Professional Profile

Mark O’Connell brings a wealth of experience from the military and corporate environments to the online Master of Science in Cybersecurity program. Beginning in 1978, Mark served a 9-year stint in the United States Air Force, where he managed systems software and security at a division of HQ SAC and then a division within the Pentagon, where he was promoted to captain. He later became a consultant with Arthur Andersen & Co. on large systems in which he audited clients’ security profiles and operational readiness.

Following Arthur Anderson, he became Manager of Technical Services at Washington Metro Transit Authority where for 9 years he directly managed all Disaster Recovery, Security, LANs, Mainframes, Databases, Networks, and Operating Systems with a budget of $10M and staff of 25. For the next 19 years, Mark served in a number of senior leadership roles at Verizon, including Change Manager, Procurement Officer, and Data Center Director overseeing an annual budget of $100M and staff of 125. Most recently, Mark has served as a consultant at Siwel-Livingstone, where he advises clients on topics such as Security and Software Asset Management.

Academic Credentials

• M.B.A., in International Finance, Georgetown University
• M.S., Computer Science, University of Nebraska
• B.S., Computer Science, University of Maryland