Rookies to Rockstars

Ross O’Rourke didn’t set out to run a company. Like many in national security, he followed the openings in front of him and said yes to things he wasn’t sure he could pull off. The technical work came first. The leadership came later, once he could see where both the mission and the market were going. On this episode of “Rookies to Rockstars,” hosts Amanda Ziadeh and Camille Tuutti talk with O’Rou...

Dr. Yolanda Reid didn't choose national security. She had a competing offer from a pharmaceutical company and picked the National Security Agency because the scheduling lined up better with school. She was 18. She didn't know the difference between the two industries. She just knew someone would pay for college. In this episode of "Rookies to Rockstars," hosts Amanda Ziadeh and...

Security may be high stakes, but building a career in it isn’t always a straight line. In this episode of "Rookies to Rockstars," hosts Camille Tuutti and Amanda Ziadeh sit down with Mario Orsini, vice president of security at Nightwing, to talk about the unconventional path that led him from a criminal justice degree to a surprise CIA recruitment call and into the world of national secu...

The first lie you believe early in your career is that everyone else knows what they’re doing. Ben Buckley didn’t. Trained as a biochemist, he walked away from medicine, pushed into technology without the “right” background and took risks that made sense only if you cared more about learning than comfort. What he figured out early is what most people learn late: uncertainty comes with the work, no...

Few CIOs can say their careers grew in two worlds at once. For John Pisano, building an IT career while serving in the Army Reserve shaped a leadership style rooted in structure, resilience and a drive to solve hard problems with purpose. That dual path started early. John’s curiosity for technology pushed him to take apart computers long before he studied IT, and his service taught him discipline...

Garry Schwartz didn’t begin his career in a boardroom, or even at an intern's desk, for that matter. He joined the military just in time to spend his 18th birthday at boot camp as a kid seeking structure and a purpose beyond himself. Turned out, it was exactly what Garry needed. After serving 21 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Garry left with a passion for mission, children and a wife to supp...

David Guffey's trajectory wasn't necessarily thought out. In fact, he mostly searched "for that next opportunity." Once an Airman, guardsman and reservist, what began as a way to serve and see the world in the U.S. Air Force turned into a lifelong journey of learning, leadership and innovation. On this week’s "Rookies to Rockstars," Amanda Ziadeh is joined by David Gu...

Heidi Kobylski didn’t start out in tech or business. She started out helping women rebuild their lives in transitional housing in Baltimore. The work was meaningful, but it also revealed something else: She wanted to create impact in a different way. On this week’s "Rookies to Rockstars," Amanda Ziadeh and Camille Tuutti sit down with Heidi Kobylski, U.S. federal civilian leader at Micro...

Amy Foy didn’t wait for someone to hand her a career plan. Fresh out of college, she joined a leadership program that promised structure and direction. But when it ended, she realized no one was going to chart the next step. If she wanted a career, she’d have to build it herself. Today, Amy is vice president for contracts and supply chain at Nightwing, leading complex transformation efforts across...

Don’t believe everything you see on TV. Courtrooms aren’t stages for finger-pointing theatrics — and if you try that in real life, you’ll probably get tossed out. On this week’s "Rookies to Rockstars," Amanda Ziadeh and Camille Tuutti sit down with Jim Rittinger, general counsel and corporate secretary at Empower AI. Jim spent a decade grinding 3,000 billable hours a year at a top litiga...

Quit the safety net. Andrzej Gorski walked away from a stable job to become employee one at a brand-new startup — no contracts or guarantees. That leap taught him the mindset he still has today: Fail fast, fail often, and keep moving. Now, he’s senior vice president of electronic systems at Two Six Technologies, running one of the company’s fastest-growing units. His leadership style is simple: pr...

What happens when a finance analyst bets on himself and pivots into business development leadership? In this episode of "Rookies to Rockstars," Amanda Ziadeh and Camille Tuutti sit down with John Hart, executive vice president and chief growth officer at Agile Defense, to find out. John shares how flexibility became his secret weapon as he moved from crunching numbers to driving capture...

Michael Polmar didn’t plan on GovCon. He started as a chemistry major who loved science, broke more than a little lab glassware, and thought research was his future. Four years in, he swapped experiments for programs — and discovered he liked leading people and solving business problems even more. That pivot launched a 30-year career across defense and intel, building and running growth engines fo...

Aimee Dalton didn’t picture herself in defense. She came in as a junior analyst with a fresh MBA, a spiral notebook and zero clue what GovCon acronyms meant.  Promotions didn’t silence the doubt — every new role started with I can’t do this and ended a week later with actually, I can crush this. Fast forward 22 years, and Aimee is chief of staff to the president at SBA. Think part Olivia Pope, par...