The work
I advise CEOs, boards, and senior executives operating where cyber threat, national security, and federal market complexity intersect. The clients I do my best work with share three things: high-stakes decisions, imperfect information, and a need for someone who can hold both the technical detail and the strategic frame.
That’s the gap I sit in. I’m not a vendor selling a product, and I’m not a generalist consultant repackaging public reporting. I bring an operator’s perspective from inside the U.S. intelligence community to commercial decisions that look, on paper, nothing like a national security problem — but rhyme with one.
Background
Paige Nelson served nine years as DIA’s lead analyst for PRC cyber operations — the first organization to synchronize real-time China intelligence across USCYBERCOM, the IC, and Congress. She briefed the Director of National Intelligence, delivered White House-level assessments, and built Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partnerships on active APT campaigns. Previously at the National Security Council. Active TS/SCI clearance. M.A., Public Policy and International Law.
How I think about advisory
Three principles shape my work:
Decisions, not deliverables. A pretty deck that doesn’t change what you do is a waste of your money and my time. I scope every engagement around a specific decision the leader needs to make.
Truth over comfort. I will tell you what I actually think, including when that means walking back an assumption you walked in with. That’s the value. The flattering version is free everywhere else.
Quiet by default. Most of my work is confidential. I don’t publish client lists, I don’t post case studies, and I’m careful about what gets shared even within an organization. If discretion matters to you, we’ll get along.
Want to talk?
The best way to find out whether we should work together is a 30-minute call. Tell me what you’re weighing; I’ll tell you whether I can help and how.