Constantine Saab

Constantine “Costa” Saab is an Executive in Residence at Valor Equity Partners.  He serves on numerous technology boards, advises C-suite leadership on strategy, technology, innovation, cyber security, and Artificial Intelligence, and is a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Costa held, until November 2018, executive leadership, management, and advisory positions at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) most recently as Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), Acting Assistant Director, Mission Center Chief Operations Officer, Executive Assistant to CIA Director (General Petraeus), and overseas as Chief of Station in Europe and the Middle East.  As a leader in national security, and with over 24 years of experience, he drove large programs with his expertise in strategy, technology, global operations, innovation, change management, and engineering.

Costa established and led the office of the CIA Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) through November 2018, where he oversaw strategic planning and corporate governance.  He played a vital role in developing the 2025 Strategy, the Director’s 2020 Executive Plan and the launch of the enterprise-level Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy, intended to ensure a unified focus on solutions through increased collaboration. He established the enterprise business analytics office that provided data-driven solutions and measures of effectiveness to inform leadership and resource decisions. He also held numerous operating positions, including leading initiatives comprised of multi-billion-dollar budgets and thousands of employees.

Prior to joining CIA, Costa held roles as an entrepreneur and engineer.  He established a management and technology consulting practice with contracts supporting financial institutions.  He also partnered with overseas companies where he brokered exclusive representation agreements with U.S. companies to pursue large-scale international contracts.  Costa began his career as an electrical engineer at Lockheed Martin, designing, prototyping, and implementing turnkey telecommunications systems.

Costa is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program, earned a Master of Science from Virginia Tech in Systems Engineering (Management Systems), and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Virginia in Electrical Engineering.  Costa is fluent in French, proficient in Arabic and Spanish, and has extensive experience in Northern Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and South America.  Most recently, he completed several courses at Harvard on Cyber Security and a course at MIT on Artificial Intelligence for Business Strategy.