Utah’s cybersecurity leadership bench reflects a mix of enterprise security, governance, education, resilience, and technology modernization. The women in this feature are working across higher education, consumer health, energy and infrastructure, private equity-backed risk oversight, and enterprise compliance, showing how broad the state’s cyber leadership base has become. Some are leading formal security and resilience functions inside major organizations, while others are shaping cyber outcomes through teaching, program development, risk management, and advisory work. That combination matters because it shows how cybersecurity influence in Utah is not limited to one sector or one title path. It is a landscape where security leadership increasingly intersects with governance, business continuity, workforce development, and long-term organizational strategy.
Shalini Kesar — Director of Masters of Cybersecurity Program, Southern Utah University
Shalini Kesar is Director of the Masters of Cybersecurity Program at Southern Utah University, where she plays a direct role in shaping the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. She also serves as Professor of Information Systems and Cybersecurity, with teaching and research focused on cybersecurity governance, risk management, computer ethics, women in cybersecurity, privacy and compliance surrounding deep tech, and experiential learning models. Her long tenure at Southern Utah University is complemented by outreach work through the OutreachMAD Project, which focuses on building a student pipeline in K-12, especially in rural Utah. She stands out for the way she connects cybersecurity education, rural outreach, and workforce development, making her an important leadership figure in Utah’s long-term cyber talent ecosystem.
Dasha Kadulova — Executive Vice President – Data Security – Disaster Recovery, USANA Health Sciences
Dasha Kadulova serves as Executive Vice President – Data Security – Disaster Recovery at USANA Health Sciences, where she leads global strategies tied to data protection, resilience, business continuity, and AI governance. In her current role, she shapes enterprise vision for data security and risk across all regions, including China, while briefing the board and executive leadership on cyber, regulatory, and AI-related issues. Her earlier experience at USANA included serving as Vice President Data Security – Disaster Recovery and Executive Director of IT Infrastructure Operations, building on a long career that also includes leadership roles at Barrick Gold, Overstock.com, IBS, and GE OEC Medical Systems. She stands out for combining data security, disaster recovery, regulatory navigation, and board-level communication in a leadership profile that ties cybersecurity directly to resilience and enterprise growth.
Brandie Llewelyn — Senior Manager Governance, Risk, and Compliance, Sunrun
Brandie Llewelyn is Senior Manager Governance, Risk, and Compliance at Sunrun, with a background that spans technology compliance, audit, controls, and enterprise governance. Before joining Sunrun, she held GRC and technology compliance leadership roles at Rithum, MGM Resorts International, Progressive Leasing, ACL, Protiviti, and Alsco. Her career reflects deep experience in compliance-focused leadership, financial controls, audit functions, and technology risk oversight across a range of business environments. She stands out for the consistency of her governance and compliance background and for her long track record of helping organizations build structure, accountability, and risk discipline into their technology operations.
Sherrie Cowley — Head of Cybersecurity, Clyde Companies
Sherrie Cowley is Head of Cybersecurity at Clyde Companies, where she now leads security in an infrastructure-oriented business environment. She also remains Founder and Principal Security Consultant at Datalus Security, and her earlier experience includes serving as Security Director for 3M Health and as IT Security and Compliance Director in a CISO role at Swire Coca-Cola, USA. Before that, she worked in information security, risk, and identity roles with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with earlier technical and product-related experience at Adobe, ElectroVision, Jordan School District, and FranklinCovey. She stands out for her breadth across cybersecurity operations, incident response, vulnerability management, cloud security, identity and access management, and security consulting, with experience spanning both large enterprises and founder-led advisory work.
Jessica Burch — Director of Cybersecurity Risk and Compliance, Bryce Catalyst
Jessica Burch is Director of Cybersecurity Risk and Compliance at Bryce Catalyst, where she oversees governance, risk, and compliance before acquisitions and leads post-investment cyber integration and ongoing support for portfolio companies. She also serves as Director of Information Security and Compliance at Bryce Cyber, providing fractional CISO services and supporting compliance audits, risk assessments, remediation planning, penetration testing, and broader cybersecurity program management. Her earlier work includes cybersecurity compliance leadership at PDP and risk management roles tied to regulatory and operational oversight. She stands out for her focus on investor-facing cybersecurity diligence, portfolio-level risk reduction, and the practical integration of compliance, security strategy, and business objectives across multiple organizations.
Where Utah’s Cyber Leadership Is Building for the Long Term
The leaders in this Utah feature reflect a cybersecurity ecosystem built not only on enterprise defense, but also on resilience, governance, education, and long-term capacity building. Their work spans universities, public company environments, infrastructure and manufacturing-related organizations, clean energy, and private equity-backed portfolios. Together, they show that Utah’s cyber leadership strength comes from more than technical execution alone. It also comes from people building talent pipelines, strengthening governance, and helping organizations connect security with continuity, growth, and future readiness.
Explore more profiles of the amazing women shaping cybersecurity across numerous industries in our Women’s Month collection.