Erik Avakian is Technical Counselor for Cybersecurity with Info-Tech Research Group and former state Chief Information Security Officer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Erik has over 30 years enterprise level leadership experience in cybersecurity program management, strategy, service delivery and program execution. In his 12 1/2-year tenure in the state CISO role, Erik amassed a wide range of practical cybersecurity experience in organizational information security strategy, service design, policy, governance, risk management, and compliance. Erik led numerous successful enterprise projects and strategic initiatives in areas including state-wide IT transformation, multi-factor authentication, endpoint detection, security awareness, data protection, identity management, and cyber incident response. Erik’s accomplishments and contributions to the security profession have been nationally recognized. In 2015, Erik was named by GovTech as one of the top 10 Influencers in Government. Erik received a Top 50 in Cybersecurity from StateScoop in 2018 and was named a Top 25 Doer, Dreamer & Driver from GovTech in 2019. During his public sector tenure, Erik served on the MS-ISAC Executive Committee for 8 years and chaired the CISA SLTTGCC where he assisted with developing the nationwide strategic approach for cybersecurity. He is a frequent public speaker and is a published author. Erik holds numerous industry certifications including Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified Information Security Auditor (CISA), Certified Government Chief Information Officer (CGCIO) and is ITIL v3 certified. He an active member of the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC2) and the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).