Rachel Wilson

Rachel Wilson spent the first 15 years of her career at the National Security Agency (NSA). Over the course of her NSA career, she held several key senior executive-level leadership positions.

Between 2008 and 2010, she ran NSA’s counterterrorism operations and led a global enterprise in detecting and disrupting terrorist plotting against the United States and its allies.

Between 2010 and 2012, Wilson served as NSA’s Chief of Operations in the UK working out of the US Embassy in London. In this role, she worked with UK intelligence services to counter terrorist and cyber threats to the 2012 Olympics.

Returning to the US in 2012, Wilson spent nearly five years leading NSA’s cyber exploitation operations within NSA’s Tailored Access Operations. In this capacity, she led the planning and execution of thousands of cyber exploitation operations against a wide array of foreign intelligence, military, and cyber targets and served as the committing official for many of NSA’s highest risk and most important intelligence-gathering activities.

In April of 2017, Rachel Wilson became the first Head of Cybersecurity for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Investment Technology. Wilson is a Managing Director and Head of Cybersecurity for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. She is responsible for protecting the cybersecurity of Wealth Management, Investment Management and Prime Brokerage systems, and the integrity and confidentiality of Firm and client data. Additionally, Wilson advises the leadership of Wealth Management, Investment Management and Prime Brokerage on cybersecurity issues, including secure code development standards, secure network architecture, vendor relationships, advanced persistent threat (APT) detection and mobile security. She also leads field and client education and communication on cyber risk, threats and mitigations. She and her team drive innovation for new cybersecurity and authentication technology.

Wilson was recognized by Morgan Stanley Wealth Management as part of the 2019 MAKERS Class, a program that honours women who serve as ground breakers, innovators and advocates. She was also named one of the Top Women in WealthTech 2020 by ThinkAdvisor.

In her private capacity, Wilson advises individuals, corporations and institutions on cybersecurity best practices and strategies. She serves on the Advisory Board of WATSCO Inc (NYSE: WSO) and the CISO Advisory Board of Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN).

Wilson is a sought after speaker for technology, financial, and professional forums and has recently keynoted the Barron’s Top 100, the National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA) 401k Annual summit, the Portfolio Management Institute (PMI) Annual Conference, the Association of Professional Investment Consultants (APIC) Annual Conference, and the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals Annual Conference.

Wilson is a leading thinker on protecting children and teenagers from cyber threats and loves educating young people and their parents on how to be safe citizens on the internet. Wilson holds a BA from Wellesley College and an MA from the University of Chicago. Wilson and her husband live in New York City with their two children.