ML
Army Veteran · CIO · Founder

Mark Lueken

Chief Information Officer · Cybersecurity Leader · Entrepreneur

Twenty-plus years leading IT and cybersecurity teams in the Illinois Army National Guard. Founder of three businesses across cybersecurity, land investment, and short-term rentals.

About

Strategy. Security. Service.

I'm Mark Lueken, Chief Information Officer for the Illinois Army National Guard. I've spent over twenty years building IT and cybersecurity capability for organizations that can't afford to fail — from data centers in Springfield to distributed teams in Afghanistan.

I lead a red team of more than one hundred cybersecurity professionals at the annual Cyber Shield exercise, advise leadership on enterprise security and risk, and have directed the migration of major infrastructure to Azure Government Cloud. Outside the Guard, I run three businesses focused on bringing the same standards of precision and integrity to the private sector.

Career Highlights

By the numbers

12,000

Customers migrated to Azure Cloud under my leadership

112

Volunteer hackers led in offensive cyber operations during Cyber Shield

3

Army Meritorious Service Medals awarded for IT leadership excellence

Background

Experience & credentials

Roles

  • CIO · Illinois Army National Guard (2023–Present)
  • Head of IT Operations · IL ARNG (2012–2023)
  • Red Team Leader · Cyber Shield Exercise (2016–Present)
  • Director, Integrated Threat Ops Center (2019–2020)
  • Red Team · DOE CyberForce (2016–2017)
  • Task Force Phoenix · Afghanistan (2009–2010)

Education

  • Advanced Operations Course · U.S. Army CGSC (2024)
  • M.S., Computer & Information Security · Northcentral University (2012)
  • Captain Career Course · U.S. Cyber Center of Excellence (2010)
  • B.S., Computer Science · Western Illinois University (2002)

Certifications

  • CISSP · ITIL Foundations · CEH · CHFI · CompTIA Security+
Get in Touch

Let's connect

Open to conversations on cybersecurity, IT strategy, advisory roles, and partnerships.

marklueken00 [at] gmail [dot] com

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