Zach Furness is a Technical Director within the National Cybersecurity Federally Funded Research and Development Center (NCF), operated by the MITRE Corporation, in support of the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE). In this role, Mr. Furness is responsible for talent acquisition, workforce development, work program execution, and division operations.

Prior to his work with the NCF, Mr. Furness served as the Chief Engineer of the Global Defense and Intelligence Division where he was responsible for the technical integrity of more than 300 staff years of work in support of the Combatant Commands, Defense Intelligence Agency, and Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. From 2003-2013 he established and led the Modeling and Simulation Engineering department within MITRE's Command and Control Center. There he led the development of multiple capabilities related to distributed simulation, high performance simulation, mission level modeling, and agent-based simulation. The department has supported critical efforts across MITRE's work program including the Army, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Missile Defense Agency, U.S. Cyber Command, Department of Homeland Security, Veterans Administration, and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Throughout his 25-year career at MITRE, Mr. Furness has led and contributed to multiple projects involving the application of advanced simulation technologies to military training, experimentation, analysis, testing, and acquisition. He has authored numerous papers on the subject of advanced modeling and simulation, and has received various awards, including the MITRE Officer's Award, User Engagement Award, Program Recognition Award, and President's Award. He holds a bachelor's degree in physics and a master's degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.