About

Michael Hayter is the CEO of Safeguards 3, LLC, and a Senior Security Advisor. He also serves on the Executive Board for S3’s parent company, Hi Tech Solutions (HTS), a company he co-founded, and served as CFO. HTS provides services to the global nuclear power industry with 700+ employees and is one of the fastest growing companies in the sector.

Over the past 29 years, Mr. Hayter has served in the private sector and law enforcement. He began in the private sector in the technology, communications, and energy industries, working in various roles in the U.S., Latin America, and Europe. Mike began his career with Accenture in software development and technology consulting.  He later worked at Peoplesoft (Now Oracle), EMC (now Dell), and Verizon Wireless. Along the way, Mike was part of the founding leadership team for a communications startup that was acquired. He held leadership roles in sales, project development, operations, and finance.

Mike left the private sector and became a law enforcement officer for the City of Richland, WA. There, he served as a patrol officer, Officer in Charge (OIC), and Field Training Officer (FTO). Later, Mike was selected for special unit assignments as a Patrol Investigator attached to the Street Crimes Unit (SCU) and a detective for the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) and the multi-agency Special Investigations Unit (SIU). He was also a Spanish Translator, supporting patrol operations, CID, and local multi-agency federal task forces, including ICAC (DHS), Metro (DEA), and Violent Crimes (FBI). Mike has a passion for teaching and, in addition to being an FTO, he spent most of his time as an instructor for the firearms and defensive tactics cadres. Mr. Hayter was also trained in Active Shooter Incident Management (C3 Pathways).

After retiring from law enforcement in 2021, he co-founded S3 with Rob Siefken and other co-founders from the DOE, military, and law enforcement who share his desire to make the world a safer place. Mike enjoys his family, outdoor sports and activities, history, firearms, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Rob Siefken currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Safeguards3, where he is responsible for driving operational excellence across the organization. In addition to his leadership role at Safeguards3, Mr. Siefken is an active and esteemed member of the North American Electricity Reliability Corporation, Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center’s Physical Advisory Group. His commitment to the sector is further demonstrated by his delivery of over twenty-five E-ISAC-sponsored risk management workshops for the North American electricity sector, focusing on threat vulnerability assessment and capacity-building. Additionally, Mr. Siefken is also an integral member of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council’s physical security forum.

Mr. Siefken’s career is distinguished by an impressive dual trajectory. He dedicated two decades of service to the U.S. Army Special Forces before transitioning to a 21-year tenure within the Department of Energy’s (DOE) safeguards and security domain. During his time at DOE, he served as a staff instructor at the DOE National Training Center for nearly five years before moving to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), where he contributed 17 years of service.

At PNNL, Mr. Siefken was instrumental in leading a variety of domestic and international non-proliferation training initiatives and physical security assessments within the National Security Directorate. His work on global nuclear and radiological safeguards, border security, and other capacity-building programs took him to over 40 countries, showcasing his extensive international expertise.

Throughout his distinguished careers in both the military and DOE, Mr. Siefken has demonstrated exceptional leadership and successfully executed critical missions. His contributions have included the development, delivery, and management of training programs, as well as mentorship of training staff, underscoring his deep expertise in these fields.

Mr. Siefken’s exceptional career, marked by unwavering dedication and significant achievements, continues to influence and advance the fields of safeguards, security, training, and operational excellence. He remains a respected leader and key figure within the industry.

Darryl Judge is the Director of Business Development, Marketing, and Sales.  He is also the Senior Security Advisor at Safeguards 3, LLC. Darryl retired from the Richland Police Department (RPD) where he served as the Operations Commander – the largest division in the City of Richland.  In this capacity, Darryl was responsible for Emergency Management, Patrol, Traffic, Records, and School Resource Officers (SRO) and was the Incident Commander for the Bomb Squad and the SWAT Team.  Darryl served as the department liaison for dispatch and emergency management, community mental health, emergency medicine, schools, and retail.

Over his 25-year career, Darryl was relied upon heavily to design and implement novel law enforcement and community programs including the SRO and Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. During his assignment to the ICAC task force, Darryl was cross deputized as a DHS-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Federal Task Force Officer (TFO), allowing Darryl to lead local, national, and international ICAC/Child Exploitation investigations. Darryl was a department trainer in several different disciplines.  Darryl holds a B.A. from Central Washington University.

Darryl also served as a Senior Bomb Technician for 19 years.  In this capacity, Darryl led efforts to make the Eastern Washington Region (community members and law enforcement) safer when encountering, managing, and mitigating incidents involving improvised explosive devices, including responding to events involving or suspected of involving radiological material.

Darryl enjoys spending time with his family, coaching youth sports, and being outdoors.

Jake Hammock is the CTO and leads the cyber-operations programs for Safeguards 3, LLC. Jake was the CTO, Head of Product, Senior Executive Advisor at SafeMoon, a Web3 blockchain technology venture aimed at bettering humanity, where he led the development of an array of patented and deployed Decentralized Finance (DeFi) applications and services – including a next-generation distributed encryption service. He was the VP of Information Security (CISO) and Director of Trust for NICE (NASDAQ: NICE) where he structured cybersecurity operations with managed capabilities across NICE and its subsidiaries. Before his selection at NICE, Jake served for over a decade as a U.S. Army Officer where he led several intelligence, special operations, and cyber operations units, including leadership at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). While a Cyber Warfare Officer, Jake commanded offensive cyber operations under the Cyber National Mission Forces which included an array of applications, infrastructure, network, and systems computer network exploitation projects.

He possesses a Master of Science in Cybersecurity Technology from the University of Maryland, and is a member credentialed Certified Information Security Systems Professional (CISSP) from The International Information System Security Certification Consortium (ISC2). Jake was also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Utah (graduate school) in the David Eccles School of Business where he taught advanced information systems courses and served a full-term on the Board of Governors for the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce to advance sustainability and cybersecurity initiatives for Utah. In addition to his cybersecurity experiences, he has developed multiple patents and discovered new technologies aimed at solving social impact problems. Jake founded and chaired Chaac Technologies, Inc. as its CEO to advance freshwater and renewable energy production solutions across the globe and successfully led this organization for over two years. He successfully served a term as the President and Chair of the Board of Directors for FarmSahel – a nonprofit dedicated to young women’s economic empowerment through agribusinesses in Burkina Faso, Africa. Jake founded and currently chairs the Board of Stewards at The Atrium, LCA. The Atrium is a cooperative enclave of ventures offering a novel token-credit redemption infrastructure and tokenized conservation-easement platform through non-fungible token (NFT) membership.

He enjoys time with his family, the outdoors, philosophy, writing, gardening, and meditation.

Jennifer Eischens is currently the Project Support Specialist for Safegaurds3. Jennifer has wealth of knowledge, a robust skill set, and an impressive 28 years of experience.

Jennifer’s background is extensive and diverse, highlighting her ability to thrive under pressure, multitask efficiently, and meet tight deadlines. She is known for her effective communication skills, exceptional organizational abilities, and commitment to providing excellent customer service through creative problem-solving and task prioritization.

Ms. Eischens career spans several roles, most recently at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Here, she served in various capacities, such as Project Coordinator and Event Coordinator within the National Security Directorate. Jennifer excelled in preparing statements of work, managing logistics contracts, coordinating programmatic events, conducting quality assurance reviews, and enhancing technological and operational efficiencies. Her contributions were pivotal in both the Office of Radiological Security and the Office of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence.

Earlier in her career, Jennifer held roles at Bechtel National, Inc., Kadlec Regional Medical Center, Manpower, NordicTrack, and Abadan. Her responsibilities ranged from administrative support and logistics analysis to site management and customer service, all of which honed her expertise in project management and operational support.

Jennifer’s rich experience and diverse skill set will be invaluable to her role at Safeguards3. Her ability to support diverse tasks, and manage complex projects, coupled with her dedication to excellence, will undoubtedly enhance our team’s capabilities and contribute to our mission of safeguarding critical infrastructure that sustains people and our way of life.

Emily Keel joined the S3 team in 2024. She is responsible for leading the HR team and associated People First processes and programs to support employees’ career advancement and growth. Emily has 13 years of nuclear power plant HR Consulting and Strategic Business Operations experience. In addition to HR, she is nuclear safeguards qualified and has over a decade of experience as a Safety Controller for Nuclear Security Force on Force drills, exercises, and Adversary Training Courses (ATC). She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Management, a minor in Human Resource Management & Organizational Development, and a focus in Apparel & Textile Merchandising from Eastern Michigan University.

Becca leads accounting operations for S3. She brings over 15 years of experience in both international and domestic business and is a licensed CPA. Prior to joining S3 in 2021, Becca was a Senior Associate at BKD (now FORVIS) and Stayner Bates.

She began her career as an international accountant for a global holding and consumer products company. Becca holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Accountancy from Brigham Young University.