Our Senior Team

Biography

Janelle Romano is an Operating Partner at Washington Harbour Partners, where she focuses on accelerating national security innovation and moving advanced technologies from concept to operational capability. She works alongside founders and leadership teams to scale differentiated technologies, expand their mission impact, and build the leadership, strategy, and operating infrastructure required for sustained growth across the defense and intelligence markets.

Janelle brings executive and operational leadership experience across the Intelligence Community, Department of War, and federal technology sector. Her background spans advanced cyber and Signals Intelligence operations, national security strategy, mission capability development, large-scale technology modernization, and enterprise transformation.

Prior to joining Washington Harbour Partners, Janelle served as Vice President of Cyber at CACI, where she led the company’s cyber strategy and line-of-business operations. She aligned technology investment, workforce strategy, and customer engagement to strengthen competitive positioning, advance customer missions, and drive sustained growth across the cyber market.

Janelle previously spent 27 years at the National Security Agency, where she served as a member of the Senior Executive Service and led organizations across the Cybersecurity, Operations, Research, and Capabilities directorates. She led teams responsible for protecting national security systems, advancing operational capabilities, and delivering technology in support of defense and intelligence missions. This experience provides the operational perspective she now brings to identifying, scaling, and deploying technologies with the potential to create meaningful national security impact.

Janelle currently serves on a corporate board and has served on several additional boards spanning the technology, financial services, and nonprofit sectors. Her board experience includes advising executive teams on growth strategy, governance, enterprise risk, and talent development, with an emphasis on aligning innovation and organizational investment to mission outcomes and long-term enterprise value.

Janelle holds a Master of Science in Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Valparaiso University.