New Jersey’s cybersecurity leadership spans banking, insurance, healthcare, consumer products, higher education, and state government, giving the state one of the deeper benches of security executives in the country. The leaders in this group are shaping cyber resilience in sectors where trust, operational continuity, and regulatory discipline are critical.
Vivin Varghese — Chief Information Security Officer, Provident Bank
Vivin Varghese serves as Chief Information Security Officer at Provident Bank, headquartered in Iselin, New Jersey. He brings more than 16 years of experience across financial services, government, and higher education, with deep expertise in cybersecurity strategy, security architecture, regulatory compliance, threat intelligence, third-party risk, incident response, and board-level communication. Before joining Provident Bank, he served as CISO at Customers Bank, led university-wide cyber initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, and worked on classified systems and networks at SAIC. His background gives him a strong mix of technical, regulatory, and executive leadership experience in highly sensitive environments.
Dan Manley — Chief Information Security Officer, Prudential Financial
Dan Manley serves as Chief Information Security Officer at Prudential Financial, which is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. He brings roughly three decades of experience across cybersecurity, technology, risk management, audit, business resiliency, and large-scale program delivery. Prior to joining Prudential, he was Managing Director and CISO at CME Group, and earlier held senior roles at Allstate and KPMG, where he advised highly regulated organizations on information protection, IAM, compliance, continuity, and governance. His experience across financial services, healthcare, and telecommunications makes him one of the more seasoned cyber leaders in New Jersey’s corporate landscape.
Hussein Syed — Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, RWJBarnabas Health
Hussein Syed serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at RWJBarnabas Health, where he has spent more than two decades building and leading security within one of the state’s major healthcare organizations. His long tenure across director and CISO roles reflects deep institutional knowledge and sustained leadership in healthcare cybersecurity. With experience spanning IT strategy, healthcare technology, and information security, Syed stands out as a key leader in protecting complex clinical and operational environments where uptime, privacy, and resilience are essential.
David Ortiz — Global Chief Information Security Officer, Church & Dwight Co., Inc.
David Ortiz is Global Chief Information Security Officer at Church & Dwight, based in Ewing, New Jersey. In his role, he has led the transformation of the company’s global information security strategy across risk management, compliance, architecture, cloud security, and cyber operations, while safeguarding both corporate and manufacturing information assets. His profile stands out for connecting cybersecurity to broader governance, enterprise risk, and business strategy, making him a notable figure in New Jersey’s mix of consumer products, industrial operations, and executive-level cyber leadership.
Michael Geraghty — Chief Information Security Officer, State of New Jersey
Michael Geraghty serves as Chief Information Security Officer for the State of New Jersey and is also the first Director of the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell. He is responsible for providing strategic vision, leadership, and oversight for cybersecurity across the Executive Branch, ensuring that state security efforts align with broader business and operational objectives. Under his leadership, the NJCCIC has become a central hub for threat intelligence, alerts, information sharing, and best practices for government, private sector organizations, academia, and citizens. His role makes him one of the most important public-sector cybersecurity leaders in the state.
Sharon Kelley — Executive Director of Information Security and Chief Information Security Officer, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Sharon Kelley serves as Executive Director of Information Security and CISO at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. She brings nearly two decades of experience in architecting, implementing, and supporting advanced security, network, and systems environments, along with experience in frameworks such as NIST, PCI, HIPAA, and CJIS. Her background combines infrastructure depth with leadership in security strategy, compliance, crisis management, and operational planning. In a state with a strong mix of public research, technical talent, and regulated industries, Kelley represents the growing importance of higher education cybersecurity leadership.
New Jersey’s Cybersecurity Leadership Has Real Breadth
What makes New Jersey stand out is the range of organizations where cybersecurity leadership is taking shape. From banks and insurers to hospitals, universities, manufacturers, and state government, these executives are helping define how resilience, governance, and security strategy are applied in some of the most operationally demanding environments in the region.
For more profiles of security executives across sectors and geographies, explore the CISOs to Watch tag.