Marian Merritt is the deputy director and lead for industry engagement for NICE, a program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that is working to advance cybersecurity education and workforce. Her areas of focus include industry engagement, apprenticeship, and small business cybersecurity. Merritt has more than 25 years of experience working in the cybersecurity industry. She previously was with Symantec Corp. as its director of cyber education and online safety programs. In that role, she created a cybersecurity career program for underserved young adults that launched in 2014. The Symantec Cyber Career Connection continues in partnership with nonprofit workforce development organizations in several U.S. locations. Merritt attended Boston University’s Questrom School of Business for her undergraduate degree and holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.