Brett Williams

Major General Brett T. Williams is one of the world’s leading voices on cyber security. A highly experienced operational leader, Brett draws on over three decades of service in the U.S. Air Force and top-level roles in cyber defence to help organisations navigate today’s digital threat landscape. From advising Fortune 500 boards to mentoring the next generation of cyber leaders, Brett has built a reputation for making complex cyber topics clear, relevant and actionable for senior decision-makers. Whether he’s in the boardroom or on stage, Brett helps leaders raise their cyber IQ, understand the risks they face and take ownership of their cyber resilience.

Brett began his military career as a combat-tested F-15 fighter pilot, rising to command the U.S. Air Force’s largest combat wing in Okinawa, Japan. He later transitioned into cyber operations and became Director of Communications (J6) at U.S. Pacific Command, overseeing more than 1,700 servers, 35 data centres and 52 critical command-and-control systems across the largest geographic warfighting command in the U.S. Department of Defense. His final active-duty role was as Director of Operations (J3) at U.S. Cyber Command, where he was responsible for the defence of DoD networks and led the development of offensive cyber capabilities in support of U.S. national security. Brett was instrumental in designing the force structure and command systems that remain in use at U.S. Cyber Command today.

After leaving the military, Brett co-founded IronNet Cybersecurity, where he served as Chief Operating Officer and Cyber Strategist. Under his leadership, the company raised $32.5 million in Series A funding and later went public, providing cutting-edge threat detection and collective defence capabilities to companies, sectors and nations. Beyond IronNet, Brett has chaired Government Security Committees at Nikon AM Synergy and Softtek, ensuring U.S. Foreign Ownership, Control or Influence (FOCI) compliance, and served on advisory councils for leading firms including Leidos and the National Association of Corporate Directors. He also supports cyber education at Duke University as a mentor and coach for national competitions and defence innovation programmes.

As a keynote speaker, Brett is known for bridging the gap between technical teams and the C-suite. He has delivered keynotes across industries – healthcare, finance, energy, manufacturing and more – equipping executives with the knowledge they need to challenge their CIOs and CISOs, understand threat environments and strengthen internal defences. Brett’s talks are direct, engaging and practical, with clear takeaways tailored for each audience. His ability to combine real-world military insight with boardroom relevance has earned him consistent praise and high ratings from audiences around the world.