon discuss who is most vulnerable to cyber attacks on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg West.”
Neal Creighton, Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Creighton has more than a decade of experience in the cyber security industry. As president and CEO, Creighton leads fundraising efforts, having raised $75 million for GoSecure to support next-generation endpoint security innovation.
As co-founder, president and CEO at GeoTrust, Mr. Creighton led a $24 million financing round, and selling GeoTrust to VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) for $125 million.
Other ventures Creighton has spearheaded include GeoTrust spin-off ChosenSecurity, acquired by PGP, Corp. (now Symantec), and AffirmTrust LLC, acquired by Trend Micro.
Mr. Creighton serves on advisory boards for OneID, Comodo and the Army Cyber Institute, is Board Chairman of Robly and Chairman of Shield Capital Partners technology advisory board. Neal speaks regularly at industry conferences including RSA, Gartner Security & Risk Summit and America’s Growth Capital.
Mr. Creighton is a graduate of the USMA at West Point, and holds a JD and an MBA from Northwestern University.
Philip M. Bilden, Shield Capital
Mr. Bilden is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Shield Capital, LLC, a strategic venture capital firm investing in early-stage companies with innovative dual-use technologies supporting U.S. national security and commercial customers. He presently serves on the Board of Directors of U.S. Navy shipbuilder and defense company, Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE: HII); cybersecurity company, GoSecure; and as Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee of the Naval War College Foundation.
Mr. Bilden was a Co-Founding Member of the private equity firm HarbourVest Partners, which manages over $50 billion in assets. He began his career in Boston in 1991 and relocated to Hong Kong in 1996 to establish the firm’s Asian subsidiary. Mr. Bilden was responsible for the firm’s investment strategy and execution, capital raising, and client service activities throughout the Asia Pacific region, managing personnel and partnerships in multiple countries and cultures. Throughout his 25-year tenure at HarbourVest Partners, Mr. Bilden served in senior leadership roles in the firm’s global management, including the firm’s six-person Executive Committee responsible for governance. After 25 years at the firm, Mr. Bilden retired as a Senior Advisor in 2016.
Mr. Bilden served on the advisory boards of numerous international private equity partnerships throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America, including funds managed by Archer Capital, Bain Capital Asia, Brait Capital Partners, Castle Harlan Australian Mezzanine Partners (CHAMP), KKR Asia, Olympus Capital, Pacific Equity Partners, TPG Asia, and Unitas Capital.
He served as the inaugural Chairman of the Asia Advisory Council for the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (2011-2012). He received the AVCJ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 for his contribution to the formation of the Asian private equity industry.
Mr. Bilden previously served as inaugural Chairman of the Center for NWCF Cyber Conflict Studies Task Force; the Board of Directors of the United States Naval Academy Foundation; and the Board of Directors of the U.S. Naval Institute. He previously served on the Asia Pacific Advisory Board and Dean’s Board of Advisors of Harvard Business School and the Board of Visitors of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Mr. Bilden graduated with a B.S. in Foreign Service (magna cum laude) in 1986 as Distinguished Military Graduate, U.S. Army ROTC, from Georgetown University. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1991.
Mr. Bilden served for ten years as a Military Intelligence Officer, U.S. Army Reserve, supporting Defense Intelligence Agency. He maintains a Department of Defense TS-SCI security clearance and serves on the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Executive Panel for the U.S. Navy.
Chris Boies, Boies Schiller Flexner
Prior to joining Boies Schiller Flexner, Mr. Boies was an investment banking associate in the Project Finance group at Credit Suisse First Boston and an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City.
Mr. Boies has been recognized as one of the country’s top corporate lawyers by Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers New York-Metro magazine.
Hans Knapp, Yaletown
Hans co-founded Yaletown in 2001 and brings over 25 years of investing, legal and corporate governance experience to Yaletown’s team.
A seasoned investor with multiple $200M+ exits under his belt, Hans is responsible for Yaletown’s investments in Circle Cardiovascular, Innerspace, EPact Systems, Salus and Cooledge Lighting. Hans has played a key role in the formation, financing or exiting of over fifty high growth companies in over one hundred equity financing rounds, including Circle’s sale to Thoma Bravo (2022), Bitstew’s sale to General Electric (2016) and the sale of Daiya Foods to Otsuka Pharmaceuticals (2017).
Hans serves as the Chair of the Board of the Canadian Venture Capital Association and has been a member of the Executive Committee of the CVCA since 2018 and a member of the CVCA’s Board of Directors since 2016. Prior to founding Yaletown Hans practiced commercial litigation with a leading national firm.
Hans obtained his BA and JD from UBC, after which he spent one year as a judicial law clerk for the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
Jack Kerrigan, Razor’s Edge Ventures
Mr. Kerrigan is a Managing Director at Razor’s Edge Ventures. He focuses on investments in endpoint security, communications, data privacy, data infrastructure and technology-enabled national security businesses. He presently serves on the Board of Directors of Razor’s Edge portfolio company Ryft Systems, is an observer to the Board of Directors of Altamira Technologies and serves on the Board of Directors of Unanet Technologies.
Before joining Razor’s Edge, Mr. Kerrigan was the Vice President of Operations and General Counsel at Blackbird Technologies and principal advisor to Blackbird’s Board of Directors. Mr. Kerrigan joined Blackbird in 2004; he led the transaction team in the company’s $427M sale to Raytheon Corporation and played a critical role in Blackbird’s corporate and management strategy, as well as its critical programs and key partnerships. Mr. Kerrigan also oversaw compliance matters across Blackbird and led the structuring and execution of Blackbird’s strategic transactions, including complex intellectual property transactions with defense and intelligence community customers. During his tenure at Blackbird, he co-founded RavenWing with Blackbird’s founders and senior executives, assisted Peggy Styer in building RavenWing’s business operations from 2003-2007, and led the transaction team in the company’s successful sale to Boeing in 2008.
Mr. Kerrigan is highly-regarded in the national security business community and mid-Atlantic technology community for his deal-making and team building track record. Prior to joining Blackbird, he was an attorney in the Business Group at the Reston, VA office of Cooley LLP.
Mr. Kerrigan earned a J.D. and bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of Virginia.
Lance Petty, COO/CFO SAP NS2 Mission
Mr. Petty is a finance, operations, and supply chain professional with over twenty-eight years of leadership experience. He serves as the COO/CFO of the SAP NS2 Mission line of business and the VP of Strategic Investments for SAP NS2. In his COO/CFO capacity, Mr. Petty leads the development and execution of the operational and financial strategy for SAP NS2 Mission. As the VP of Strategic Investments, he manages the asset allocation and risk management of a diverse venture capital investment portfolio.
Prior to joining NS2, Mr. Petty was with The Boeing Company where he led the Potomac supply chain organization for the autonomous systems portfolio and all purchase services under Boeing Defense, Space, and Security. Prior to joining The Boeing Company in 2011, Mr. Petty served as the CFO for Solutions Made Simple, Inc. (SMSi). As the CFO of SMSi, Mr. Petty was responsible for all financial, operational, and contractual elements of the company and ultimately the coordination and management associated with the sale of SMSi to The Boeing Company in 2011. Prior to SMSi, Mr. Petty served in several finance and operations leadership roles for such companies as Intel Corporation, Credence Systems, and Sequent Computer Systems in Portland, Oregon.
Mr. Petty started his professional career as an options trader and arbitrage analyst on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. He possesses a BS in Finance from West Virginia University and an MBA from the College of William and Mary.
