South Carolina’s cybersecurity leadership bench spans state government, higher education, financial services, transportation, and public infrastructure. The leaders in this group are responsible for protecting sensitive data, modernizing security programs, and helping organizations across the state respond to an increasingly complex threat environment.
Ben Willis — CISO, South Carolina Department of Administration
Ben Willis brings long-standing public-sector and education technology leadership to his role as Chief Information Security Officer for the South Carolina Department of Administration. His background includes leading security and IT teams in both K-12 education and higher education, most recently serving as CISO at UNC Charlotte.
That mix of operational experience and strategic leadership makes him especially well suited to statewide government cybersecurity. His work has covered everything from security operations and incident response to policy ownership, PCI-DSS and GLBA programs, and translating technical risk for broad institutional audiences.
John Hoyt — CISO, Clemson University
John Hoyt has spent much of his career inside Clemson University’s security organization, rising through infrastructure and operations roles before becoming Chief Information Security Officer. His background includes experience in intrusion detection, network security monitoring, training, system administration, and penetration testing.
That hands-on technical foundation gives him strong credibility in a university environment where research, academic openness, and enterprise security have to be balanced carefully. His additional role with the U.S. Marine Corps Cyber Auxiliary also reinforces his connection to broader cyber readiness and mentorship.
Patrick Boden — CISO, Purpose Financial
Patrick Boden leads information security at Purpose Financial and brings experience across startup, corporate, consulting, and government-related environments. His career has focused on building security organizations, aligning programs with business priorities, and driving maturity across governance, cloud security, risk management, and compliance.
He stands out for combining security strategy with a strong business lens. His background in cloud transformation, user awareness, AI-backed monitoring, and frameworks such as NIST, ISO, SOC, and PCI-DSS makes him a notable leader in South Carolina’s private-sector cybersecurity landscape.
Mark Kuzma — CISO, Resurgent Capital Services
Mark Kuzma has built a long career around aligning information security and technology performance with business needs. At Resurgent Capital Services, he rose from senior information security leadership into the CISO role, bringing experience that stretches from audit and SOX work to disaster recovery, incident response, and business continuity planning.
His profile reflects a practical, metrics-driven approach to security leadership. That combination of fiscal discipline, operational depth, and long-term company knowledge is especially valuable in financial services and business environments where security must support both resilience and efficiency.
Michael Chandler — CISO, South Carolina Department of Transportation
Michael Chandler has served in cybersecurity leadership at the South Carolina Department of Transportation for more than two decades, bringing rare continuity to a mission-critical public infrastructure role. His background includes earlier CIO positions in manufacturing as well as military experience in systems and security administration.
That breadth of experience matters in transportation, where cybersecurity increasingly intersects with operational continuity, public services, and long-term infrastructure resilience. His tenure suggests both institutional knowledge and a sustained role in shaping security for one of the state’s most important agencies.
Tyler Phelps — CISO, Tri-County Technical College
Tyler Phelps focuses on helping organizations stabilize, modernize, and secure complex IT environments, with experience spanning colleges, K-12 institutions, local government, and other resource-constrained settings. His leadership centers on aligning daily operations with longer-term cybersecurity and risk objectives.
That approach is particularly relevant in technical and community college environments, where reliability, governance, and practical security improvements often matter just as much as large-scale transformation. His profile emphasizes operational resilience, modernization, and the ability to turn inherited complexity into sustainable systems.
Where South Carolina’s Cyber Leadership Is Taking Shape
From statewide administration and transportation to universities, colleges, and private-sector organizations, South Carolina’s cyber leaders are helping shape how the state manages risk, protects critical systems, and builds resilience for the future.
Explore more profiles like these through our CISOs to Watch tag.