John Thomas Joins AKMSecure Board of Advisors

AKMSecure is pleased to welcome John Thomas to its Board of Advisors. As a Partner at Frontera Group and a former Senior Policy Advisor at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, John brings nearly two decades of federal policy expertise to AKM at a moment when post-quantum cryptography, Zero Trust, and OT security are dominating the national security agenda.John provides experienced government relations and regulatory counsel in support of business development goals. With more than a decade of service on Capitol Hill and as a United States Marine, he holds key relationships inside both the Legislative and Executive Branches and offers a wide range of policy expertise across defense, emerging technology, and national security.

A Decade Shaping National Security Policy

Most recently, John served as a Senior Policy Advisor in Pillsbury's Government Law and Strategies practice in Washington, DC, where he joined in September 2024 as part of a high-profile national security lobbying group. He was named to The Hill's 2025 “Top Lobbyists” list, alongside Pillsbury colleagues, marking the fourth consecutive year the firm placed multiple honorees on the annual ranking of effective and trusted policy influencers.

Before Pillsbury, John spent more than five years as a Policy Advisor at Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, advising clients on complex legislative, regulatory, and policy matters before the federal government.

From the Marine Corps to Capitol Hill

John's congressional service spans more than a decade. He served as Chief of Staff to Congressman Scott Taylor, Chief of Staff and Legislative Director to Congressman Scott Rigell, and Military Legislative Assistant to Congressman Walter B. Jones. Before entering policy work, he served in the United States Marine Corps Reserves from 1997 to 2005.

Importance to the AKM Mission

John's combination of Capitol Hill leadership, Executive Branch relationships, and military service positions him to help AKM engage the federal landscape as the Department of Defense, DHS, and the intelligence community accelerate Zero Trust mandates and prepare for post-quantum requirements. His policy fluency in defense and emerging technology is directly relevant to AKM's federal growth strategy.

“John's career on the Hill, his service as a Marine, and his fluency in defense and national security policy give us a trusted voice in the conversations that matter most as we expand AKM's federal footprint,” said Brian McGowan, CEO of AKMSecure. “We're pleased to welcome him to the Board of Advisors.”

“The federal government is at an inflection point. Legacy PKI architectures were not designed for today’s threat environment. AKMSecure’s technology is essential now,” said John Thomas. “AKM is building quantum-resilient, Zero Trust cryptography that works in the contested, infrastructure-constrained environments where traditional PKI has always failed and exactly where the mission is most at risk. I’m pleased to join AKMSecure’s Board of Advisors and help connect the company with the policymakers, program offices, and capital allocators shaping the future of national security.”

About AKMSecure

AKMSecure delivers a patented Autonomous Key Management™ protocol built to replace outdated PKI approaches with a dynamic, quantum-secure, air-gapped-capable architecture. Instead of relying on persistent credentials that can be stolen, reused, or abused, AKM enables independently verified sessions with no standing privileges left behind. The result is a model that better aligns with Zero Trust principles, reduces certificate-based risk, and supports resilient operations across enterprise IT, OT and Tactical Edge environments. Built to NSA-grade security standards and deployable as a lightweight SDK, AKMSecure helps organizations modernize trust at the protocol layer without rebuilding everything around it.