Board of Directors

Gen. Keith B. Alexander (Ret.), U.S. Army, founded IronNet in 2014 and has served as the chairman of its board of directors since our inception. He served as IronNet's chief executive officer until February 2019 and has since served as its co-chief executive officer. Gen. Alexander served as the Commander of U.S. Cyber Command from 2010 to 2014 and was Director of the NSA and Chief of the Central Security Service from 2005 to 2014. He also served as a Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Department of the Army; Commanding General of the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command; Director of Intelligence for United States Central Command; and Deputy Director for Requirements, Capabilities, Assessments and Doctrine for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He has served as a director of Amazon.com, Inc. since September 2020 and previously served as a director of CSRA, Inc., an information technology provider to the U.S. government, from 2015 until its acquisition by General Dynamics Corporation in April 2018. Gen. Alexander holds a B.S. degree from the United States Military Academy and an M.S. degree in Business Administration and Management from Boston University.

Linda Zecher Higgins is CEO of IronNet, Inc. Previously she was the managing director of The Barkley Group from January 2017 through July 2023. Prior to that she served as the president, CEO and director of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a global education and learning company. Until September 2011 she worked as the corporate vice president of the Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector business. Additionally she had served as the president and CEO of Evolve Corporation, as the senior vice president of Oracle, as a very early vice president of PeopleSoft, and in several senior positions in Bank of America. She began her career as a geophysicist with Texas Instruments.  She currently serves as Chairman of C5 Capital, and as a Board Member of IronNet, Hasbro and Tenable, a cloud-based cybersecurity platform.  She is a graduate of The Ohio State University and received an honorary doctorate from Bentley University.

Mr. Dixon has served as a member of IronNet's board of directors since May 2015. In 2015, he co-founded, and has since served as the managing director of, ForgePoint Capital, an investment firm focused on cybersecurity. In 1993, he co-founded, and has since served as managing director of, Trident Capital, a venture capital fund. From 1988 to 1993, Mr. Dixon was co-president of Partech International, a private equity fund manager associated with Banque Paribas. From 1983 to 1988, he was managing director of Alex. Brown & Sons, an investment banking firm. Earlier in his career, Mr. Dixon was a vice president of Morgan Stanley & Co. and a senior account officer at Citibank, N.A. Within the past five years, Mr. Dixon has served on the boards of directors of the publicly held companies Qualys, Inc. and Top Image Systems Ltd. In addition to IronNet, he serves as a director of several privately held companies. Mr. Dixon holds a B.S.E. degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University and an M.B.A. degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business. He serves on the advisory board of the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership and is a director of the Business Executives for National Security (BENS).

Gen. Keane has served as a member of IronNet's board of directors since May 2015. He has served as the chairman of the Institute for the Study of War since 2007 and as president of GSI, LLC, a consulting firm, since 2004. Prior to retiring from a 37-year career in the U.S. Army at the rank of General, Gen. Keane served as its vice chief of staff from 1999 to 2003. From 2009 to 2012, he was senior partner of SCP Partners, a venture capital firm, and from 2005 to 2009 he was managing director of Keane Advisors, LLC, a private equity and consulting firm. Within the past five years, he served on the board of directors of the publicly held company General Dynamics Corp. Gen. Keane holds a B.S. degree in accounting from Fordham University and a master's degree in philosophy from Western Kentucky University.

Vadm. McConnell has served as a member of IronNet's board of directors since May 2015. In 1996, he retired from the U.S. Navy as a vice admiral after 29 years of service, including 26 as a career intelligence officer. From 1992 to 1996, while on active duty, he served as the Director of the National Security Agency. Following his retirement from the Navy, he served as executive vice president and vice chairman of Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. until his retirement from those positions in 2014. From 2007 to 2009, Vadm. McConnell served in the Cabinet-level position of U.S. Director of National Intelligence. He currently serves as the executive director of the Florida Center for Cybersecurity, hosted by the University of South Florida to promote cybersecurity education and research. He holds a B.A. degree in economics from Furman University and an M.P.A. degree from George Washington University and is a graduate of the National Defense University and the National Defense Intelligence College.

Mr. Schlein has served as a member of IronNet's board of directors since October 2015. He has served as a general partner of Kleiner Perkins, a venture capital firm, since 1996. From 1986 to 1996, Mr. Schlein served in various executive positions at Symantec Corporation, a provider of internet security technology and business management technology solutions, including as Vice President of Enterprise Products. He currently serves on the board of directors of the publicly held company Chegg, Inc. and, in addition to IronNet, on the boards of directors of a number of privately held companies. Within the past five years, he served on the board of directors of the publicly held company Jive Software, Inc. Mr. Schlein holds a B.A. degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Vadm. Tighe has served as a member of IronNet's board of directors since August 2019. In 2018, she retired from the U.S. Navy as a vice admiral after 38 years of service, including leadership roles in the Navy and for the National Security Agency. From 2016 to 2018, she served as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare and Director of U.S. Naval Intelligence and as a member of the U.S. Navy's corporate board. Vadm. Tighe also had prior leadership positions in U.S. Cyber Command, the Navy's Fleet Cyber Command, and as President of the Navy's Postgraduate School. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the Naval Postgraduate School, she holds a B.S. degree in mathematics, an M.S. degree in applied mathematics and a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering. She has been a Governance Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors since August 2018 and serves on the boards of directors of the publicly held companies The Progressive Corporation, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and Huntsman Corporation. She also serves on the board of trustees of The MITRE Corporation.