Serving Region 8, the Rocky Mountain Region, since 2016, Regional Director, Shawn Graff leads operations across six states to bolster resiliency in both government and private sectors as they manage cyber and infrastructure security risk.
Selected as the first Director for the Region, Mr. Graff develops protocols and procedures in alignment with directives of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, to guide a diverse team of geographically dispersed Protection, Cyber and Chemical Security Advisors and Inspectors. As the senior CISA official in the region, Mr. Graff is responsible for all aspects of the CISA mission implemented across Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming and North and South Dakota.
To this work, Mr. Graff brings his dedicated experience including myriad roles focused on national safety and security. His responsibilities have ranged from directing program development at various posts in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to leading the City of Portland, OR in Emergency Management.
He established the first CISA regional public-private information sharing forum, uniting government and private sector representatives in identifying common issues and best practices for critical infrastructure risk management. More recently, Mr. Graff led the federal effort across Region 8 engaging Secretaries of State in improving election security; and then eased his regional team through the transition of fulfilling CISA’s mission remotely during the COVID-19 international pandemic, which included protocols for election security during the 2020 Presidential election.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Graff served as the Director of the DHS National Infrastructure Coordinating Center where he led the transformation of the Infrastructure Protection incident management plan to align response operations closer to the rest of the federal interagency and more clearly define expectations and responsibilities of response resources. Additionally, Mr. Graff served as the Assistant Deputy Director of the Homeland Security Operations Center, now known as the National Operations Center, during the standup of the Department. He also served in the intelligence community within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence working information sharing within and amongst the federal interagency.
His civil service is complemented by his active duty service, where he served as a Platoon Leader and Battalion Staff Intelligence Officer during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Mr. Graff earned a Master of Arts Degree in International Relations from the University of Oklahoma in 2014, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin in 2000, and an Associate in Fire Protection degree from Fox Valley Technical College in 1996. While earning his degrees Mr. Graff spent his summers as a federal wildland firefighter throughout the West, Southwest and Alaska, fighting fires on Hotshot, Heli-rappel, and Engine crews.
