Employees at A-LIGN take many different paths throughout their journey—that’s why we sat down with Seceli Harrington, Senior Consultant of A-LIGN’s Federal Practice, to discuss how she transitioned from the military to the cybersecurity industry and more! Read below for all the details. 

Where are you from, and how did you begin your career at A-LIGN?    

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and went straight to the military after I graduated high school. Once I got out of the military, I received an offer for my first job in cybersecurity from A-LIGN’s Federal Practice Lead, Tony Bai. Eventually, we parted ways to pursue other opportunities, but we always kept in touch, and I knew I wanted to end up working with Tony again because he was such a fantastic boss. Then one day, he called me about an open opportunity at A-LIGN and I immediately knew I wanted to interview and join his team. Although Tony will hate to hear me say this, it’s true that he is the reason I’m here today and A-LIGN’s great culture is why I stay.  

Tell me about your current role as a Senior Consultant at A-LIGN.   

I manage and lead FedRAMP and FISMA assessments, which includes client interviews, reporting, and completing SARS to be delivered  to the FedRAMP PMO for review. Something I love about my role and our federal practice in general is that we are constantly innovating and doing different types of assessments to ensure we’re always learning and gaining knowledge. This really helps with advancement opportunities, and I think one of the things A-LIGN does really well is help their employees get to where they want to be, especially if you’re vocal about it. 

Why do you think cybersecurity is important?   

Cybersecurity is important because technology has become a part of everything we do in our everyday lives. It’s not a luxury, rather it’s a necessity at this point and I think it’s only going to continue to grow. Everything is electronic now, from our money to our careers, and everything in between, so security is super important and always will be. 

Which of our values (Be All In, Commit to Quality, Do the Right Thing Always, Innovate Constantly) do you identify with most and why?    

Commit to quality. Anything that has my name on it, I want to be done as perfect as possible. I also think this is important because anything I put my name on has A-LIGN’s name on it too, so it’s important that I’m representing myself and our company well in everything that I do. This is something that was instilled into me in the military, and I’ve transitioned this mindset into my civilian career as well. 

What do you do for fun outside of work? 

I’m a wife and a mother of four, so maintaining any of sort of hobbies can be a challenge, but I really enjoy watching movies! I like going to the theater to see movies when they come out, and I also have a theater at home so that’s usually what you’ll find me doing when I get free time. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan, and my office is even decorated with lots of Harry Potter decorations which is always a talking point when clients see my office on video calls! I also run my own fantasy football league and enjoy watching all of my hometown Chicago sports teams. 

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