Event Summary - Career Series: International Security Policy (ISP)
On Thursday, October 8th, SIPA’s Office of Career Services (OCS) hosted professionals in the international security industry as part of their Career Series. This virtual Career Series welcomes alumni and professionals from around the globe to share their career journey with students. The virtual Career Series events are an adaptation of The New York City Career Series which was established by OCS in 2005. Its purpose is to provide a forum for SIPA students in which they can learn about career trends from professionals in their fields of interest, as well as make important connections for jobs, internships, and informational interviews.
The Career Series: International Security Policy event hosted about 40 students and 20 alumni, as well as ISP concentration directors Professor Richard Betts and Professor Stephen Biddle, Professor Jay Healey, ISP coordinator Brit Felsen-Parsons and members of the OCS team. The event featured seven breakout rooms, each hosting between 2-4 alumni working in the international security field. Students pre-registered for their two preferred breakout sessions, and enjoyed two 20 minute breakout sessions in small groups to connect and network with alumni.
(If you are a prospective student interested in ISP and want to know what you can expect from a class at SIPA, check out our Mini Lecture Series. Professor Jason Healey will be offering a lecture titled “Understanding Cyber Conflict” on Friday, December 4, 2020 from 10-11:00am ET. Professor Healey is a Senior Research Scholar at SIPA specializing in cyber conflict, competition and cooperation. He was one of the pioneers of cyber threat intelligence and has unique experience working issues of cyber conflict and security spanning fifteen years across the public and private sectors. The Mini Lecture Series also features other distinguished faculty lecturing on topics such as gender in global affairs, social innovation, and global migration).
The seven breakout rooms were divided by category and included the following employers:
- New York City-Based Employers
- Carlos Petersen | Eurasia Group
- Naoko Takahashi Taymanov | United Nations
- Sherman Chu | City of New York - Cyber Command
- Intelligence
- John Austin | iMask Intelligence
- Lisa Sales | Booz Allen Hamilton
- Alberto Valverde | National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
- Michael Vintr | Prescient
- Think Tanks
- Caroline Baxter | RAND Corporation
- Asha Hernandez | Diversity in National Security Network
- Adam Read-Brown | Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
- Agathe Sarfati | International Peace Institute
- Government
- Jennifer Bird | U.S. Department of Defense
- Robert Leonard | U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
- Megan Stewart | U.S. Government Accountability Office
- Political Risk & Business Intelligence
- Leon Levy | Eurasia Group
- Eli Williams | Control Risks
- Technology
- Maggie Li-Calis | Google
- Benjamin Schwartz | Tesla Government, Inc.
- Cyber Security
- Kyle Dion | Proofpoint
- Jennifer Keltz | Deloitte
- Benjamin Read | FireEye, Inc.
The ISP concentration is one of six concentrations offered at SIPA. ISP provides conceptual foundations and practical policy analysis of political violence, conflict management, defense policy, military strategy, negotiation, terrorism, peacekeeping, intelligence, arms control, and related issues. You can learn more about the ISP concentration HERE.
Career paths for ISP concentrators vary from government to international organizations to consulting firms and more. SIPA’s Office of Career Services provides students with events such as the Career Series to connect them to potential employers. Other services provided by OCS include career advising, professional development, career events, recruitment and employer outreach programs, and networking opportunities.