After leading the National Security Portfolio Recruiting team through acquisition and integration, Kirsten Renner is now the Talent Engagement Lead at Accenture Federal Services. She is an expert in talent acquisition and community engagement and has more than 20 years of experience recruiting in the technology services and products space. She is best known as a serial volunteer, speaking & coaching across the infosec and veteran communities, as well as co-founding and leading Car Hacking Village since 2015.
Kirsten’s career is testimony to her commitment to helping people connect their unique expertise and experiences to work with purpose, embracing change, and thriving in new environments. Her career began as a software developer, then help desk manager. Soon after, while studying Human Resources Management at University of Maryland University College, she combined her love for technology and HR by becoming a technical recruiter at a start-up firm in 2000. She then moved to recruiting in the telecommunications industry and has been primarily focused on the Information Security field in the federal space since 2008. She joined Novetta in 2016 where she served as Director of Recruiting until they were acquired by Accenture Federal Services in 2021, to become the Accenture Federal Services National Security Portfolio.
She is the proud Army mom of a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne and has been doing all she can to help active-duty service members, military spouses and veterans for more than a decade. She is a frequent speaker on recruiting and hiring, future workforce, infosec community, and veterans’ initiatives, including recently serving as a panel member and speaker at the Portfolio Companies Veterans Initiative Summit, both at the US Chamber of Commerce and the White House. She was a panelist on the 31st DEFCON’s Welcome Panel, offering relationship building and community engagement tips to attendees. Many of her talks can be found on YouTube. She also builds teams of volunteers in Transition Offices, resume reviews panels and interview trainings at multiple events across the country throughout the year.
Recent Awards:
- Top 100 Recruiting Team Lead, 2023
- Top 100 TalentPro Winner, 2022
- Top 10 Most Influential Leaders in Talent Acquisition Industry Winner, 2022
- Top 50 TalentPro Winner, 2021
- Top Recruiter USA Winner, 2021
Recent and upcoming speaking engagements:
- You Can Get There - ISC2 Security Congress
- Career Development - BSidesNOVA
- Who’s Line is it Anyway – BSidesLV
- DEFCON31 Welcome Panel
- Who’s Hiring and How – ClearedJobs Podcast – Guest Speaker
- How to Civilian Webcast – Recruit Military - Speaker
- Recruiting Expert Panel – ClearedJobs – Panelist - MacDill CareerDay
Watch previous talks on YouTube here
