Nicole Tisdale, Senior Advisor to the Cybersecurity Programs at Aspen Digital, is Founder and Principal of Advocacy Blueprints LLC, which helps to make government more accessible to everyone through advocacy education, training, and strategy development. She boasts an expansive fifteen-plus year tenure as a national security attorney and Director at The White House – National Security Council and the U.S. Congress’ House Committee on Homeland Security. Her policy expertise encompasses crucial areas such as cybersecurity, counterintelligence, and the impacts of cyberattacks on rural and marginalized communities.

As the lead for the White House’s cybersecurity advocacy efforts before Congress, she led the creation of the $1 billion dollar cybersecurity grant program and passage of the cyber incident reporting law, the most significant cybersecurity laws created in a decade. In Congress, Nicole created and managed more than 96 congressional hearings and passage of 354 bills through the House of Representatives, 80 became law.

Nicole is an influential voice and facilitator in global policy negotiations and dialogues. She has represented the U.S. in 35 international delegations across 22 countries over her career, and speaking at more than fifty conferences and workshops in two years, she has also been an influential voice in global policy dialogues.

She also leads cyber policy pro bono and nonprofit initiatives —advocating for cyber equity protections for marginalized communities facing digital threats, and the Cyber Policy Leadership Institute, launching underrepresented groups into cyber policy careers. Her creation and commitment to the Cyber-Impact Policy Framework is evidenced by her writing The Hidden Injustice of Cyberattacks for WIRED Magazine and her creation and teaching “Digital Policy Advocacy for Marginalized Communities” at American University. Nicole believes passionately in civic engagement and the right to advocate, which is highlighted in her book “Right to Petition,” and her early advocacy for the Mississippi Innocence Project and Domestic Violence Legal Clinic. 

A proud double alumna and attorney from The University of Mississippi, Nicole hails from Nettleton, MS. Beyond her professional achievements, she is an avid consumer of spy fiction, a frustrated golfer, and a sneakerhead.