Emilio Valente has been appointed the new Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Director of Information Assurance at the University of California (UC) Santa Barbara.

In this role, Valente leads the Information Assurance unit in the Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and is the focal point of all campus information technology (IT) security programs, approaches and collaborations. In addition, he oversees the Security Operations Center and the Quality Assurance team and represents UC Santa Barbara in system-wide and regional information security conversations.

Valente brings over 20 years of extensive IT and cybersecurity experience, with over a decade in the UC system. He is well-versed in evaluating business needs and priorities, establishing effective governance and applying technologies to minimize organizational security risk, along with access control management, disaster recovery and incident response. Valente has held CISO and other network security leadership positions throughout his over 20-year career in IT security.

He holds an M.S. in Information Security Engineering from the SANS University Technology Institute and a B.S. in Information Systems and Management from the University of Maryland, along with several additional cybersecurity certifications.

Congratulations!