Alabama’s cybersecurity leadership bench reflects the state’s mix of financial services, higher education, software, payments, and security consulting. The women in this feature are leading programs across banks, universities, private companies, and advisory firms, helping organizations manage cyber risk, strengthen resilience, and build more mature security cultures. Together, they show how Alabama continues to produce security leaders with both technical depth and strong executive range.
Emily Traylor — Vice President, Chief Information Security Officer, Fullsteam
Emily Traylor is Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Fullsteam, where she leads security for a fast-growing software and payments business and its portfolio of nearly 100 acquired companies. Her path to the role is unusually broad, spanning enterprise risk management, cybersecurity program building, product and integration leadership, and even operating portfolio companies as president, giving her a strong blend of security, business, and operational experience. Before rising into Fullsteam’s top security role, she built governance, risk, and compliance capabilities across the company’s acquisition-heavy environment and earlier held technology leadership roles at Equifax, Heartland Payment Systems, and TSYS.
Lora Vaughn — Founder and CISO, Vaughn Cyber Group
Lora Vaughn is Founder and CISO of Vaughn Cyber Group, bringing deep hands-on leadership from banking, fintech, and large-scale security operations. Before launching her own firm in Birmingham, she served as CISO at MoneyGram and Simmons Bank, and held senior security leadership roles at Fastly and Regions Bank, where her work covered vulnerability management, incident response, application security, and security operations. Her background stands out for its mix of technical depth and executive experience, including leading real-world incident response, building security programs at scale, and guiding regulated organizations through the demands of growth, resilience, and compliance.
Ashley Serio Ferguson — President and Managing Member, Cyber Investigations & Intelligence Agency
Ashley Serio Ferguson is President and Managing Member of Cyber Investigations & Intelligence Agency and also lists ongoing CISO experience in a confidential role, reflecting a career built across consulting, enterprise security, business continuity, and executive leadership. Earlier in her career, she served as Head of IT Risk Management and Security at Energen, following roles at Secureworks, BBVA Compass, PwC, and EY, giving her a strong foundation in both operational security and risk advisory work. Her profile brings together cybersecurity strategy, governance, resilience planning, and executive-level risk management across multiple industries.
Cindy Jones — Executive Director, Information Security, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Cindy Jones is Executive Director of Information Security at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she leads a wide-ranging program that covers compliance, risk assessments, vendor risk review, threat hunting, vulnerability management, penetration testing, disaster recovery, and security awareness. She is part of UAB’s IT executive leadership structure and contributes to several key institutional committees, reflecting the broad trust placed in her across the university. Before stepping into her current role, she spent years at UAB in risk management, compliance, and architecture positions, and earlier advised organizations on governance, risk, compliance, business continuity, and security program development through consulting and banking leadership roles.
Alabama’s Cyber Leadership Across Sectors
What makes Alabama’s cybersecurity leadership scene especially interesting is its range. These leaders are not all coming from one lane or one type of organization. They are shaping security in software and payments, banking, higher education, and advisory work, often with careers that cross technical execution, governance, risk, compliance, and executive operations. That mix gives Alabama a strong profile for cybersecurity leadership built not just on specialization, but on adaptability and real operating experience.
Explore more profiles of the amazing women shaping cybersecurity across numerous industries in our Women’s Month collection.