Building up the Talent Pipeline in Cybersecurity

It’s no secret; the pandemic kicked off the great resignation. Organizations in all industries scramble for talent to fill open positions. One sector of vital importance in dire need of skilled workers to fill a talent pipeline in cybersecurity. A 2022 Cybersecurity Workforce Study concluded that the global cybersecurity workforce gap has increased by 26.2% compared to 2021, leaving a void of 3.4 million jobs.

The threats to global infrastructures and organizational networks are never-ending, and without a fully stocked cyber workforce, those threats create untold damage.

The question on Ron J Stefanski’s mind: is there a talent pool waiting in the wings to answer the call, and what are today’s disruptors doing to find this talent and bring them into the cybersecurity space? Two disruptors answered the call and joined Stefanski on DisruptED to talk about talent and to get the right people onto the bus.

Mark Jaster, Founder & CEO of FOUR18 Intelligence Corp, and Marlena Sessions, CEO of NOVAworks, spoke with Stefanski about the situation.

“The problem we are faced with today is there are way too many cyberattacks for our resources and our ability to defend them,” Jaster said. “We don’t have enough people, we don’t have enough knowledge about what’s happening, and it’s happening in real-time, incentivized by the payoff that the attackers have when they succeed.”

Stefanski, Jaster, and Sessions discuss the following:

  • Developing talent to match job seekers
  • How to create skills to increase the talent pipeline in cybersecurity
  • Finding people who may not be thinking of a cybersecurity role but who could be great candidates

“At NOVA works, we are stewards of our taxpayer dollars,” Sessions said. “We don’t say ‘no’ to any job seeker. Anybody can come in. I could find myself out of work or a laid-off mid-level career professional, but we do focus on certain areas of folks who might have been historically excluded.”

Mark Jaster is a growth strategist and innovator with a deep skill set and unique methods for solving the most complex problems of innovation strategy and product adoption in complex markets such as information systems, medical devices, biotechnology, and enterprise risk management. Jaster holds an MSE in Engineering Design & Management from Stanford University and a BSE in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University.

Marlena Sessions has over two decades of experience working to change lives. Before her role with NOVAworks, Sessions was the Executive Director for San Bernardino County Workforce Development Board, worked in leadership roles for Grant Associates, and led the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County as the COO and CEO for seventeen years. She holds her BA in History/Political Science from Whitworth University and her MA in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

Hospitality
From Wall Street to World Travel: Scott Eddy’s Journey to Becoming Hospitality’s No-Nonsense Voice
September 24, 2025

In 2019, travel and tourism contributed a whopping 10.4% of global GDP — a figure that vanished almost overnight when the pandemic brought the world to a standstill. Today, the industry has clawed its way back to that same share of the global economy, but travelers have changed. They no longer settle for polished marketing…

Read More
Gaming
Game-Changing Marketing: Why Brands Must Embed Themselves Naturally Into Gaming Experiences
September 24, 2025

Video games have rapidly evolved from niche entertainment to a dominant cultural force, reshaping how people interact, play, and connect with brands. With the gaming industry expected to surpass $300 billion in yearly revenue by 2030, businesses are increasingly asking: how can brands authentically integrate into games without alienating audiences? Meanwhile, developers face the…

Read More
Tech
From Innovation to Impact: Corporate Success, Tech Patents, and Mentoring the Next Generation with David C. Williams
September 24, 2025

What does it mean to move beyond success into true significance? In this powerful episode of the Undisputed Podcast, Ty Bledsoe sits down with David C. Williams, tech innovator, best-selling author, and mentor who’s redefining what impact looks like. From growing up in one of the poorest corners of Dallas to leading billion-dollar automation…

Read More
Menopause
From Classroom to Clinic, How HerMD is Closing the Menopause Gap in Medicine
September 24, 2025

For too long, women’s healthcare has fallen short—shaped by stigma, overlooked by research, and limited by a system that often focuses only on fertility while neglecting a significant portion of a woman’s constant evolution. With women today spending 40% of their lives in postmenopause, the lack of medical training and resources dedicated to this…

Read More