Profile
Nate Jensen is a dedicated public servant, businessman, and educator with a long and varied career in public policy, defense technology, strategy, risk management, cybersecurity, human rights, international affairs, and internet ventures.
Before joining the CPRM program at UNH Manchester, Nate served for two years as the Assistant Secretary for Strategy, Planning, Analysis & Risk at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). He was the lead officer under the DHS Secretary responsible for planning operations to counter emerging threats and contingencies, integrating department mission strategies, and ensuring agency unity-of-effort across 22 separate component agencies and 250,000+ employees.
While at DHS, Nate initiated, designed, and built the department’s leadership organization equivalent to the DoD Joint Chiefs of Staff. He also successfully championed stronger joint task forces to counter transnational organized crime syndicates; developed training curriculum and mentored numerous law enforcement professionals in their career development as part of the department joint leadership development program; and led the training staff that instructed over 4,000 DHS officers and other federal employees in best practice operational planning and strategic thinking.
Nate began his professional career in foreign affairs. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Estonia from 1995-1997 then served four tours as a commissioned Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Department of State, rising to the rank of First Secretary, the civilian equivalent of Lieutenant Colonel. Following his first assignment as Vice Consul and Economic Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Syria, Nate served for two years as Iraq Desk Officer in the Near East Affairs Bureau in Washington, DC. He then served as the civilian administrator of Fallujah, Iraq and participated in the first Battle of Fallujah in the wake of the massacre of four U.S. contractors by terrorists in April 2004. His last State assignment was as Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi where he followed Vietnamese internal politics, human rights issues, and ethnic minority problems.
After leaving State, Nate worked for Raytheon Company in mergers and acquisitions and developed several cybersecurity related business spinouts.
He then went on to cofound several successful startup ventures. From 2011-2013 he was Chief Operating Officer of TaskEasy.com, a rapidly growing internet startup offering property maintenance and landscaping services utilizing the gig economy model. From 2015-2017, he was Managing Producer and Chief Financial Officer of Smock Media, a Los Angeles based independent contract media production company that produces internationally recognized, award-winning documentary series on human rights abuses around the world.
In addition to his professional career, Nate was elected to a term as Selectman of the town of Amherst, NH and is also Moderator of the Amherst School District. He was a volunteer on-call fire fighter for almost five years and has been an active member of various other community, charity, and social organizations across the state of New Hampshire. Most recently, he joined the board of the Greater Nashua YMCA.
Nathaniel Jensen received the Award for Heroism for his service in Fallujah and was recognized by the State Department for his human rights work in Vietnam. He has an MBA from the University of Southern California, an MA in Political Science from Boston University, a BA in English Literature from Carleton College, and speaks Vietnamese, Arabic, Estonian, and German with varying fluency.
Courses:
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- CPRM 810 - Foundations of Cybersecurity Policy
- CPRM 820 - Policy Development and Communication