The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Pinnacle Awards were announced Oct. 8, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place virtually Nov. 12.

Next is Cybersecurity Industry Executive of the Year (Public Company) finalist John DeSimone, vice president of Cybersecurity, Training and Services business at Raytheon Intelligence & Space.

What key achievements did you have in 2019/2020? 

A major achievement Raytheon Intelligence & Space earned this year was being named the winner of the “Overall CyberSecurity Company of the Year” award in the Fourth Annual CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards program.

RI&S’ Cyber, Training and Services product line counteracts rapidly evolving threats around the globe with a customizable and comprehensive suite of solutions that provide advanced protection. The company’s solutions help protect every side of cyber for government agencies, businesses and nations — defending the most critical information, systems and operations with breakthrough solutions.

These solutions include the following: cyber analytics and intelligence services, DevSecOps optimization, cyber physical systems security, data orchestration and resiliency, cyber systems defense and integration, cyber warfare and cyber operations and research.

We also recently launched a new technology, DejaVM, that conducts system-level cyber vulnerability testing without requiring customers to provide access to the limited number of highly specialized physical hardware assets.

Most importantly, we’ve maintained a very high standard of execution excellence for our customers, which has been reflected in positive feedback across the board. I’ve heard from multiple customers that in the face of a global pandemic, “The team has not skipped a beat.”

What are you most proud of having been a part of in your current organization?

I’ve had many moments of pride watching the way our team has supported our customers in today’s most extraordinary work environment. In some cases, we’ve even facilitated government work approvals for employees of other primes supporting the same mission.

At the end of the…