Join us on May 16th at 3:30 pm to learn more about careers in intelligence. This Career Pathways session will feature a panel discussion of experienced professionals in various roles within this field who will share advice and tips about how they got to be where they are today!

Our speakers include: Erinn Whitaker, Former Senior Analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency and US State Department; Mary Quinn, Specialist Leader for Deloitte and Adrianne George, Founder of MyCyberExec.

Are you struggling to set yourself apart from other applicants, unable to move up in your department, or don’t know how to begin your career? Join WFPG for our Career Pathways! These member-exclusive monthly online events feature women leaders in a variety of international affairs fields to help answer your questions. Each month, WFPG will feature a new group of speakers to talk about their chosen career paths, how they got there, and any advice they have for someone interested in the industry. Whether you are a student with a heavy workload, a young professional navigating your new life, or an experienced employee who wants to revamp their resume, Career Pathways is the resource for you. Potential Career Pathway topics include foreign service, human rights, international development, climate, public health, and more! Please join us on each third Tuesday of the month at 3:30 PM to meet these impressive mentors and transform your career.

With a network of over 21,000 individuals, the WFPG has unparalleled connections in all foreign affairs fields. Whether you aim to work with non-profit organizations, the public sector, or private companies, there will be a Career Pathway that fits your goals. As women, it is essential to have others who uplift you in these fields, and WFPG’s Career Pathways are the beginning of finding the right mentor for you. Our mentors strive to help the next generation of women leaders succeed. Career Pathways are open to all WFPG members and we encourage our Student and Young Professionals Members to join.

Interested in attending Career Pathways, but not a member? No problem! We have a variety of different membership levels to fit your needs. As a WFPG member, not only are you invited to attend Career Pathways, but you also receive complimentary admission to all other in-person and virtual professional development and mentoring programs, such as our Mentor Minutes. Additionally, you will gain access to exclusive member experiences and opportunities.

WFPG Student and Young Professional membership is $60. Other membership types are available here.
Memberships are valid for one full year.

Virtual Event - Attendees will receive the Zoom link once they have completed the registration form linked below.

Erinn Whitaker, a former senior analyst for the US Intelligence Community, is a Professor of the Practice in the Curriculum of Peace, War and Defense (PWAD) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. With nearly 15 years of experience overseas and in Washington, she draws on active teaching methods to underscore themes such as the dynamic between senior policymakers and intelligence officers, how the intelligence community has evolved, and the importance of analytic tradecraft. Whitaker teaches courses such as “Writing and Briefing for Intelligence,” “Cases in Counterintelligence,” and “The Origins and Consequences of September 11th” to help students interested in careers ranging from intelligence to public policy to journalism strengthen their critical thinking, written and oral communication skills. Before joining the PWAD faculty, Whitaker was a senior researcher at UNC’s Hussman School of Media and Journalism and taught courses on intelligence at UNC and Duke University. She focused on how US “news deserts” erode key democratic institutions, leading a team to produce a nationally-recognized report “The Expanding News Desert,” which identified communities down to the county level suffering from the loss of local news and assessed the implications for the news profession and the country. Whitaker also served as a government-sponsored Fellow at the Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies at UNC Chapel Hill. In this position, Whitaker produced a book-length report for the US Government on how academic theories on negotiating style could be applied to world leaders, developing a quantitative tool and introducing it to the US Intelligence Community. Whitaker earned a BA from Middlebury College, where she spent a year studying Russia in Siberia, and a MA from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. She speaks German and Russian. She serves as the faculty advisor to the student-run club Women in National Security and lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with her husband and two daughters.

Mary Quinn attended Georgetown University on an Army ROTC Scholarship and was commissioned as a Military Intelligence officer after graduation. She served at Ft Bragg (Liberty) and the Pentagon in analytical and strategic intelligence assignments. Following active duty, Quinn went to graduate school at Stanford to study Latin American History. She came back to the DC area to teach high school, but she found herself being drawn back to work in intelligence and national security. Quinn was hired as a civilian analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and over the course of her career, she served as an analyst, collection manager, agency representative and chief of operations with assignments in Miami, FL; Newport, RI; and on the OSD staff. She has an additional master’s degree in Strategy and National Security and was selected for an international executive program in National Security at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Quinn retired from DIA and started with Deloitte in the Defense, Security and Justice practice in 2018. She currently divides her time supporting DHS and DIA as a senior advisor to the government and to her Deloitte team members on policy, mission management, and support projects. She is also an adjunct professor with Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program.

Adrianne George is the Founder of MyCyberExec, a Cyber Talent as a Service firm. Ms. George spent 15 years in federal service to include serving as the Acting Deputy Cyber Executive for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. She previously served as the Director of Analysis for the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center. Adrianne’s other career highlights included serving as Director for Counterterrorism for the National Security Council, deploying to Afghanistan, and multiple joint duty assignments with other federal agencies. These experiences gave Adrianne an in-depth understanding about the challenges facing the public and private sectors to recruit and retain cyber talent. Through MyCyberExec, she will enable businesses to meet the growing cyber challenges and build strong security teams. She established MyCyberExec with intent to do these things a little differently as she believes cyber should be demystified. For that reason, her goal is to work with clients on approachable, authoritative, and actionable plans for their cyber needs.