From global money transfers and buy now, pay later loans to bond insurance, regional banking, and asset management, America’s financial services firms move and protect trillions of dollars, making them constant targets for criminals and state-backed attackers. The five CISOs below secure a payments company, a fintech lender, a financial guarantor, one of the country’s largest banks, and an asset manager. Their routes to the role span IT audit, incident response, and network engineering. One built networks for The Wendy’s Company before leading security at a global payments firm. Another has served as CISO of the same company for 26 years. A third competes as a Formula Drift Pro/Am driver when she isn’t securing a fintech platform used by millions.
Jana Moore – SVP & CISO, MoneyGram
Jana Moore began as a global IT manager for systems engineering at MCI WorldCom’s UUNET and spent nearly seven years as a senior network and security engineer at The Wendy’s Company. Over more than a decade at Cardinal Health, she rose from global network security engineer to global business information security officer and director of cyber operations. At vehicle glass repair group Belron she served as CISO for North America and then Global CISO. Moore became SVP and CISO of MoneyGram in September 2025, and spoke on a CISO and CIO fireside chat on navigating risk at GRC Day Columbus in April 2026. She co-founded EmpoWE-R Women of InfoSec, a nonprofit that supports women in cybersecurity through scholarships and community, and sits on the board of advisors of Cyberstarts.
Shyama Rose – CISO & Head of IT, Affirm
Shyama Rose has led security programs across financial services, media, telecommunications, and entertainment for organizations including Nasdaq, CBS, and Live Nation Ticketmaster. At CBS she was the inaugural leader of software security across the corporation and its 22 subsidiaries, while also teaching application security in NYU’s master’s program. As VP of information security at Live Nation, she led security for Ticketmaster, introducing bug bounty and red team testing. She then built Avant’s first enterprise-wide security program as CISO, supported the launch of the Avant Credit Card, and simultaneously led security at Amount, designing the infrastructure for its separation into a standalone company. Rose has served as CISO and head of IT at Affirm since January 2021. She served on the advisory board of Black Hat’s Financial Services Summit, has contributed to publications including The New York Times, Wired, and CNN, and was named to the 2026 CISOs Top 100. Away from security, she competes as a Formula Drift Pro/Am driver.
Matthew Lagana – Managing Director, CTO & CISO, MBIA
Matthew Lagana began as an information system security engineer at Avon and went on to manage its global information security program. He joined MBIA in 2000 as CISO and has held the role for 26 years, while also serving for 15 years as director of information technology, responsible for infrastructure and operations, security architecture, and business continuity. Lagana became managing director, CTO, and CISO in 2020, and since 2024 has also served on the board of National Public Finance Guarantee Corporation, MBIA’s US public finance guarantee subsidiary. A CISM, he has spoken on the SolarWinds breach, advanced persistent threats, and enabling innovation at events including HMG Strategy’s CIO Summit and the Society for Information Management.
Amy Geiger – CISO, Truist
Amy Geiger began as a technology risk consultant at Arthur Andersen and worked as a senior IT auditor at Fifth Third Bancorp and American Electric Power, where she led SOX general computer controls assessments. At Cardinal Health she managed a team of 15 auditors and then implemented an enterprise risk management program in 12 months, reporting to the board. She went on to serve as a managing director in global technology at JPMorgan Chase, then spent more than seven years at Huntington National Bank, leading technology risk and cybersecurity before becoming chief security officer. After serving as a managing director at Accenture, Geiger became CISO of Truist in April 2025. She sits on the global board of FS-ISAC and was a 2026 Carolina CISO ORBIE finalist.
Aaron Katz – Head of Security Driven Infrastructure, TCW
Aaron Katz started as a senior consultant at Ernst & Young and a consultant at Mandiant, carrying out security assessments and incident response. He led threat and vulnerability management at PR Newswire, then built S&P Global’s cyber defense program, covering threat intelligence, monitoring, and incident response, and delivered tabletop exercises to executives worldwide. As CISO of Soros Fund Management, he transformed its security program to meet a unique threat landscape, onboarded a 24/7 security operations center, and led cybersecurity due diligence on portfolio investments. After serving as CISO of Genesis, Katz joined TCW in January 2024 as head of security driven infrastructure. He serves on an Evanta CISO governing body, teaches blockchain and DeFi as a teaching assistant at Harvard Extension School, and was named to the 2026 CISOs Top 100.
Protecting the Financial System
These five leaders show how many paths lead to the top security seat in finance. Moore and Lagana built their careers in network and security engineering, while Geiger came up through IT audit and enterprise risk. Rose and Katz brought software security and incident response experience to fintech and investment firms. Together they protect the money, data, and trust behind American finance.
Discover more CISOs securing their organizations:
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- Vital Signs: America’s Healthcare CISOs to Watch
- Securing the State: The UK’s Government Cybersecurity Leaders to Watch
- Keeping the Shelves Stocked: The UK’s Food and Beverage Cybersecurity Leaders to Watch
- Built on Trust: The UK’s Software CISOs to Watch
- Code You Can Trust: The EU’s Software CISOs to Watch
John Kevin Hao is a news and feature writer covering cybersecurity, technology, and business targeted for professional audiences.