Senior Advisor, CNQ Global Advisors
CEO and Co-Founder, Rilian Technologies; former Chief Information Security Officer and Cyber Practice Lead, WestCap.
Read the bio →Christian Schnedler is a Senior Advisor to CNQ Global Advisors, a global geopolitical and strategic advisory firm chaired by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Schnedler is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and innovator who specializes in applying technology to national security and counterterrorism missions. Christian is a senior advisor to CNQ Group and the Athena Fund. In addition, he serves as the CEO and Co-Founder of Rilian Technologies, an agentic systems integrator supporting regions in conflict globally. Christian holds a MBA from NYU Stern, ME in Systems Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, and the CISSP, PMP and CSEP professional accreditations.
Christian’s private sector career includes extensive experience exporting U.S. technology to the growth markets and ensuring the secure adoption of foreign technology by U.S. government customers. Christian previously ran the largest identity provider to the United States government, a FOCI-mitigated subsidiary of a French conglomerate, where he doubled bookings in less than three years. Christian also ran IBM’s public safety practice for the Middle East & Africa during the Arab Spring where he secured and delivered nation-scale security programs combating the Muslim Brotherhood, Boko Haram and Al Shabab.
Christian’s public sector career is concentrated in counterterrorism and law enforcement, including helping establish the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative and Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York. Christian also served as the Director of Strategic Technology Programs at the New York Police Department where he acted as the NYPD’s de facto Chief Data Officer under Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and current Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch in her previous capacity as Deputy Commissioner of the Information Technology Bureau. Christian continues to support counterterrorism and law enforcement policy initiatives in his personal capacity with the Office of the National Cyber Director and United States National Security Council.
In 2024, Christian co-founded Rilian Technologies, an agentic systems integrator devoted to advancing the use of cutting edge cyber and defense technologies for the United States and her Allies. Through Rilian, Christian has direct experience scaling disruptive technologies in the Middle East and Gulf States, North Africa, Ukraine and other Central European countries. Rilian is headquartered in Northern Virginia and Christian splits his time between there and his home in the United Arab Emirates.