Paul "IX" Kemppainen

Paul Kemppainen - who often goes by the military call signs 'K9' or '9' (based on his last name) - is an outlier in the security space whose breadth and depth of experience are unmatched: he was a Naval Officer who served alongside the Navy SEALs, a Secret Service Agent, a Staff Officer with the CIA (focused on terrorism), he oversaw security and intelligence for the National Park Service (safeguarding our nation's monuments and icons), and he spent nearly a decade building a security program from scratch for Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX.

These days he owns a high-end, award winning security services firm based in Las Vegas, Nevada called SISU that helps people, places, and things navigate gnarly fear and risk. He quietly supports a number of cutting edge startups working on technology that will change the world as we know it. He separately owns a start up called NoRTH that helps everyday people get after what they want by leaning into fear and risk.