This paper examines the widening cybersecurity skills gap and its implications for organizations, highlighting the inadequacies in current educational and training programs. Through a comprehensive survey of 200 senior executives responsible for cybersecurity strategy, we identify the most valued technical and non-technical skills, the perceived deficiencies in new hires, and the role of practical experience and industry-academia collaboration.

Building on existing research, this paper highlights the relative importance of skills, the value of practical experience, and the benefits of industry-academia collaboration. The results reinforce existing literature while offering new perspectives essential for addressing the cybersecurity workforce challenges.

We found that organizations that collaborate with educational institutions report higher satisfaction with new hires but also experience significant gaps in practical experience and industry-specific best practice knowledge among new hires. Cluster analysis revealed distinct patterns in organizational priorities, challenges, and characteristics, suggesting that tailored educational approaches may be necessary.

Keywords: cybersecurity, industry-academia collaboration, skills gap, workforce development, hands-on learning

As the City of Seattle's Chief Privacy Officer, Ginger is Seattle Information Technology's Director of the Data Privacy, Accountability, and Compliance division, with responsibility for five citywide programs including the Privacy & Surveillance Compliance Program, the Citywide Public Records Act Program, the Open Data Program, the Compliance & Policy Program, and Responsible Artificial Intelligence Program. Prior to this role, she worked for Microsoft on an international team of privacy specialists to resolve issues associated with multi-million-dollar marketing initiatives. She spent the first 20 years of her career working in sales and marketing for Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Johnson & Johnson, and several medical technology startup companies.

Dr. William (Bill) Butler is the Vice President of Cyber Science Outreach and Partnerships at Capitol Technology University. Beginning in 2021, he served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs and previously, as Cybersecurity Chair for 8 years at Capitol Tech. Earlier in his career, he worked in the networking and IT industries as a network engineer and consultant for over 20 years. Dr. Butler also served as a joint qualified communications information systems officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and retired as a Colonel with 30 years of service (active and reserve). He is very active in various working groups such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cloud Computing Security Forum Working Group (NIST CCSFWG), Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Big Data and Mobile Computing Working Group, and the National CyberWatch Center Curriculum Taskforce and the National Cybersecurity Student Association Advisory Board. Dr. Butler holds degrees from Brenau University, Marine Corps University, U.S. Army War College, National Defense University, University of Maryland and Capitol Technology University. He earned his DSc in Cybersecurity at Capitol in 2016 researching consumer countermeasures to illegal cellphone intercept.

I offer value with a growth mindset and strong ability to develop and apply solutions that improve decisions under risk and uncertainty. My professional intent is to apply behavioral insights with a solution-focused approach to influence the organizational change necessary to adopt innovative ways of managing risk.

Zi Fan Tan is a Security Researcher at Google on the Android Red Team. He focuses on finding and exploiting vulnerabilities in the Android platform and its kernel. His work involves in-depth vulnerability research, where he looks for flaws like memory corruption or privilege escalation bugs that could harm users.

Zi Fan has a broad skill set in cybersecurity, from reverse engineering to developing custom exploits. His work is critical for proactively finding vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors, which helps secure Android for billions of users.

With a decade of classroom experience across various subjects and grades, Kendra has dedicated herself to education. She collaborated with CISA to develop cybersecurity curriculum for K-12 teachers nationwide, seamlessly integrating it into everyday learning. Kendra's goal is to create and provide content that will help them grow as individual learners.

I'm Ankit Gupta, a cybersecurity professional with over 15 years of dedicated experience in keeping organizations safe in an increasingly digital world. My expertise lies in creating innovative security solutions that blend advanced cloud protections, artificial intelligence strategies, and identity-focused security frameworks. I believe in proactively tackling cyber risks and regularly share my insights to help businesses stay ahead of emerging threats. I am a CISSP, CCSP, TOGAF, CISM, and CISA certified.

Dr. Hurd is responsible for instruction and curriculum development in the MSIT and MS in Cybersecurity programs. Prior to joining Empire University, he worked at SUNY Albany, SNHU, Excelsior University and Hudson Valley CC. Dr. Hurd holds dual Bachelors of Arts in Computer Science and Mathematics, a Masters in the Science of Teaching Mathematics, and a PhD in Information Sciences specialized in Information Assurance and Online Learning. He won the SUNY Chancellors award for Excellence in Teaching in 2012 while working at HVCC. Dr. Hurd research focus is on Cybersecurity and Computer Science education. He strives to find ways to teach cybersecurity and computer science more efficiently to the new generation of learners.

Shilpi Mittal is a Lead Security Engineer at Tyson Foods Inc., where she leads enterprise-scale initiatives in secrets management, cloud security, and application security. Her work spans secure CI/CD pipeline design, Kubernetes and container security, and cloud-native authentication strategies, with a focus on enabling secure, scalable development environments.

With a strong background in enterprise security architecture, she previously worked at Samsung Austin Research Center, where she advanced information security automation and vulnerability management. Shilpi also brings thought leadership in emerging areas such as quantum cryptography, exploring its implications for post-quantum security readiness and the evolution of cryptographic standards.

Her blend of hands-on expertise and strategic leadership makes her a trusted voice in cloud, infrastructure, and next-generation cryptographic security.

Herb Mattord, Ph.D., CISM, CISSP completed 26 years of IT industry experience before joining the faculty at Kennesaw State University in 2002. He was formerly with Georgia-Pacific Corporation. He is on the Faculty at Kennesaw State University with the rank of Associate Professor, teaching Information Security, Cybersecurity, and Information Systems. Herb is also the Associate Director, Center for Information Security Education and the Director of Education, Institute for Cybersecurity Workforce Development.

My career blends institutional leadership with cybersecurity/IT operations leadership in industry, government, and academia. I'm the Program Director of the Online MS in Cybersecurity Leadership at Seattle University, engaging with partners, mentors, and industry to provide students with the opportunity to accelerate and focus their careers.

Research interests include:

• Any research leading to a resilient cyber-empowered global society
• Defensive cyber architectures using graph theory that work to address the asymmetrical problem
• Cyber psychology & sociology related to incident response, training, and other adversarial contexts
• Immersive & Collaborative Cyber education experiences in 3D virtual spaces and other empowering environments of high validity in relation to career experiences

In cyber operations, I’ve provided executive director-level leadership in government, transforming cybersecurity, regional IT infrastructure, education technologies, and fleet services. I've trained National Guard cyber units in multiple states (including red-teaming and scenario design) and I design virtual world avatar-based scenarios. Also, I've provided incident response analysis to the National Guard Bureau in Washington DC.

Morgan Zantua is the Director of the Center for Cybersecurity Innovation at City University of Seattle, Program Manager for the Master of Science in Cybersecurity and Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity, and Associate Professor at the School of Technology & Computing (STC). Morgan is the Principal Investigator (PI) on multiple grants to expand cybersecurity career pathways opportunities through teacher development and cybersecurity career exploration. STARTALK - Korean integrates culture, language, web design, Cybersecurity and Python programming for high school and college Korean language learners. She convenes teams to create innovative and integrated solutions to attract transitioning military and the Center actively involved in an SBA Cyber clinic and VICEROY. She is faculty advisor to the CityU WiCyS. Morgan's research interests include Evidencing Competencies through Competitions with Dr. Daniel Manson, psychometric profiling of cybersecurity work roles, and strategies for transitioning military into cyber roles. She holds a master's degree in Whole Systems Design and thirty years' experience in workforce development.

Xin Zhao is a Security Researcher on the Android RED Team at Google. He specializes in developing tools to automate bug discovery and improve the security of the Android platform. His work involves creating and fine-tuning fuzzers to find vulnerabilities in new code, as well as building static analyzers and QL queries to identify potential bugs before they are even released. By leveraging AI agents, he's at the forefront of using machine learning to detect and prevent security flaws. Xin’s research helps Google's security teams find and fix weaknesses, ultimately making Android a safer and more secure platform for billions of users worldwide.

Vaibhav Agrawal is a cybersecurity expert with over 12 years of experience specializing in Software, Mobile, and LLM Security. Currently a Security Engineer at Google, he leads key security projects for Fitbit and Google Home, focusing on protecting user data and privacy. Beyond his work at Google, Vaibhav is a senior member of the IEEE, a dedicated open-source contributor, and a speaker at security conferences such as BSides. He earned his master's degree from San Jose State University.

I am Adonnis Alexander from San Antonio, Texas. Currently, I serve as the Vice Chair of Franklin University’s ACM chapter and the Vice Chair of the ACM's cybersecurity special-interest group (SIG). I am obtaining my degree in Cybersecurity with an interest in AI on the side.

Mohit is Codio's Data Science and AI specialist. From generating insightful learning analytics for CS Educators to prototyping novel product features and algorithms, he believes in bridging the gap between cutting-edge academic research and its application in the industry.

Artem Protsenko is a Ukrainian student and AI enthusiast who loves building tools that make life easier and more engaging. As the lead developer of AvaSec—an AI-powered chatbot for the CISSE community—he played a key role in bringing the project to life, using technologies like FastAPI, LangChain, and ChromaDB to help conference participants access real-time information. With experience in Python, C/C++, and web development, Artem enjoys turning ideas into working solutions and is always exploring new ways to make technology more accessible and impactful.

Service Desk Analyst at the University of Tampa with a strong foundation in technology and a passion for bridging art and innovation. My diverse background spans industries such as retail, logistics, healthcare, and case management, equipping me with a unique perspective on problem-solving and user-centered design. I’ve participated in immersive learning experiences through Bioinformatics and AI4ALL bootcamps and hold certifications in SQL and CompTIA A+. Excited to contribute to initiatives like the AI Chatbot project, I aim to help bring impactful ideas to life while fostering smarter, safer digital ecosystems.