Mr. David G. Leeds was appointed Director of the Department of Technology and Communication Services and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Howard County Government (County) in July 2025. Mr. Leeds also serves as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), a role he has held since March 2023.
Prior to joining the County, Mr. Leeds worked as a Cybersecurity professional in the private sector, leading a large Cybersecurity team at Northrop Grumman Corporation (NG) as a Cyber Information Systems Security Manager. Prior to NG, Mr. Leeds worked in the federal sector, serving as a CISO, Deputy CISO, and Security Control Assessor for the U.S. Air Force at the DoD Cyber Crime Center (DC3). In addition, Mr. Leeds worked as a Senior Information Assurance Engineer, and Senior Computer Operations Support Analyst, for Lockheed Martin. Mr. Leeds also served as an NCO in the U.S. Army, deploying to Kandahar, Afghanistan (KAF) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in 2012. While deployed, Mr. Leeds managed a team of IT technicians that provided support to over 1,300 end-users for the U.S. Army, while supporting a Major General in OEF. Prior to his military service, Mr. Leeds also worked for two Fortune 500 companies, as a Territory Manager for Kraft Foods and Kellogg Company. In this capacity, Mr. Leeds was responsible for managing multi-million dollar territories, and multiple full and part-time employees. Collectively, Mr. Leeds has over 26 years of leadership experience in both military and civilian environments.
Mr. Leeds holds a Master of Science in Cybersecurity from Western Governors University, a Master of Business of Administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a Bachelor of Science from Fitchburg State University. He also holds his CISSP, CEH, CNDA, GISP, SEC+, and NET+ certifications.
