David Heyman is a co-founder of Smart City Works, a next-generation business accelerator focused exclusively on innovation and commercialization of infrastructure technologies that improve the livability, operations, and resilience of cities.
He also serves as a commissioner on the District of Columbia’s Homeland Security Commission; a member of the Aspen Homeland Security Strategy Group; the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue; the US Government’s Track 1.5 Cyber Dialogue; GW’s Task Force on Active Cyber Defense; and as the President of Tektonics Global, LLC.
Heyman served in senior positions at the White House, US Department of Energy, and US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From 2009-14, he served as Assistant Secretary for Policy at DHS, a senate-confirmed position where, as a member of the Department’s management team, he led global efforts in counterterrorism, countering violent extremism, cybersecurity, building resilience, and critical infrastructure protection. He was the chief architect of the nation’s first and second Quadrennial Homeland Security Reviews; he supported day-to-day threat evaluation and pursuit and resolution of numerous threats and he oversaw the Department’s largest international expansion in global engagement. He also led efforts to build novel strategic partnerships, including with the World Customs Organization, the World Economic Forum, and some of the most consequential and complicated geopolitical relationships facing the United States today, including China, India, the European Union, and others.
Previously, Heyman founded and directed the Homeland Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), one of the nation’s leading and most influential think tanks in international security. He oversaw development and implementation of a number of energy, infrastructure, high performance computing, and technology initiatives, including leading and establishing a new portfolio approach to manage DOE’s $7 billion in research and development (R&D) investments. Earlier in his career, Heyman was a senior policy advisor in national security and international affairs at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), responsible for providing science, technology, and foreign policy advice to the President’s Science Advisor and the Vice President’s National Security Advisor. Heyman holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Brandeis University and a Master’s in international relations and economics from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, where he graduated with the highest level of distinction.
