Hawaii’s cybersecurity leadership stands out for its mix of financial-sector operators, healthcare security executives, public-sector specialists, and experienced advisors who have worked across both local institutions and national organizations. The leaders in this feature reflect that range. Some are protecting major Hawaii-based financial and healthcare organizations, while others bring deep experience from federal missions, enterprise security programs, and transformation work that has shaped the state’s broader technology landscape.
Levi P. Carias — Chief Information Security Officer, American Savings Bank
Levi P. Carias is Chief Information Security Officer and Senior Vice President at American Savings Bank, where he leads cybersecurity for one of Hawaii’s best-known financial institutions. His career has moved through multiple Hawaii-based organizations including Aloha Pacific Federal Credit Union, American Savings Bank, and Bank of Hawaii, giving him deep roots in the state’s financial sector. Earlier experience at Punahou School and Nortel adds infrastructure and engineering depth to a leadership profile built on security risk, program management, and operations.
Sudhakar Gummadi — Chief Information Security Officer & Privacy Officer, HMSA
Sudhakar Gummadi is Chief Information Security Officer and Privacy Officer at HMSA, where he brings extensive healthcare and insurance security leadership experience. Before joining HMSA, he served in senior cybersecurity roles at Anthem, Pacific Life, and Molina Healthcare, including multiple CISO posts. That background gives him a strong record across privacy, enterprise cyber strategy, and security governance in highly regulated environments.
James Howell Jr. — Owner/CEO, SmartCIO
James Howell Jr. brings more than three decades of cybersecurity leadership spanning the U.S. Air Force, the Department of Defense, and private-sector advisory work. He is now the founder and CEO of SmartCIO, but he also served for nearly a decade as Chief Information Security Officer at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in Hawaii, where he oversaw enterprise cybersecurity governance, policy, risk alignment, and training across a complex mission environment. His background makes him one of the more seasoned cyber leaders tied to Hawaii’s public-sector and defense ecosystem.
Michael Camat — Vice President, Information Security Manager, Central Pacific Bank
Michael Camat is Vice President and Information Security Manager at Central Pacific Bank, where he has held security leadership roles since 2017. His broader career includes executive and senior technology roles at Aloha Pacific Federal Credit Union, Bank of Hawaii, American Savings Bank, and HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union, giving him one of the more extensive financial-sector technology and security backgrounds in the state. His experience spans governance, business continuity, disaster recovery, vendor management, regulatory compliance, and enterprise IT planning.
Brook Conner — Faculty, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Brook Conner built his career in cybersecurity and technology risk long before moving into academia. He served as Vice President and CISO at The Estée Lauder Companies, where he was responsible for information security across a Fortune 500 company operating in more than 100 countries. Before that, he spent years at Morgan Stanley leading vulnerability management in global IT security, and later worked as a director at Cherry Bekaert, where he led work across cybersecurity, technology risk, digital, and government practices while serving as CISO for multiple clients. He also advised Graphistry and other companies on cybersecurity-focused strategy and data visualization. That deep security and risk background eventually led him to his current role as a faculty member at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he now teaches business and computer science courses.
A Distinct Cybersecurity Bench
What makes Hawaii’s cyber leadership interesting is the balance between local institutional knowledge and broader enterprise or federal experience. This is a leadership bench that includes executives who know Hawaii’s banks, healthcare systems, and education landscape, but who also bring lessons from national insurance companies, Fortune 500 environments, and defense missions. That combination gives the state a cybersecurity profile with more depth than its size might suggest.
Explore more profiles of the leaders shaping cybersecurity across numerous industries in our CISOs to Watch collection.