Passionate about advancing cyberspace defense and national security and sovereignty, he brings nearly two decades of experience as cybersecure-nation-building global leader and advisor to industry and government leaders globally; cybersecure culture creation trainer and turnaround expert, cybersecurity public-private partnership innovator; Board Chairman, Director and CEO; turnaround executive and cybersecurity technology mentor and investor; and speaker and author in the areas of cybersecurity future-tech innovation, defense, regulatory policy, and diplomacy.
Mr. Cetnarski’s value to Cyber Nation Central’s stakeholders comes from three areas of his experience: (1) as advisor to governments and private sector on cybersecure culture creation and cybersecurity and corporate strategy integration, technology innovation, and policy, and a former bulge bracket technology investment banker to aerospace and defense, cybersecurity, and real estate industries with UBS Investment Bank; (2) as global tech CEO, founder, entrepreneur and operations executive; and (3) as US Congressional staffer from his adopted hometown of New York City and global public-private partnership leader on behalf of the US. Furthermore, his global viewpoint has been forged by living and working nearly a third of his life across each of US, Europe, and Asia, thus bringing a highly global perspective to the challenges of cyberspace defense.
Formerly Chairman and CEO of a technology startup he founded and grew to product presence across 20+ countries on 5 continents while simultaneously helping drive major public-private partnerships on technology innovation out of Asia, Mr. Cetnarski saw first-hand from the Board room what was just the tip of the tip of the iceberg of cybersecurity challenges of the future that will challenge private sector Boards and government leaders. He founded Cyber Nation Central to address this very problem, helping ensure that (1) tech innovators are providing cybersecurity solutions that make sense and are viable on a standalone basis and vis-a-vis current and future regulations’ effects on them, (2) corporations become exponentially-more capable of driving shareholder value by becoming digital corporate citizens and authentic drivers of cybersecure cultures, where cybersecurity and corporate strategy speak the same language and inform each other, and (3) governments get the help they need to provide cybersecurity policies and laws that promote (not stifle) innovation yet do so via “light-touch” regulation that nonetheless achieves its purpose.
As previously investment banker with UBS, Mr. Cetnarski advised global technology, aerospace and defense, cybersecurity, IT services, real estate, lodging and leisure blue chip and mid-cap companies on their North and South American, Asian, and European operations’ mergers and acquisitions strategy, asset sales, and equity and debt recapitalizations, including successful IPO launches. In this role, Mr. Cetnarski closed over US$7bn of transactions across the globe. The unique experience of covering both technology and real estate Clients has given Mr. Cetnarski the unique ability of translating physical infrastructures into their more exponential cyber renditions while allowing for smoother communication between the two.
Prior to joining UBS, Mr. Cetnarski was a member of the management team of a US$3.5bn in revenue global logistics and supply chain company out of Chicago, leading strategic and operational turnarounds across areas of sales and call center operations, real estate development, warehouse operations, and finance.
Born in Poland, a dual US-EU citizen educated in Europe, US, Japan, China, Mr. Cetnarski has lived his entire life internationally across his adopted home of the United States, Asia, and his native Europe, and has developed a passion for travel and cultures from around the world at a very early age. Fluent in English and Polish and highly advanced in Japanese, he is also sharpening his Mandarin and Spanish. In his spare time, Mr. Cetnarski devotes his resources to addressing problems of job creation, automation, and diversity and inclusion in the cybersecurity space. He is also a prolific advisor to corporate Boards and CEOs across industries and companies globally as well as Boards of startup ventures in the cybersecurity space (predominantly in the US and in Israel). He also serves on the Advisory Board of one of Israel’s top hi-tech/cybersecurity accelerators. He is an avid fitness and personal-performance enthusiast, scuba diver, and reader. Mr. Cetnarski lives in and drives his impact from New York City, his hometown since 1994.