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NICE Community Coordinating Council

Meeting Minutes

April 28, 2021 | 3:30-5:00 p.m. ET

I. Introduction and Ground Rules

NICE Program Manager Susana Barraza welcomed everyone to the call, reviewed the 

Council’s mission, and explained the ground rules for the meeting. She encouraged 

everyone to participate via the Chat function. 

II. Opening Remarks

a. Industry Co-Chair Jon Brickey, Senior Vice President at Mastercard, said he recently 

delivered an elevator pitch at his company regarding the NICE Framework. About 60 

companies have said they want to leverage the NICE Framework, and he wants to work 

on continued ramping up of industry adoption. Separately, he noted that international 

business travel is likely to remain somewhat stymied for some time because of the 

pandemic. 

b. Academic Co-Chair Marni Baker-Stein, Chief Academic Officer and Provost at Western 

Governors University, said they have announced a number of pilots to support skillsbased hiring and micro-credentialing. There is work ahead for higher education to 

expand the reach of portfolios to a wider array of students. Enrollment is down in 

degree programs because of the pandemic, which will have an impact on the talent 

pipeline in a lot of areas. Cybersecurity is bound to be impacted by this dip. This is a 

complex time for higher education and it requires creative ideas.

c. Marian Merritt, Deputy Director of NICE, said that NICE and the Office of Personnel 

Management (OPM) hosted the Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Summit on April 27. 

The summit included speakers from the Department of Commerce, OPM, the National 

Security Council, and other agencies. Speakers shared a variety of insights, including: 

• The Biden Administration’s commitment to developing talent in cybersecurity

• Issues in communities lacking good access to broadband (“Gaps in access mean 

gaps in opportunity.”) and efforts to address the inequities

• Emphasis on information-sharing across the federal government. 

• The need to be more capable of addressing attacks, including ransomware.

• How to get talent in the federal government when the private sector can move 

more quickly and offer more money.

• Adjacent domains are competing for talent.

• Updates to the NICE Framework .

• Presentations on pilot programs to develop pathways for talent and plot new 

sources for talent, including neurodiversity talent, and programs in the Veterans 

Administration.

The agenda for the summit is available here. A recording and slides will be available 

online soon. 

III. Standing Items

a. Strategy Stories - New Developments that Align to NICE Strategic Plan
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Closing the Gap Women Veterans > Cybersecurity Careers

Presented by: Dr. Costis Toregas, Director, Cyber Security and Privacy Research 

Institute, The George Washington University; and Prof. Rachelle Heller

URL: https://womenengineers.seas.gwu.edu/closing-gap-women-veteranscybersecurity-careers

A Virtual Conference on Closing the Gap Women Veterans > Cybersecurity Careers will 

be held May 25, 2021. 

Closing the gap addresses two crucial needs: Understanding the barriers women vets 

face in transitioning to civilian life and harnessing the potential of women vets to fill the 

cybersecurity talent gap. Why are women vets not finding an easier time getting into 

the cybersecurity domain, and how can that be addressed?

This invitation-only conference is for people who can make a difference – people from 

the military, policy makers, recruiters, industry, academia, government, and others who 

are change makers.

Domains to be covered:

- Challenges women service members face

- Transition from military to non-military workforce

- Pathways to cybersecurity

- Possibly a final session on how to make the necessary changes

Dr. Toregas’ slides can be viewed here.

b. Report Roundup - Learning from Good Ideas

Designing and Delivering Career Pathways at Community Colleges: A Practice Guide for 

Educators

Presented by: Dr. Hope Cotner, President, CORD

URL: https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/WWC-PraxGuide-CareerPathways-full-text-Final-508.pdf

The Practice Guide for Educators, released last month, provides recommendations for 

educators and administrators to address challenges in community colleges today. The 

guide synthesizes recommendations from screening more than 16,000 records. It 

provides a level of evidence for each practice recommendation.

Recommendation 1: Intentionally design and structure career pathways to enable 

students to further their education, secure a job, and advance in employment.

Recommendation 2: Deliver contextualized or integrated basic skills instruction to 

accelerate students’ entry into and successful completion of career pathways. 

Recommendation 3: Offer flexible instructional delivery schedules and models to 

improve credit accumulation and completion of non-degree credentials along career 

pathways.

Recommendation 4: Provide coordinated comprehensive student supports to 

improve credit accumulation and completion of non-degree credentials along career 

pathways. 
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Recommendation 5: Develop and continuously leverage partnerships to prepare 

students and advance their labor market success. 

They will be taking a deeper dive into each of the recommendations with a video series

featuring panel experts and practitioners discussing implementation of 

recommendations. 

c. Framework Feature - Applications and Uses of Workforce Framework for 

Cybersecurity

SkillsEngine

Presented by: Michael Bettersworth, Founder, SkillsEngine

URL: https://skillsengine.com

There are many variations in employer skill requirements today. SkillsEngine tries to 

identify overlaps in curriculum and industry needs. They want to create a shared 

understanding of needed skills and help educators validate employer skill requirements 

to better align curriculum.

Calibrate, an interactive tool for creating job profiles, allows subject matter experts –

employers and educators – to deliver feedback on curriculum in terms of which skills are 

most critical, which skills are missing, and which skills aren’t as relevant. This tool 

highlights the disparities in views between educators and employers, helping them 

better align the curriculum to resolve the skills gap. 

This tool is a walled garden currently, but SkillsEngine is in the process of creating a free 

version to allow people to share feedback. They are applying for funding for the open 

version, and soon they will be looking for partners on the project. 

IV. Working Group Updates

a. Promote Career Discovery

Co-chairs: James “Jimmy” Baker, Cybersecurity Evangelist and Author; Roland Varriale II, 

Cybersecurity Analyst, Argonne National Laboratory

The Careers Working Group just brought in a third co-chair: Monica Gomez, Cisco

To address the lack of availability of opportunities, the Careers WG is conducting an 

ongoing scan of resources that could be available. They have established five objectives 

to organize the resources. They want to embrace non-traditional pathways and nonstandard trajectories. 

Contact Co-chair Roland Varriale if you are interested in joining this group: 

rvarriale@anl.gov

Next Careers Working Group meeting: May 19, 2021, at 3:30 p.m. ET

b. Transform Learning Process

Co-chairs: Dr. Aurelia T. Williams, Interim Vice Provost for Academic Administration, 

Norfolk State University; Richard Spires, Instructor, Learning Tree

The Learners Working Group has conducted brainstorming sessions around three of the 

group’s six objectives, leveraging the work that had previously been done in this area at 

NICE. They are meeting twice monthly and hope to finish brainstorming on all six 

objectives over the next month. It’s not too late to join. 
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Next Learners Working Group meeting: May 12, 2021, at 3 p.m. ET

c. Modernize Talent Management

Co-chairs: Karen Jensen, Saaby Consulting; Kevin Perry, Chief Cyber Training, DoD Cyber 

Crime Center/Cyber Training Academy; Melissa Woo, Executive Vice President for 

Administration, Michigan State University

The Talent Working Group has been conducting brainstorming sessions around its six 

objectives. They are always interested in additional views, so it’s not too late to join the 

group. 

Next Talent Working Group meeting: May 20, 2021, at 1 p.m. ET

V. Community of Interest Updates

a. Apprenticeships in Cybersecurity

Co-chairs: Tony Bryan, Executive Director, CyberUp; Jennifer Oddo Executive Director, 

Strategic Workforce Education and Innovation, Youngstown State University

The Apprenticeships COI is working on three core projects: 1) Comparative Analysis of 

Work Enhanced Learning Models; 2) ROI on Apprenticeships; 3) Apprenticeship

Ecosystem Integration & Scaling. 

If your company is considering launching an apprenticeship program, please join the 

group and share your perspective.

Next Apprenticeships COI meeting: May 28, 2021, at 11 a.m. ET

b. Cybersecurity Skills Competitions

Co-chairs: Amelia Phillips, Highline College; Brad Wolfenden, EmberSec

The most recent Competitions COI meeting featured a presentation on the Civil Air 

Patrol national competition program. There was also a discussion about opportunities 

for competitions during Cybersecurity Careers Awareness Week in the fall, among other 

things. 

Next Competitions COI meeting: May 20, 2021, at 3 p.m. ET

c. K12 Cybersecurity Education

Co-chairs: Terrance Campbell, CCTE Cybersecurity Teacher - Shelby County Schools; 

Laurin Buchanan, Secure Decisions

At the K12 Education COI’s last meeting, they discussed ways to get the word out about 

this group to those who aren’t aware of it. Additionally, they hope to wrap up the 

development of a K12 Cybersecurity Education Roadmap. Following that, they will 

return to other pending projects, including a one-pager.

Next K12 Education COI meeting: Wednesday, May 12, 2021, at 3:30 p.m. ET

d. NICE Framework Users 

Karen Wetzel, Manager of the NICE Framework

The NICE Framework Users COI is an online platform that does not hold meetings. 

Recent conversations have centered on the NICE Framework Competencies draft and 

different implementations of the Framework, including the ways in which people have 

gotten started using it.
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Learn more about the NICE Framework Users Group: https://www.nist.gov/itl/appliedcybersecurity/nice/about/community-coordinating-council/nice-framework-users

VI. Project Progress Reports

a. NICE Conference and Expo

Presenter: Randy Pestana, Florida International University

URL: https://niceconference.org/

The next NICE Conference will be held June 6-8, 2022, immediately preceding the CAE 

Symposium. Four conference tracks will be announced in the coming months, and the 

Call for Proposals will be announced in September.

In September, FIU, in partnership with the Organization of American States, will host an 

event looking at ways to integrate the NICE Framework into curriculum in Latin America.

b. NICE K12 Cybersecurity Education Conference

Presenter: Felicia Rateliff, Director of Operations & Programs, iKeepSafe

URL: https://www.k12cybersecurityconference.org/

The NICE K12 Cybersecurity Education Conference is scheduled for December 6-7, 2021, 

and it will be virtual again this year. The theme is “Broadening the Path Cybersecurity 

Careers Throughout K12 Education.” There will be five conference tracks and many 

different types of sessions, including 30-40 minute talks with audience Q&A, poster 

sessions, and pre-recorded video sessions.

The Call for Proposals is open through June 18.

For more information, email Felicia at: Conference@ikeepsafe.org

c. Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) in Cybersecurity Community

Presenter: Amy Hysell, Cybersecurity Center, California State University, San Bernardino

URL: https://www.caecommunity.org/

The National Cybersecurity Virtual Career Fair will take place September 17, 2021. It is 

open to students and alumni from CAE designated institutions. They are looking for 

employers interested in hosting a booth. For information on how to host a booth, email: 

support@caecommunity.org

d. Cybersecurity Careers Awareness Week

This year’s CCAW will take place October 18-23, 2021. The event is a weeklong 

campaign to call attention to the contributions cybersecurity practitioners make and the 

wide range of job opportunities and pathways into the field. Start thinking now about 

ways you can participate and get your community involved. 

VII. Featured Topics

a. US Cyber Games

Presented by: Jessica Gulick, CEO, Katzcy

URL: https://www.uscybergames.com/

US Cyber Games is part of a cooperative agreement between Katzcy and NICE to create 

the first-ever U.S. Cyber Team. Athletes will test their skills, which will be aligned with 

the NICE Framework. 
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The timeline:

May 28: Virtual Summit Kick-Off with information about the program.

June 10: Applications are due to compete in the U.S. Cyber Open, a free, two-week

capture-the-flag competition. At the end of June, 60 cybersecurity athletes will be 

selected to compete in the US Cyber Combine.

July 5: US Cyber Combine Invitational begins. This invitation-only competition will take 

place over 8 weeks during the summer. There will be a lot of game opportunities and 

training with coaches.

September: Coaches and the Advisory Board will select the top 20 athletes, who will be 

announced October 5. They will travel to Athens, Greece, December 7-12, for the 

International Cyber Security Competition, pandemic travel restrictions permitting.

The program is looking for competitors, coaches, fans, and sponsors. Reach out to 

Jessica if you are interested in learning more: gulickj@katzcy.com

b. Cyberstates

Presented by: Tim Herbert, Executive Vice President, Research & Market Intelligence,

COMPTIA

URL: https://www.cyberstates.org/

Cyberstates is a complementary tool from CompTIA, with analytics on national, state, 

and metropolitan area tech sectors and the tech workforce. It aggregates data and 

presents it in clear visuals. 

Key Findings:

- The projected 2021 tech employment in the United States is 12.4 million. 

- 245,500 projected new tech jobs.

- 3.9 million employer job postings for tech occupation job openings in 2020.

-$2 trillion estimated directed economic output of the U.S. tech industry.

- 31% projected growth rate for cybersecurity job roles over the next decade.

The tool includes an interactive map that allows users to explore the tech landscape in 

individual states and metro areas. It shows the percentage of the workforce that works 

in tech and where the state ranks nationwide. It also provides information on wages, 

leading jobs, and other indicators. 

Cheat sheets (PDFs) are available for each state and metro area, providing a quick 

snapshot of the tech workforce, the tech sector, how they’re performing. 

VIII. Closing Remarks Next Meeting Reminder

The next NICE Community Meeting will be held May 26, 2021, at 3:30 p.m. ET. 

Marian thanked the presenters and closed the meeting.