BOA Emeriti

Patrick Gorman serves as Executive Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton. With 25 years of experience, Gorman has worked in multiple capacities in security, strategy, defense and intelligence practice areas. He recently served as the Chief Security Officer (CSO) for Bridgewater Associates and from 2011 to 2013, Gorman was the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer for Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, where he had oversight of security policy, technology and operations. He honed his expertise at Booz Allen Hamilton as Senior Executive Advisor of Cybersecurity where he was responsible for strategic planning, business development, capability development, marketing and capture management for the firm’s cyber portfolio. His rich background stems from holding the position as Asst. Director of National Intelligence and Chief Information Officer for the U.S. Intelligence Community and over ten years in the USAF as part of The National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS).

J. Michael "Mike" McConnell, VADM, USN, Retired, served as Executive Director of Cyber Florida from 2019 to 2022. Previously, he has served as Director of the National Security Agency (DIRNSA) and Director of US National Intelligence (DNI) under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and as Vice Chairman of Booz Allen Hamilton. 

With a 50-year career focused on international and foreign intelligence, Vice Adm. McConnell brings a depth of knowledge and experience acquired from service in both the public and private sectors. His 29-year career as a US Navy intelligence officer included significant assignments that impacted national security. During Operation Desert Storm and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Vice Adm. McConnell served as the Intelligence Officer for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell, and the Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney.  

From 1992 to 1996, he served as the Director of the National Security Agency (DIRNSA) under Presidents George H.W. Bush and William J. Clinton. As DIRNSA, he led the agency during a critical period as it adapted to the multi-polar threats brought about by the end of the Cold War, providing global intelligence and information security services to the White House, Cabinet officials, Congress, and a broad array of military and civil intelligence agencies. 

After retiring from the US Navy in 1996, Vice Adm. McConnell joined Booz Allen Hamilton to lead development of the firm's Information Assurance and Intelligence business, focused on policy, operations, transformation, homeland security, intelligence analytics, and counterterrorism. 

Upon being asked by President George W. Bush in 2007 to become the second US Director of National Intelligence (DNI), he left Booz Allen to serve as the DNI, a position of Cabinet rank, and as a member of the White House National Security Council for two years under Presidents Bush and Obama. During this time, he successfully advocated for a multi-billion-dollar investment to substantially improve cybersecurity standards for the US—securing support from two US presidents and Congress. 

As DNI, he managed the expansive national Intelligence Community— an organization with more than 100,000 people and an annual budget of over $50 billion—and he had extensive interactions with the White House, the Cabinet, Congress, international leaders, and the US business community.  

In 2009, Vice Adm. McConnell returned to Booz Allen as Executive Vice President to lead the firm's Intelligence business, and in 2011, he was elevated to the position of Vice Chairman of the firm, serving in that capacity until his retirement in 2014. He continues to serve as a Senior Executive Advisor for Booz Allen.  

Vice Adm. McConnell's interest since his service as Director of NSA in 1992–96 has been to improve the cybersecurity posture of businesses and government agencies around the world to better protect them from hackers, criminals, terrorists, and nation-states focused on economic espionage or destruction of vital data.  

He serves on the US-based Board of Directors of Nokia for US-based business operations as well as the boards of numerous start-up companies that are developing technologies and capabilities for improved cybersecurity posture.  

Vice Adm. McConnell served as the Chairman of the Board of Advisors for Cyber Florida from its founding in 2014 until 2020, when he was appointed executive director of the center by University of South Florida President Dr. Steven C. Currall. In 2024, Vice Adm. McConnell became Chair Emeritus for Cyber Florida at USF Board of Advisors.

In addition to having received many of the nation's highest military awards for meritorious service, Vice Adm. McConnell has twice received the nation's highest award for service in the US Intelligence Community—once from President Clinton and once from President George W. Bush. Vice Adm. McConnell has also served as the Chairman and CEO of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA), and he is the 2011 recipient of INSA's William Oliver Baker Award, which is awarded annually for sustained and excellent service in intelligence and national security. 

Vice Adm. McConnell holds an MPA degree from George Washington University, is a graduate of the National Defense University (Global Telecom) and the National Defense Intelligence College (Strategic Intelligence) and holds a BA in Economics from Furman University. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Vice Adm. McConnell has been awarded several honorary doctorates, the most recent from the University of South Florida in 2016.

After more than five decades of distinguished public service, Vice Adm. McConnell has formally retired from public life. We at Cyber Florida at USF are eternally grateful for the critical role he played in establishing the organization and guiding its success.

Vice Chair, Cyber Florida Board of Advisors. Vice President for Air Force Programs, The MITRE Corporation. Former Director, MITRE Information Technology Center. Former Personnel and Industrial Psychologist for the US Office of Personnel Management.

US Navy (Ret.): Board of Directors, Goldman Sachs, Huntsman, IronNet and Board of Trustees MITRE Corporation. Former Commander, Fleet Cyber Command and US 10th Fleet; former Director of Naval Intelligence and Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare.

Bob Rose is an internationally recognized cybersecurity expert providing the U.S. government and companies strategic counseling and governance on a full array of cyber-related issues at the nexus of technology, national security, law enforcement and privacy. Bob previously served in various appointed U.S. government advisory positions in the areas of national security, cyber and homeland security. He was a member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, the National Security Agency’s Cyber Awareness and Response Panel, the National Counterterrorism Center Advisory Board and the Department of States International Security Advisory Board. Current corporate and non-profit advisory service includes The Chertoff Group, 1Kosmos, Securonix, Clarivate, the McCrary Institute for Cyber & Critical Infrastructure Security at Auburn University, the Homeland Security Experts Group Steering Committee and the State of Florida Center for Cybersecurity.