Georgia’s banking sector includes regional institutions, mortgage finance players, community banks, and larger financial organizations that operate in one of the Southeast’s most active business hubs. That makes cybersecurity leadership especially important. The executives in this group are responsible for protecting sensitive financial data, strengthening resilience, navigating regulatory scrutiny, and helping their institutions modernize without losing sight of risk.
Joe Watkins — CISO, Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta
Joe Watkins has spent more than two decades leading information security at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, where his remit extends beyond cyber into business continuity, governance, risk, compliance, and records management. His approach stands out for connecting security controls, resilience planning, vendor oversight, and board-level reporting into one integrated view of risk. In a banking environment where operational continuity matters as much as technical defense, that breadth makes his leadership especially notable.
David Posada — Sr. Director of Cybersecurity & Technology Audit, Pinnacle Financial Partners
David Posada brings a strong audit and cyber risk perspective shaped by leadership roles at Pinnacle Financial Partners, Synovus, The Home Depot, and SunTrust. His experience sits at the intersection of cybersecurity, technology assurance, risk assessment, and performance measurement. That background is particularly valuable in banking, where strong security leadership increasingly depends on the ability to connect cyber oversight with governance, internal controls, and business accountability.
Matt O’Shields — CISO, NCR Atleos
Matt O’Shields leads cybersecurity at NCR Atleos after a long career spanning Global Payments and TSYS, where he worked across enterprise security governance, awareness, risk, and subsidiary security leadership. His background is closely tied to payments infrastructure and transaction-heavy financial environments, making him a strong fit for a banking-focused feature. He brings experience in security due diligence, integrations, and enterprise-scale security operations in organizations central to how money moves.
Carl Scaffidi — CISO, VyStar Credit Union
Carl Scaffidi brings more than 20 years of IT and security experience, with expertise spanning security strategy, framework development, incident response, compliance, and digital transformation. At VyStar Credit Union, he emphasizes security as a risk-balanced business enabler while supporting modernization and AI adoption. His mix of technical depth, program-building experience, and regulatory fluency reflects the kind of leadership credit unions and member-focused financial institutions increasingly need.
Ted Shin — VP & Information Security Officer, Georgia Banking Company
Ted Shin has built a long career in banking security, with leadership roles at Georgia Banking Company, Open Bank, and Hanmi Bank. His background covers information security management, risk management, audits, FFIEC alignment, IAM, policy, and awareness. That practical, institution-level experience is especially relevant in community and regional banking, where security leaders often need to combine governance discipline with hands-on oversight of the controls that protect day-to-day operations.
Kevin Gowen — CSO & CISO, Synovus
Kevin Gowen has been a central cybersecurity leader at Synovus for more than a decade, serving as CISO before also stepping into the CSO role. His long tenure at the company, combined with prior leadership across procurement, corporate real estate, and technology, gives him a broad enterprise view of security and risk. Beyond Synovus, his work with the National Technology Security Coalition also reflects his influence in wider cybersecurity leadership conversations.
Why Georgia Banking Keeps Producing Strong Cyber Leaders
What makes this group notable is the range of banking environments they represent. Some operate in federal home loan banking, some in regional and community institutions, and others in credit union or financial infrastructure settings. Together, they show how cybersecurity leadership in Georgia banking is shaped not just by regulation, but by resilience, operational trust, and the ability to secure institutions that sit at the center of daily financial life.
See more leaders like these on our CISOs to Watch tag.