Jennifer Bird, Interim Director of Operations at the National Security Innovation Network

Jennifer Bird joined the National Security Innovation Network in April 2020 and currently serves as the organization’s interim director of operations.

NSIN, formerly known as the MD5 National Security Technology Accelerator, is committed to building networks of innovators that generate new solutions to address national security problems.

Before joining NSIN, Bird worked at the Department of Defense and the Capitol, according to her LinkedIn profile.

From 2017 to 2019, she worked as professional staff for the House Committee on Armed Services.

Prior to that, she spent more than three years at the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy, where she held the positions of country director and deputy director for the Gulf and Arabian peninsula.

Earlier in her career, she was an intelligence analyst for the Navy and a DOD analyst for BAE Systems.

She started out as a policy associate for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a network of businesses and nonprofits that promotes increased support for the country’s diplomatic and development efforts.

Throughout her career, she has gained experience in client engagement, project management, policy implementation, strategy and operations, analysis and oversight.

Bird holds bachelor’s degrees in political science and Spanish from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in international security policy from Columbia University.