Rhode Island’s cybersecurity leadership includes executives shaping security policy inside major financial institutions, experienced bank CISOs, enterprise risk specialists, and founder-led advisory voices helping organizations build stronger compliance and governance programs. The women in this feature reflect a state where cyber leadership is closely tied to banking, insurance, enterprise risk, and practical security operations. Some are leading mature in-house programs inside regulated institutions, while others are helping companies strengthen security posture through policy, compliance, and vCISO-style advisory work. Together, they show how Rhode Island’s cyber influence is built through both institutional leadership and hands-on program development.
Jennifer Gluchacki — VP, Senior Manager, Cyber Security Policy and Programs, Citizens
Jennifer Gluchacki has built a long career inside Citizens, where she now serves as vice president and senior manager for cyber security policy and programs. Her work sits at the heart of cyber governance, regulatory alignment, and enterprise awareness, with responsibilities spanning policy development, employee guidance, compliance interpretation, and institution-wide security education. Over the years, she has held multiple information security and governance roles at the bank, helping shape programs tied to GLBA, FFIEC guidance, PCI DSS, SOX, and other regulatory requirements. Her profile stands out for its emphasis on translating security and resilience expectations into actionable internal programs, from policy compliance assessments to awareness campaigns and training initiatives that reach across the organization.
Susan Viveiros — Senior Vice President, Chief Information Security Officer, BankNewport
Susan Viveiros serves as senior vice president and chief information security officer at BankNewport, where she leads security strategy for one of Rhode Island’s best-known banking institutions. Her background spans incident response, threat management, audits, vendor management, business continuity, policy development, and security operations, giving her a wide-angle view of what modern financial-sector cyber leadership requires. Before becoming CISO, she served as vice president and information security officer at BankNewport and earlier held information security leadership roles at HarborOne Bank, CVS Caremark, and RBS Citizens Group. Her career reflects steady progression through both operational and strategic security roles, making her one of the clearest examples of an in-house Rhode Island cyber leader with deep banking and enterprise security experience.
Maureen Brady — AVP, Principal Information Security Risk Engineer, FM
Maureen Brady brings long-tenured enterprise experience from FM, where she serves as assistant vice president and principal information security risk engineer. Her profile reflects decades of work across security infrastructure, identity and access management, federation, directory services, and broader information security functions. That technical depth gives her a strong place in a Rhode Island cybersecurity lineup, especially for a feature that values leaders who have helped shape institutional security from within over many years. Her experience is rooted in the operational and architectural side of enterprise protection, and she represents a more infrastructure-centered leadership path compared with the policy-heavy and bank-led profiles elsewhere in the slate.
Linda Brown — Founder, Viridis Security
Linda Brown is a strong founder-led cybersecurity voice in Rhode Island, especially for organizations looking at governance, compliance, and virtual CISO support. As founder of Viridis Security, she focuses on helping small and mid-sized companies improve security posture, sustain governance maturity, and pursue frameworks such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, HITRUST, PCI, and CMMC without requiring a full-time in-house CISO. Her background includes leadership roles in risk and compliance at Smallstep, customer and product leadership at Cisco and Kenna Security, and earlier information security governance and web application security leadership at Citizens. That mix gives her both operator credibility and startup-stage advisory relevance, making her especially useful for a feature that wants to show Rhode Island cyber leadership beyond traditional enterprise titles.
Why Rhode Island’s cybersecurity leadership stands out
Rhode Island’s cyber leadership is notable for how strongly it blends financial-sector discipline, enterprise governance, and practical program execution. The women in this slate are not just attached to security titles. They are shaping policy, running regulated security programs, managing risk inside major institutions, and helping organizations mature through clearer controls, stronger resilience, and better security culture. That mix gives Rhode Island a cybersecurity bench that is especially strong in areas where trust, compliance, and long-term operational discipline matter most.
Explore more profiles of the amazing women shaping cybersecurity across numerous industries in our Women’s Month collection.