For Kevin Heaney (MPP ’22), family time as a kid meant history time. From their home in Sayreville, New Jersey, he and his family visited places like Valley Forge, Colonial Williamsburg, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington, D.C., where Heaney embraced the value of public service early on. After the September 11 attacks, national security was the only career path he wanted.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in science at St. John’s University, Heaney worked in New Jersey state government in homeland security and emergency management, where he was first exposed to cybersecurity. He later pursued an MPP at Batten, and in his second year, was accepted as a graduate fellow with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, which led to a permanent position.
Today, Heaney is a cyber operations planner working to reduce cyber risks to the agency’s essential national security mission. This month, he received a CyberScoop 50 Award in the Most Inspiring Up and Comers category, which recognizes “information security trailblazers early in their careers who are on track to be leaders of tomorrow in cybersecurity.”
Q: Congratulations on winning a CyberScoop 50 award! The category you won is Most Inspiring Up and Comer. What led to this nomination?
A: I am deeply grateful to my bosses for submitting my nomination for this award. I have been incredibly fortunate to have outstanding mentors — both directly in my chain of command and throughout the government and industry — who have provided me with many opportunities to grow and learn. Their support, and the experiences I have gained, have collectively led to this recognition.
Q: Why did you decide on UVA Batten for your graduate degree?
A: I started my graduate school search focused on schools and public affairs programs in the D.C. area, but UVA came up on my radar as well. One long weekend in Charlottesville filled with food, sightseeing, playoff basketball, and sitting through a Research Methods and Data Analysis class completely sold me on the whole experience. Batten was immediately my top choice for graduate school.
Q: How did your time here inspire and prepare you for seeking a fulfilling job?
A: Batten taught me how to effectively examine the systems that create outcomes. It provided me with the framework to identify decision points, define desired metrics of success, and focus on the small decisions that can yield significant impacts by working backwards from the desired results. Learning how to break down a huge systemic question into smaller pieces makes any issue approachable.
Q: Was there anyone at Batten — faculty, staff, or peer — who particularly stands out for their impact on your experience at the school?
A: My cohort was incredibly generous in our encouragement for each other, and that support system got us all through very challenging moments. Many of us started the program in Charlottesville during the height of the COVID pandemic, and I think that led to a lot of defensive walls coming down — even though so many of our introductions to each other were over Zoom!
Many professors also stood out for opening my eyes to new concepts, and significantly changing how I viewed policy questions. These professors include John Robinson, John Holbein, Sally Hudson, Kirsten Gelsdorf, Gerry Warburg, and Kristen Eichensehr, whose International Relations Law course I took as an elective at UVA Law.
Q: What advice would you give our current Batten students — one or two key takeaways you’ve learned?
A: First, maximize your time with professors before graduating. If you are not engaging with them outside of class, you are not taking advantage of a significant UVA and Batten benefit. My final piece of advice is to fully enjoy Charlottesville before transitioning to the real world!
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