CISOs to Watch in New York’s Fintech Industry

New York’s fintech sector spans digital banking platforms, trading infrastructure, financial technology providers, and payments companies operating at the intersection of financial services and rapid technological innovation. CISOs in this space must protect complex digital ecosystems while navigating stringent regulatory requirements and the elevated threat exposure that comes with operating critical financial infrastructure.

The professionals below represent cybersecurity leadership helping shape security strategy across New York’s fintech industry.

Rich Valderrama — Chief Information Security Officer, Revolut

Rich Valderrama serves as Chief Information Security Officer at Revolut, where he leads cybersecurity and technology risk strategy for the company’s US operations. He brings more than 15 years of experience building GRC programs across financial services and technology, with prior roles at FanDuel, Twitter, and Morgan Stanley spanning security governance, risk management, and compliance across global platforms.

Ahmed Pasha — Chief Information Security Officer, Tradeweb

Ahmed Pasha serves as Global Chief Information Security Officer at Tradeweb, where he oversees all aspects of cybersecurity for the electronic trading platform. He previously served as US Head of Information Security at Nomura, where he also led the firm’s Global Threat Management program spanning cyber threat intelligence, red and purple teaming, detection engineering, and third-party risk intelligence across more than 30 countries.

Jeff Hudesman — Chief Information Security Officer, Lithic

Jeff Hudesman serves as Chief Information Security Officer at Lithic, a New York-based card issuing and payments infrastructure company. He brings broad security leadership experience across financial services, media, and government, with prior roles at News Corp, DailyPay, Pinwheel, and Sony, as well as a tenure as Deputy Commissioner and CISO for Nassau County. His background spans incident response, application security, and enterprise security program development.

Bryan Thompson — Chief Information Security Officer, Luma Financial Technologies

Bryan Thompson serves as Chief Information Security Officer at Luma Financial Technologies, where he leads cybersecurity strategy for the structured products and annuities platform. He brings 25 years of security leadership across financial services, healthcare, and education, with prior experience at Thrivent, Cognizant, RSM, EY, and Accenture spanning security operations, GRC, vCISO advisory programs, and enterprise security program development.

Mirjan Haxhiu — Global Chief Information Security Officer, EquiLend

Mirjan Haxhiu serves as Global Chief Information Security Officer at EquiLend, a New York-based financial technology firm specializing in securities finance. He brings more than two decades of financial services security leadership, including nine years as Global CISO at Instinet and more than a decade as Director of Information Security Risk at HSBC, giving him deep experience securing trading platforms and global financial infrastructure.

Cybersecurity Leadership Across New York’s Fintech Sector

New York’s fintech industry operates at a pace and scale that demands security programs capable of supporting rapid innovation without compromising regulatory compliance or customer trust. The leaders featured here bring deep experience across trading platforms, payments infrastructure, and digital financial services, helping their organizations grow securely in one of the world’s most competitive financial markets.