Former U.S. White House Chief Information Officer (CIO) Theresa Payton has joined Conceal's Board of Advisors. Conceal is a zero trust technology company.

Payton joins current members of the Conceal Board of Advisors: 

  • Chairman Admiral Michael Rogers (Ret.), former head of the U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, 
  • Chris Miller, United States Army Special Forces colonel (Ret.) who served as acting United States secretary of defense, 
  • General Sir Chris Deverell, former Commander of the UK’s Joint Forces Command, 
  • Rob Truesdell, VP Products at Pangea, 
  • Mike Aiello, CTO at Secureworks and a former Google cybersecurity executive, and 
  • Alissa Knight, award winning director and former hacker.  

“Theresa Payton has been in the trenches, protecting leading financial institutions and our nation’s greatest assets against some of the world’s most sophisticated [cyberattacks], and she has successfully built and run companies,” Gordon Lawson, CEO of Conceal.

Payton made history as the first female White House CIO and is a veteran cybercrime fighter, entrepreneur and author. As CIO for the White House from May 2006 to September 2008, Payton directed a program to overhaul and modernize key components of technology strategy and operations at the Executive Office of the President. Among the changes was the transformation of IT security, which included creating the first-ever 24/7/365 Security Operations Center for the Executive Office of the President.  

After serving as the first female White House CIO for George W. Bush, Payton funded and founded Fortalice Solutions, a global cybersecurity and business intelligence consulting firm where she is CEO, and later funded and co-founded Dark3 which was recently acquired by Celerium, Inc.

Before her tenure at the White House, Payton held executive roles in banking technology at Bank of America and Wells Fargo. She is the co-author of two books including, "Protecting Your Internet Identity: Are You Naked Online?", "Privacy in the Age of Big Data: Recognizing Threats, Defending Your Rights, and Protecting Your Family," and is the author of "Manipulated: Inside the Cyberwar to Hijack Elections and Distort the Truth."

She also hosts Cybercrime Magazine’s weekly podcast, The CISO Minute. Payton was a recipient of Security magazine's 2010 Most Influential People in Security.

Congratulations!