Federal Law Enforcement Veteran Named President of NEC National Security Systems

NEC has officially announced its new President of NEC National Security Systems (NEC NSS), and she is a respected veteran of the federal law enforcement space.

After a decades-long career with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Dr. Kathleen Kiernan went on to found Kiernan Group Holdings, a risk management firm focused on homeland security and emergency management, in 2009. She is also an adjunct faculty member at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security, and the Chair Emeritus of InfraGard National Members Alliance.

In addition to those roles, Kiernan has served in an advisory position for organizations including Knowledge Computing Corp., i2, the Police Foundation, and the Center for Advanced Red Teaming, where she currently sits as a Member of the Advisory Board.

Kiernan took on the role of NEC NSS interim CEO earlier this year. In a statement announcing her official appointment as President of the FOCI-mitigated subsidiary, she expressed her excitement about the work that NEC NSS is doing in serving the US government.

“These past two months at NEC NSS have been simply outstanding,” she said. “Our focus on cutting-edge technology delivered at the speed of need in the global environment, while also providing shared value to our communities, is an unbeatable combination.”

Kiernan is also inspiring some excitement at NEC, with SVP and Chief Experience Officer Raffie Beroukhim calling her “absolutely the right fit” for the company. “In her almost three decades of experience in federal law enforcement, she’s seen it all and it’s that public-sector security expertise we want guiding us well into the future.”

The solidification of NEC NSS’s leadership may reflect NEC’s intensifying focus on the public security sector. NEC Corporation of America named Mike Lesko as its Senior Director of Government Technology & Services earlier this year, with Beroukhim noting at the time that Lesko’s mandate will be to improve NECAM’s public safety and law enforcement strategy and to represent NEC’s interests on strategically selected policy boards.

NEC already has a high profile in the government security sector, thanks in part to its biometric technology, which has performed well in Department of Homeland Security testing.

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September 29, 2021 – by Alex Perala