Washington’s cybersecurity leadership bench is unusually deep, shaped by the state’s mix of public institutions, global technology companies, retail giants, healthcare organizations, transportation systems, and education networks. The women in this feature reflect that range. Some lead formal security programs protecting large and complex environments, while others influence cyber outcomes through broader executive, advisory, and digital leadership roles. Their work spans governance, incident response, privacy, risk management, product security, public-sector resilience, and large-scale technology transformation. Together, they show why Washington remains one of the most important states in the country for cybersecurity leadership and adjacent executive influence.
April Mardock — Chief Information Security Officer, WSIPC
April Mardock is Chief Information Security Officer at WSIPC, where she leads enterprise-wide cybersecurity strategy, governance, and risk management for a cooperative serving Washington’s K-12 educational institutions. Her current role places her at the center of systems that support student data, financial operations, and statewide educational services, with a security scope tied to roughly 750,000 users. Before joining WSIPC, she served as Chief Information Security Officer at Seattle Public Schools and earlier held leadership roles there spanning cybersecurity, IT operations, network systems, security, and telecommunications. She stands out for her long focus on K-12 cybersecurity, her ability to translate technical complexity into practical action, and her sustained work on risk management, governance, and incident response in school environments.
Julie Ellis — SVP & Chief Information Security Officer, Starbucks
Julie Ellis is SVP & Chief Information Security Officer at Starbucks, where she now leads security for one of Washington’s most recognized global brands. Before assuming the CISO role, she served at Starbucks as Vice President of Governance, Risk and Compliance and International, and earlier spent nearly 15 years at The Walt Disney Company in leadership roles that included information security architecture, data protection, and cloud security. Her career also includes earlier experience at Starbucks, Point B, and Accenture, giving her a background that blends business systems, transformation, risk, and enterprise security leadership. She stands out for the breadth of her executive path and for the way she has moved across business, analytics, product, governance, and security roles while building toward top-level cyber leadership.
Kelli Burns — Advisory Board Member, Seattle University
Kelli Burns currently serves as an Advisory Board Member for Seattle University’s Master in Cybersecurity program, where she helps guide curriculum development and mentors students preparing to enter the field. Her inclusion in this feature is rooted in a career that includes serving as Chief Information Security Officer and Senior Vice President at Accolade, and earlier as Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Symetra, where she built and matured the information security program, led cloud migration security efforts, and served as a primary security communicator to executive leadership and the board. Earlier experience at EY and KPMG added expertise in privacy assessments, enterprise risk methodology, and certification-related work. She stands out for her people-centered leadership style, her record of building security programs and mentoring future leaders, and her broader influence on the cybersecurity community in the Pacific Northwest.
Tarah Wheeler — CSO, TPO Group
Tarah Wheeler is Chief Security Officer at TPO Group, where she leads strategic cybersecurity initiatives for a defensive cyber operations consulting firm focused on high-stakes environments across industries. Her current role includes overseeing security program design, incident response operations, governance frameworks, training, and executive-level security strategy. She also brings a long record of leadership through Red Queen Technologies, policy and advisory work through the Council on Foreign Relations and IANS, and prior security leadership roles at Splunk and Symantec. She stands out for the unusual breadth of her profile, combining hands-on technical security, consulting, incident response, policy expertise, public communication, and trusted advisory work across both enterprise and national-level cyber conversations.
Elise McConnell — Global Senior Information Security Product Manager, Costco Wholesale
Elise McConnell is Global Senior Information Security Product Manager at Costco Wholesale, where she works across cyber fraud and hardware and software data engineering and analysis, with prior responsibilities that included vulnerability remediation management, zero-day response, responsible disclosure and bug bounty, application security, penetration testing, red team engagements, and vulnerability management. Before joining Costco, she spent more than a decade at King County as IT Security Architect, working closely with the CISO to help shape security and privacy strategy, grow the information security function, establish policies and processes, and lead initiatives in endpoint security, awareness, digital forensics, and governance. Earlier roles at Nordstrom, SAP Concur, ITT Technical Institute, and Capital One added experience in operations, compliance, secure service delivery, and instruction. She stands out for her combination of product-minded security leadership and long experience helping mature security programs in both government and enterprise settings.
Randi Levin — Chief Information Officer, Sound Transit
Randi Levin is Chief Information Officer at Sound Transit, bringing more than four decades of experience leading digital transformation and large-scale technology strategy across government, aerospace, entertainment, and private industry. Before joining Sound Transit, she held senior advisory and consulting roles and earlier served as Chief Information Officer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she was accountable for mission and cyber security and led technology efforts supporting major initiatives including Mars missions and Deep Space Network operations. Her career also includes chief technology and information leadership roles with the White House, the City of Los Angeles, NBC Universal, The Walt Disney Company, and other major organizations. She stands out for the scale of her executive experience and for her ability to connect digital transformation, operational modernization, mission-critical technology, and people development.
Ann Johnson — Corporate Vice President & Executive Security Advisor, Microsoft
Ann Johnson is Corporate Vice President & Executive Security Advisor at Microsoft, following an earlier tenure there as Corporate Vice President and Deputy CISO. Her role places her among the most visible security leaders in Washington’s technology ecosystem, with a background that spans executive security leadership, ecosystem engagement, and board and advisory roles across multiple cybersecurity companies and industry organizations. Before joining Microsoft, she served as CEO of Boundless Spatial, President and COO of Qualys, and held senior leadership roles over more than a decade at RSA. She stands out for her influence across the broader cybersecurity industry, her emphasis on trust, privacy, and ecosystem partnership, and her ability to operate at the intersection of enterprise security leadership, strategy, and public-facing cyber dialogue.
Where Washington’s Cyber Leadership Has Real Breadth
The women in this Washington feature reflect a cybersecurity ecosystem with real reach across education, healthcare, transportation, retail, consulting, software, and public infrastructure. Some are securing large operational environments directly, while others are shaping how organizations think about digital trust, resilience, governance, and transformation at the highest levels. That breadth is a major reason Washington continues to matter in cybersecurity. It is not just home to influential companies and institutions, but to leaders whose work helps define how cyber risk is understood, communicated, and managed across multiple sectors.
Explore more profiles of the amazing women shaping cybersecurity across numerous industries in our Women’s Month collection.