Christopher M. Piehota

Chris Piehota serves as a subject matter expert, consultant, and board member for a variety of organizations, where he delivers strategic guidance and advisory regarding national security matters, cyber operations, security practices, risk mitigation, leadership concepts, and organizational improvement approaches. Piehota offers experiential insights from his career of overseeing and conducting complex investigations, intelligence collection programs, and technical operations. Over the course of his career, Piehota served as a key leader and organizational development proponent who developed a number of impactful strategic and tactical action plans; formulated focused performance metrics; advanced leadership programs; and contributed to process improvement and change management campaigns that influenced multi-level government operations since September 11, 2001.

Prior to retiring from government service, Piehota served as the Chief Executive for FBI Science and Technology Programs where he provided strategic leadership for enterprise operational technology programs, forensic laboratory operations, and criminal justice information technology systems. Leading up to this role, Chris previously served as the Director of the United States Government’s 24-hour, global Terrorist Screening Center and, previously, as the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Buffalo, New York, Field Office. Throughout the rest of his earlier FBI career, Chris worked in program areas regarding counterterrorism counterintelligence, physical and information security, weapons of mass destruction, and intelligence collection.

Piehota is an accomplished international public speaker and has provided speeches, presentations, and commentary for audiences of all types. He has been featured in various media interviews and has provided congressional testimonies, as well as executive briefings for the National Security Council, INTERPOL, numerous diplomatic parties, private sector organizations, and FBI Academy audiences.

Before joining the FBI, Piehota worked in the NASA Space Shuttle program as a Metrologist and Laboratory Supervisor. He is a U.S. Air Force military veteran and possesses a Ph.D. in Human Performance Technology, a master’s degree in Human Resources, and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.