Richard Cunningham

Director, Naval Enterprise Networks

U.S. Department of the Navy

Mr. Richard Cunningham serves as the Director of Naval Enterprise
Networks under the Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) Mission
Systems. As the NEN Director, he leads the acquisition lifecycle of the
Navy's enterprise-wide IT networks, including the Navy Marine Corps
Intranet (NMCI), OCONUS Navy Enterprise Network (ONE-Net), and the
Service Management, Integration, and Transport contract – the
combined scope of which encompasses $2B annually and 4000
personnel.

In his prior role as DISA’s Chief Strategist, Mr. Cunningham created and implemented an agency-wide
strategic planning process that better aligned the agency’s technology investments with mission
priorities. This helped DISA balance its dual roles as a major acquisition organization and a Combat
Support Agency and introduced a modernized approach to how the agency shares and exchanges
mission-critical data.

A proven architect of national-level defense frameworks, Mr. Cunningham has led technology
transformations for multiple agencies, including championing a network defense doctrine that
decentralizes execution while retaining enterprise oversight. While embedded with U.S. Cyber
Command and the National Security Agency, he created the Joint Cyber Warfighting Architecture
(JCWA) and laid the intellectual foundation for two of Cybercom 2.0’s transformation initiatives, the
New Force Generation Model and the Cyber Innovation Warfighting Center. He also spearheaded the
deployment of the Navy’s Cloud Based Internet Isolation (CBII) solution, orchestrating a complex, 14-
time-zone troubleshooting effort that culminated in the first-ever deployment of a production cloud
service to an underway warship, USS AMERICA. This pioneering work established the repeatable,
scalable model later used to deploy CBII across the Department of War’s 3.2 million users.

A distinguished senior cyber warrior for the Department of War, he is recognized for leading one of the
U.S. Navy's largest defensive cyberspace operations, for which he was named NIWC Atlantic's FY14
Civilian of the Year. His additional awards include a Special Act Award for support of the Global
Combat Support System – Marine Corps (GCSS-MC), and numerous other commendations.
Mr. Cunningham’s previous roles include Chief Strategist at DISA (2025–2026); Enterprise Architect
and Organizational Consultant in private industry (2020–2025); and 14 years as a Senior Engineer and
National-Level Subject Matter Expert at NIWC Atlantic (2006–2020)

He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina (B.S., Electrical Engineering).

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