By Mayya Saab, VP and COO, Gate 15
The best time to build trusted relationships is long before you need to rely on them! That idea prompted me to join InfraGard and, in turn, the Board of my local chapter. Protecting our nation’s critical infrastructure depends on relationships among people across government and the private sector knowing one another, sharing information, and learning from each other before a crisis occurs. InfraGard helps build those connections. As a local chapter board member, I have seen firsthand how membership offers opportunities to learn, connect, contribute expertise, and strengthen the resilience of organizations and communities.
One of the things I value most about InfraGard is the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with leaders at the local, regional, and national levels. Through chapter meetings, briefings, webinars, conferences, and other programs, members engage with professionals who bring diverse perspectives and experiences. These conversations span cybersecurity, physical
security, emergency preparedness, intelligence, and critical infrastructure protection. For me, the real value lies in exchanging ideas—listening to how others approach challenges, sharing what we see in our organizations, and learning from one another. Members can bring those insights and relationships back to their organizations, strengthening awareness, preparedness, and resilience. This also reflects one of the fundamentals Gate 15 emphasizes in its 15 from 15 Cybersecurity Mitigation & Resilience Fundamentals: Information Sharing. No organization sees the entire threat environment on its own, and trusted communities can provide warnings, peer lessons, mitigations, relationships, and perspectives that strengthen both preparedness and resilience. InfraGard is one of the communities that helps put that principle into practice.
Serving on the InfraGard chapter board has been key to my professional growth. Board service gives me the opportunity to step into a leadership role, work alongside accomplished professionals, and help shape the chapter’s direction and priorities. It has also given me the chance to learn how other leaders approach challenges, make decisions, engage their communities, and measure success. Benchmarking ideas and practices with peers has been especially valuable. At the same time, board service has challenged me to grow as a leader—by listening to different perspectives, building consensus, and turning ideas into action. For me, this has been an opportunity not only to contribute to InfraGard’s mission, but also to strengthen my leadership skills and make a broader contribution to resilience efforts, such as by serving on the DHS Faith-Based Security Advisory Council.
One of InfraGard’s unique benefits is the opportunity to look beyond your own organization or industry. Critical infrastructure is deeply interconnected, and challenges in one sector can affect many others. InfraGard also provides an important local and regional perspective, connecting members across sectors who operate within the same communities and may experience the same incidents, disruptions, or cascading consequences.
That perspective complements membership in an Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or ISAC. An ISAC can provide deep, sector-specific awareness across a national or even global community, while InfraGard can help members understand what is happening across sectors within their geographic community and strengthen relationships with local peers and government partners. It should not be an either-or proposition. Organizations can benefit from both perspectives: participate in the ISAC or ISAO that supports your sector and participate in your local InfraGard chapter. Together, those communities can provide a much richer picture of the threats, dependencies, and potential consequences relevant to your organization.InfraGard is also an opportunity to give back. Every member brings something unique to the community, whether knowledge, experience, relationships, or a new way of looking at a challenge. Experienced professionals can mentor and share lessons learned, while those newer to their fields often bring fresh perspectives and questions that move conversations forward. From my experience on the board, I found that our chapter is strongest when members participate actively. Attend an event, join a committee, share your expertise, volunteer, or take on a leadership role. InfraGard’s value grows when members move beyond simply belonging to the organization and become active contributors to its community and mission. Information sharing is participatory: the network’s value grows when members not only consume information but also contribute what they are seeing, learning, and doing.
That emphasis on relationships is also a practical information-sharing best practice. As Gate 15 CEO Andy Jabbour recently emphasized during his We Will Rock You: The Power of Information Sharing presentation at the 27th Annual TribalNet Conference & Tradeshow, organizations should “build trusted relationships before the crisis” and avoid exchanging business cards for the first time during an incident. Effective information sharing requires processes and technology, but ultimately it runs on trust. InfraGard gives members an opportunity to build and maintain those relationships before they are urgently needed.
If you are passionate about protecting critical infrastructure and building trusted relationships across sectors, I encourage you to learn more about InfraGard and get involved with your local chapter. Serving my chapter has reinforced my belief that resilience begins with trusted relationships; within our organizations, across sectors, and, importantly, with our partners in law enforcement and public service. These trust relationships are valuable; however, they take time to build and nurture. When something does happen, I know who to call and where to turn – through InfraGard, I have built a wide circle of trusted colleagues who have my back.
Understand the Threats.
Assess the Risks.
Take Action.