Vermont’s cybersecurity leadership bench spans healthcare, financial services, research, and managed technology services, reflecting how broadly cyber risk now touches the state’s economy. The leaders in this group are responsible for protecting sensitive data, guiding enterprise security strategy, and helping organizations build more resilient operations in sectors where trust and continuity matter.
Michael Poczobut — Assistant Vice President and Deputy Chief Information Security Officer, Prime Therapeutics
Michael Poczobut serves as Assistant Vice President and Deputy Chief Information Security Officer at Prime Therapeutics, where he provides strategic leadership across core security domains including architecture and application security, engineering and operations, and identity and access management. In a large healthcare-related environment, that role places him close to the center of enterprise trust, resilience, and operational security.
His background combines technical depth with executive communication and long-range planning. Prior to this role, he led security strategy and governance work at Prime and previously served as Chief Information Security Officer at BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont, where he helped embed security practices across the organization and protect highly sensitive member data in a heavily targeted sector.
Cody Young — Chief Information Security Officer, Norwich University Applied Research Institutes
Cody Young is Chief Information Security Officer at Norwich University Applied Research Institutes, where he helps lead security strategy in an environment closely tied to applied research, cyber readiness, and national security-oriented work. His role includes strengthening organizational security posture, guiding executive decision-making, and aligning security programs with demanding technical and compliance requirements.
He brings strong expertise in secure systems design, cyber frameworks, and regulatory alignment, including standards such as NIST 800-171, NIST 800-53, CMMC, and CIS benchmarks. That mix of operational and governance experience makes him a notable cybersecurity leader in Vermont’s research and defense-adjacent ecosystem.
Bill Leonard — Chief Information Security Officer, eSecLending
Bill Leonard is Chief Information Security Officer at eSecLending, where he oversees the firm’s cybersecurity and information security programs as well as core IT infrastructure operations. In a financial services setting shaped by uptime demands, regulatory pressure, and data sensitivity, his role is central to maintaining secure and resilient operations.
He brings more than three decades of experience in enterprise systems management, with particular strength in scalable, high-availability environments and capital markets technology. His background in cybersecurity, IT governance, business continuity, and regulatory audit gives him a well-rounded leadership profile for a business where security and operational reliability are tightly linked.
Linus Goedken — Director of Cybersecurity and Compliance, The Tech Group, LLC
Linus Goedken leads cybersecurity and compliance at The Tech Group, where he serves both as an internal security leader and as a virtual CISO for clients. That dual role gives him visibility into a wide range of security challenges facing organizations that rely on external advisory and managed technology support to strengthen their defenses.
His experience spans Microsoft cloud environments, secure remote access, zero trust network access, SASE, VPN technologies, and network security administration. With a CISSP and a long tenure at the company, Goedken stands out as a cybersecurity leader helping translate security strategy and compliance demands into practical execution for both his organization and its clients.
Nick OConnor — Chief Information Security Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont
Nick OConnor serves as Chief Information Security Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont, where he leads cybersecurity for one of the state’s most important healthcare-related organizations. His progression through the company from cybersecurity risk analyst to senior cybersecurity engineer and then CISO reflects both technical depth and a strong understanding of the organization’s security needs.
His experience includes threat investigation, vulnerability management, vendor risk assessment, policy refinement, threat modeling, and security engineering, with hands-on strengths in areas such as Terraform, Linux, Azure, infrastructure as code, and log analysis. That combination of operational security knowledge and modern engineering capability makes him a notable cybersecurity leader in Vermont’s healthcare landscape.
Vermont’s Cybersecurity Footprint Continues to Grow
Cybersecurity leadership in Vermont may not always get the same attention as larger markets, but the state is home to executives working on issues that matter across healthcare, research, financial infrastructure, and business technology. These leaders show how cyber responsibility is increasingly embedded in organizations of every size and sector.
For more profiles of security executives shaping the industry, explore the CISOs to Watch tag.