Biographical Info

Paul Connelly built the cybersecurity programs at two of the highest-risk organizations in the U.S., as the first CISO at the White House and HCA Healthcare. He led those programs for a combined total of twenty-nine years without a major incident. As a member of the senior leadership team at a Fortune 100 company, partner at a big four public accounting firm, and a leader at a federal agency at the White House under three U.S. presidents, Paul is steeped in integrating risk management into business culture, technology strategy, and operations. As leader of the first information security program at the White House Communications Agency, Paul was responsible for protecting the systems supporting the President, National Security Council, Air Force One, Marine One, Camp David, and White House Medical Unit while serving under presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton. in 1997, Paul moved to PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he built an InfoSec / cybersecurity consulting team, became partner, and then regional leader for the Southeast U.S. His clients included AARP, Alcoa, American Red Cross, Bank of America, Capital One, Comcast, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Reserve, HCA Healthcare, KPN Telecommunications (Netherlands), National Credit Union Association, the National Reconnaissance Office, Social Security Administration, Department of State, General Accounting Office, U.S. House of Representatives, and U.S. Postal Service.. In 2002, Paul became the first Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and part of the IT leadership team for HCA Healthcare. HCA is a Fortune 100 company that owns and operates 183 hospitals and 2000 outpatient facilities supporting 35 million patient care encounters each year. His role expanded in 2012 to also lead programs for Privacy, Information Governance, and Physical Security. Today, Paul is the CSO, a member of the CEO’s senior team, and meets quarterly with the Board of Directors. Paul is a developer of people, with 29 members of his teams selected as Chief Information Security Officers at other organizations. He is also a builder of culture as a leader of ethics & compliance; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; employee engagement; and community service programs.