Biography
Alex Royal is the Executive Director for the Institute for Cybersecurity (ICS) at Marshall University. Ms. Royal manages overall ICS requirements, priorities, budgets, systems, and processes. She collaborates with industry and government entities to assure continued support for the ICS.
Before coming to Marshall University, Ms. Royal was the Senior Technical Advisor at United States Cyber Command’s Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Networks (JFHQ-DODIN). As the Senior Technical Advisor, she worked directly with JFHQ-DODIN leadership to communicate security threats and develop policy regarding the employment of technical solutions and nuances associated with cyber threats and mitigations to DOD networks.
Ms. Royal also supported the government as a technical architect with Palo Alto Networks, where she oversaw the deployment of capabilities within the DoD, evaluated deliberate plans, programs, and projects involving cyberspace defense to create solutions that balance business requirements with information and cybersecurity requirements.
Ms. Royal highly decorated in the Air Force, serving in the Massachusetts Air National Guard. She achieved the rank of Master Sergeant, before commissioning as a Second Lieutenant in December 2023. She deployed numerous times in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, leading Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination (PED) teams and operating as a Tactical Systems Operator (TSO) on four different airframes. Ms. Royal also served as an analyst and a Cyber Operations Subject Matter Expert, providing the foundation for JFHQ-DODIN to pursue proactive operations and information sharing with DOD and interagency mission partners in defense of DODIN infrastructure.
Ms. Royal is engaged to U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Randy Donathan, and they live in Texas with his three sons–William, Jacob, and Patrick.