Chris Finan is an entrepreneur with a passion for creating world-changing companies, products and policies. He is the COO of ActZero, an AI-driven cybersecurity startup that empowers small and mid-size businesses with better security.
Chris has founded, advised and served in executive leadership positions in a variety of early-stage and growth-stage cybersecurity companies, including Shape Security (acquired by F5 Networks) and Impermium (acquired by Google). He also co-founded Manifold Technology, a Silicon Valley-based fintech startup that delivered high-integrity transaction systems to the Global 500.
Prior to his time in Silicon Valley, he was the Product Director for Plan X, a Department of Defense cyber warfare research and development program at DARPA.
Chris also previously served in the Obama administration as the Director for Cybersecurity Legislation and Policy on the National Security Council staff in the White House.
During his time on the NSC, Chris led the administration’s legislative reform efforts, played a key role in the data privacy debate, and assisted with the development of the Executive Order that directed the NIST cybersecurity risk framework.
Chris began his career in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot and intelligence officer, including a tour in Iraq where he led an intelligence unit and served as a liaison to the Iraqi government.
Chris is a nonresident scholar with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a senior fellow with the Institute for Security and Technology. He has been a regular contributor on Bloomberg News and MSNBC, and his writing has been featured in the New York Times, Politico, Time and Wired. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two daughters.