Justin Orcutt is a director of cybersecurity at Microsoft, driving secure digital and AI transformation across the U.S. defense industrial base. A trusted advisor on Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) compliance and sovereign cloud strategy, he has led initiatives generating over hundreds of millions in revenue, with an average compound annual growth rate of 30%.
Known for bridging policy and product, Orcutt empowers defense and aerospace organizations to modernize securely in using Microsoft Government solutions.
What’s been your biggest professional accomplishment so far in your career?
My biggest accomplishment is an ongoing one where I lead strategy for CMMC, shaping guidance that will reach more than 300,000 companies and directly enhance warfighter readiness. This includes enabling secure IT modernization for sensitive defense programs, helping contractors advance beyond controlled unclassified information to support mission-critical national security initiatives.
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Why do you deserve to be a 40 Under Forty?
• Grows Microsoft’s defense business by 30%, while juggling cybersecurity, strategy and the occasional toddler meltdown.
• Builds scholarships, classes, and futures — one student, one school, one wildly ambitious idea at a time.
How are you involved in the community?
I use my Microsoft role to open doors and spark change beyond the defense industrial base — linking big-league innovation to local impact. Whether it’s teaming up with Digital Defenders, Steam Train or ReadyCT, I’m all about making cybersecurity and career skills click for communities that need them most.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I am a proud dad of four, part-time “parent coach” as I call it, and full-time sideline chaos coordinator. I garden in the summer, ski in the winter (with kids in tow), and sneak in trips to Europe.
Fun Fact: Graduated from an agriculture high school in Connecticut, and now rules a backyard kingdom of 50-plus hydrangeas.