A Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) specializing in cloud and cybersecurity professional services, Aquia Inc., has announced its CISO and Co-Founder, Chris Hughes, has been named an inaugural Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Cyber Innovation Fellow.

The CISA Cyber Innovation Fellows programme is a first-of-its-kind initiative to bring cybersecurity talent from the private sector to the public sector to work side by side with cybersecurity technical teams several days a week and contribute directly to the United States’ cyber defense.

“I am incredibly honoured to join the CISA Cyber Innovation Fellows programme,” said Chris Hughes, CISO and co-founder of Aquia, Chris Hughes. “I’ve been a big proponent of the amazing work CISA is doing on various fronts for our nation’s cybersecurity and look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with the team on this critically important task.”

As a part of the fellowship, Hughes will join the CISA cybersecurity division as a cloud and application security expert. He brings decades of cyber expertise to the role, including in areas such as cloud, DevSecOps, software supply chain security, software bill of materials (SBOM), and more.

“At CISA, innovation is one of our four core values and a key element of our CISA people-first culture,” said CISA Director, Jen Easterly, in a CISA.gov blog post. “The Cyber Innovation Fellows programme is our latest effort to find creative ways to collaborate with our private sector partners and tap into some of the best and brightest talent across the community.”