BALTIMORE -- A hushed murmur swept across the room as the man of the hour walked into the dimly lit restaurant. Greeted by friends, family, and former Marine peers he had not seen in over two years, the night was off to a great start.
Marine Corps veteran Nathanial Vanderhayden, formerly a Marine Corps cyber operator, received the Meritorious Service Medal at a dinner on February 18th.
Honorably discharged as a staff sergeant in 2018, Vanderhayden served as a line-of-effort lead and a subject matter expert at Fort Meade from September 2012 to May 2018.
Though reserved and calm in demeanor, Vanderhayden’s actions while at Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command, or MARFORCYBER, didn’t go unnoticed.
“Nate is very level headed. As an operator he was the go-to guy, the subject matter expert, even for general and flag officers when they had technical questions,” said Capt. David Perkins, an intelligence officer with Marine Corps Cyber Warfare Group. “Everyone saw him as the standout as far as the Marines that worked on the team and at MARFORCYBER.”
Perkins, Vanderhayden’s former officer-in-charge, continued, “His impact to not just MARFORCYBER but the entire cyber enterprise speaks volumes. For a staff sergeant that’s been at the job less than 15 years, you would expect someone who’s a full bird colonel, or an E-9 to be doing enterprise level changes and impacts, but here’s this staff sergeant that everyone’s looking too.”
After a successful 12-year career, Vanderhayden credits his time in the Corps as having paved the way to his current position as vice president for wealth management cybersecurity at Morgan Stanley in New York.
“Absolutely everything,” Vanderhayden said. “All the way back from the first five years I spent as an intelligence analyst, from the critical thinking skills to being able to collect large amounts of information, assess the situation and make informed decisions. I still carry that on a daily basis.”
Vanderhayden also shared how the Marine Corps prepared him in ways a more traditional route may not have been able.
“Here’s the thing, I don’t have a college degree … at all,” Vanderhayden said. “Which is unheard of in the financial sector let alone fortune-100 companies. What I’ve done is taken the tools provided, and seized every opportunity the Marine Corps has afforded me and have been able to make the most of them to create another path to make a successful career.”
According to Vanderhayden, receiving the Meritorious Service Medal is an honor and a privilege. It is a representation of the consistent hard work and dedication to duty he is committed to, as well as a motivation to keep moving forward and influencing his Marines.
Maj. Gen. Matthew Glavy, and Sgt. Maj. Dan Krause, the commanding general and sergeant major of Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command, awarded Nate with the Meritorious Service Medal for the superior performance of his duties.
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