AFCEAN of the Month, November 2023
Col. Kathy Swacina, USA (Ret.), of the Atlanta Chapter is a 15-plus-year member. As president, Col. Swacina volunteered the chapter to host the July 2023 Homeland Cybersecurity Conference. Transitioning out of the presidential role, she took over as the chair of the conference planning committee. Under her leadership, the team assembled a three-day conference with a Jack Voltaic-like exercise on the first day. For 18 months, Col. Swacina lived and breathed this successful conference, involving Atlanta city officials, the state of Georgia and several other government entities in and around Atlanta. She and her husband, Lt. Col. Daniel Swacina, USA (Ret.), started an AFCEA Women in STEM $1,500 annual scholarship.
Col. Swacina is the CEO of Kolibri Strategy, a consulting agency providing strategic management consulting to government agencies, academic institutions and industry. Previously, she was a program solutions executive for Chameleon Integrated Services. She provides information technology (IT) strategic and technical expertise for service delivery solutions and serves on teams to produce various written products, including proposals, technical white papers and processes.
Col. Swacina has been recognized as an innovative and resourceful leader in building strong, cohesive cross-functional teams and partnering with senior business leaders to effectively manage and deliver on a multitude of technology-driven initiatives.
Additionally, Col. Swacina has over 30 years of military experience, including multiple awards. She also has 10 years of industry experience in providing strategic leadership, direction, oversight and support for complex technology programs, including network architecture, cybersecurity and data center consolidation.
She has been the principal/program leader for the acquisition of multi-billion-dollar Department of Defense (DoD) programs and is nationally recognized as an expert in the DoD procurement system. Her skills in design, engineering and implementation of military and commercial technology infrastructures have been implemented and are still in use today in the military. Col. Swacina has led small development teams, as well as the command of 3,000-plus person units in the military.
In recognition of her accomplishments in military and industry along with her dedication to the Atlanta Chapter and AFCEA International, AFCEA proudly names Col. Kathy Swacina AFCEAN of the Month.
