Francesca Spidalieri is a Fellow for Cyber Leadership at the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University, in Newport, RI, where she leads the Cyber Leadership Project and the Rhode Island Corporate Cybersecurity Initiative. Her academic research and publications have focused on cyber leadership development, cyber education and awareness, and the professionalization of the cybersecurity industry. Most recently she co-authored the report “Professionalizing Cybersecurity: A path to universal standards and status,” and the Council on CyberSecurity’s “Handbook on Cybersecurity Workforce Management”. Spidalieri is also part of a team of experts working on national cyber readiness at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies under the direction of Melissa Hathaway, former White House Cybersecurity Czar. Spidalieri holds a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Milan; an M.A. in International Affairs and Security Studies from the Fletcher School at Tufts University; and has completed additional coursework on cybersecurity at the U.S. Naval War College’s Center for Cyber Conflict Studies.