Leading the Digital Workforce (PDF)

Jeffrey W. Brown, CISSP-ISSMP, CRISC, CISM, PMP is the first Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the State of Connecticut. The Center for Digital Government recently gave national recognition to Connecticut for leadership and collaboration by ranking it third in the nation. Jeff is a recognized information security and IT risk expert with a strong track record of over two decades implementing cost-effective controls for global Fortune 500 financial institutions including Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, GE Capital, BNY Mellon and AIG. He is a two-time winner of CISOs Connect(TM) Top 100 CISOs (C100).

Jeff worked briefly in the publishing industry as an editor for HarperCollins before pursuing his passion for technology full time. While at HarperCollins he set up the College division's first web presence and was involved helping plan distance learning programs, a relatively new concept back in 1995. He never strayed far from these roots and has since gone on to co-author the Web Publisher's Deign Guide for Windows (Coriolis, 1993) and Mission Critical Internet Security (Syngress, 2000) and is the author of The Security Leader's Communication Playbook (CRC Press, 2001).

Jeff is a frequent speaker at events and conferences and is a co-Chair of Evanta's New York CISO Executive Summit events. He is a board advisor for Cowbell Cyber, iQ4 and the University of New Haven/Connecticut Institute of Technology. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, writing, playing guitar and spending time with his wife and English Springer Spaniel, Gracie. He holds multiple industry certifications, a BA in Journalism and an MS in Publishing from Pace University as well as a certificate in Cybersecurity from Ithaca College, where he serves as an advisor for the program.