Bridget E. Bean is an American government official who had served as the acting

director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency The Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Homeland Security. The Director, as head of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at DHS, is the ...

(CISA). She has also held the position of executive director of CISA since August 2024, following previous senior roles at the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...

(FEMA) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

Education

Bean earned a B.A. in

European studies European studies is a field of study offered by many academic colleges and universities that focuses on the History of Western civilization and the evolution of Western culture, as well as on current developments in European integration. Some ...

from

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

Career

Bean began working at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in 1994 as deputy assistant administrator. In that role, she oversaw contracts and grants management valued at more than $250 million, including areas such as warrant authority, facilities, security, and

records management Records management, also known as records and information management, is an organizational function devoted to the information management, management of information in an organization throughout its records life-cycle, life cycle, from the time of ...

. She later held positions at the SBA including deputy

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

, chief human capital officer, and Washington metropolitan district director. Bean later worked at

(FEMA) in various roles. In August 2019, she was nominated by the U.S. president

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

to serve as the deputy administrator for resilience where she led a team of approximately 1,600 employees and managed an annual budget of $600 million. She also directed the Grants Program Directorate, which included managing $20 billion in Homeland Security grants and overseeing a $600 million Grants Management Modernization project. In 2022, Bean joined the

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responsible for cybersecurity and infrastructure protection across all levels of government, coordinating cyber ...

(CISA) as chief integration officer. In that role, she was responsible for coordinating regional components of the agency and facilitating collaboration among stakeholders, infrastructure operators, and government entities to address

cybersecurity Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and networks from thr ...

and physical security issues. From December 2021 to August 2024, she was assistant director for the Integrated Operations Division at CISA. Her responsibilities included managing the agency's operational coordination,

information sharing Information exchange or information sharing means that people or other entities pass information from one to another. This could be done electronically or through certain systems. These are terms that can either refer to bidirectional '' inform ...

, and

situational awareness Situational awareness or situation awareness, often abbreviated as SA is the understanding of an environment, its elements, and how it changes with respect to time or other factors. It is also defined as the perception of the elements in the envi ...

. She also oversaw operational reporting and intelligence product development related to cyber, physical, and communications activities, as well as continuity planning and internal drills. In August 2024, Bean became executive director of CISA, following the departure of Brandon Wales. In January 2025, she succeeded

Jen Easterly Jen Easterly is an American cybersecurity expert and former government official who served as the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the Biden administration. She was confirmed by a voice vote in the Senate on Jul ...

as the acting CISA director.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bean, Bridget Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Date of birth missing (living people) George Mason University alumni Small Business Administration personnel Federal Emergency Management Agency officials 21st-century American women civil servants First Trump administration personnel American women chief executives American chief operating officers