Dr. Nat Horner is the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Grid Controls and Communications. The team of outstanding program managers he supports oversee research and development on information and decision systems to enable a modern, dynamic, digitized grid. He serves concurrently as Director for Grid Cybersecurity and Communications, leading efforts to ensure the grid’s next-generation operational technology systems are securely designed. In addition, he coordinates OE’s artificial intelligence and data center portfolios and previously spent time as Director of Grid Modeling.
Over a career spanning the energy and national security domains, Dr. Horner has held roles in systems analysis, policy analysis, program management, and software engineering at the Pentagon, DOE, the RAND Corporation, and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He started his civil service career as a Presidential Management Fellow and completed the Cyber Leadership Development Program at National Defense University as a member of its inaugural cohort.
Dr. Horner holds a Ph.D. in engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University and master's degrees in systems engineering and computer science from the University of Virginia and Johns Hopkins. A North Carolina native, he graduated from N.C. State University as a Caldwell Fellow with degrees in computer science and English literature—and a deep appreciation for the sublime art of pork barbecue in its variety of forms and flavors.