Retired Army Colonel and former White House cyber official brings more than 45 years of defense enterprise experience to Cyberstar.
Cyberstar, the leading cyber workforce management platform for defense and federal organizations, welcomed Dr. Daniel “Rags” Ragsdale to its Board of Advisors. Dr. Ragsdale brings more than 45 years of experience across the White House, Department of Defense, academia, and industry, including the leadership role that defined how the nation approaches cyber workforce readiness at scale.
Most recently, Dr. Ragsdale served as Deputy Assistant National Cyber Director at the White House, where he led implementation of the nation’s inaugural National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy. That work influenced more than $100 billion in federal contracting and secured public and private sector commitments to create more than 35,000 new cybersecurity jobs. Prior to the White House, he served as Principal Director for Cyber at the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Program Manager at DARPA, and Vice Dean for Education at West Point. A combat veteran of Grenada, Afghanistan, and Iraq, Dr. Ragsdale retired from the Army after 34 years in uniform. He is a recipient of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.
Dr. Ragsdale currently serves as Founder of Full Spectrum Cyber Solutions and Senior Advisor at Cambridge Global Advisors.
“When you’ve sat at the table where national cyber workforce policy gets made, you understand what’s actually at stake when organizations can’t develop, quantify, and prove their force readiness at scale,” said Marling Engle, CEO of Cyberstar. “Rags has been in that room. That experience is exactly what we need as we build out the infrastructure defense organizations depend on to answer that call.”
“The reason I said yes is the mission. A ready cyber workforce is essential, but readiness tracking on its own is not enough. Cyberstar is building toward something more complete — a comprehensive cyber workforce talent management system that helps organizations find, grow, place, and retain cyber talent at scale. By building out support for the Defense Cyber Workforce Framework, Cyberstar is moving away from passive compliance snapshots to dynamic, capability-based tracking. That’s the only way we’ll be able to directly address the DoW and federal cyber workforce readiness challenges,” said Dr. Daniel Ragsdale.
The appointment comes as defense organizations face increasing pressure to move beyond periodic reporting toward dynamic, data-driven workforce readiness. Organizations must continuously adapt to role changes, mission requirements, and the operational demands that define whether a cyber force is truly ready when it matters.
This appointment reflects Cyberstar’s continued focus on building a Board of Advisors selected for depth of operational experience at the intersection of defense policy and cyber workforce implementation.
For more information or to request a demonstration, visit cyberstar.com.
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