Nathaniel Fick

Ambassador Nathaniel “Nate” Fick is a distinguished senior fellow with the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) Technology and National Security Program, a technology entrepreneur and investor, diplomat, Marine, and author.

He was CEO of CNAS from 2009–2012.

He is chief strategy officer for equities at Cerberus Capital Management, where he focuses on venture capital and growth equity investments in companies critical to national security and resilience.

He served from 2022–2025 as the inaugural U.S. ambassador for cyberspace and digital policy at the State Department, where he led American diplomacy around the world on technology issues including cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies.

Before government service, Fick was general manager of Elastic Security, overseeing Elastic’s information security business globally. He joined Elastic in 2019 through its acquisition of Endgame, a venture-backed software company where he was CEO. Fick also spent nearly a decade as an operating partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. Fast Company named him one of the “100 Most Creative People in Business” and Forbes selected Endgame as one of the “100 Best Cloud Companies in the World.”

Fick started his career as a Marine Corps infantry and reconnaissance officer with combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. His book about that experience, One Bullet Away, was a New York Times bestseller, a Washington Post “Best Book of the Year,” and one of Military Times’ “Best Military Books of the Decade.”

Fick is a graduate of Dartmouth College, Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. He has served on many boards, including as a trustee of Dartmouth and a director of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Appalachian Mountain Club.

He is an avid outdoorsman and lives in New England with his family.