Chris Hughes

President, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder of Aquia

Chris brings nearly 20 years of IT and cybersecurity experience to his role as president and CEO of Aquia. As a United States Air Force veteran and former civil servant in the U.S. Navy and the General Services Administration’s FedRAMP program, Chris is passionate about making a lasting impact on his country and our global community at large.

In addition to his public service, Chris spent several years as a consultant within the private sector and currently serves as an adjunct professor for cybersecurity master’s programs at Capitol Technology University and the University of Maryland Global Campus. Chris participates in industry working groups, such as the Cloud Security Alliance’s Incident Response and SaaS Security Working Group, and serves as the Membership Chair for Cloud Security Alliance D.C. He is the co-host of the Resilient Cyber Podcast.

Chris holds various industry certifications, such as the CISSP/CCSP from ISC2, as well as holding both the Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure security certifications and Cloud Security Alliance’s Certificate of Cloud Auditing Knowledge (CCAK). He holds a B.S. in Information Systems, a M.S. in Cybersecurity, and an MBA. He regularly consults with IT and cybersecurity leaders from various industries to assist their organizations with their digital transformation journeys, while keeping security a core component of that transformation. 

Chris is co-author of the books, “Software Transparency: Supply Chain Security in an Era of a Software-Driven Society,” and “Effective Vulnerability Management: Managing Risk in the Vulnerable Digital Ecosystem,” — both published by Wiley. He has also contributed many other thought leadership pieces on software supply chain security and has presented on the topic at a variety of industry conferences. When he is not working, reading, or writing, Chris enjoys spending time with his wife and four children.