The North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) has named Marcus Sachs as its new chief security officer.  

He will oversee the Electricity Sector Information Sharing and Analysis Center operations and will direct risk assessment and mitigation initiatives to protect critical electricity infrastructure, NERC said in a statement. He will also work with government agencies to manage the analysis, response and dissemination of security information.

Previously Sachs was vice president of national security policy for Verizon Communications Inc., where he led national and homeland security policy efforts. Prior to that, he was deputy director for the computer science laboratory at SRI International, which supported the Dept. of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Development Center, NERC said in a statement.