Kendrick Conner Email & Phone Number

Remote

Providing executive advisory services for Fintech, Auto and Retail companies worth a combined $25B in revenue. At each company I provide strategic leadership and guidance, risk management, incident response, security awareness & training, compliance and governance, vendor management and board-level reporting.

Amsterdam Area

I was brought in to build and implement the global information security program after Nouryon separated from its parent company. Working closely with the executive team, I steered cloud security, IT security strategy, operations, organization, and program for business and operational technology across 80+ worldwide locations.► Shaped the information security program and team in 3 months. Included processes, policies, controls, talent restructuring, budget, and a cyber risk dashboard. A 2023/2024 third-party assessment identified no deficiencies.► Increased the company’s score on the 4-point version of the Cybersecurity Capacity Maturity Model (CMM) by 1.25 points, attaining 1 point higher than the industry average and at a cost that’s $2M below the industry average. My team won the 2023 Chairman’s Award.► Cut vulnerabilities per system 82% by establishing a vulnerability management program. Collaborated to gain leadership buy-in, designed the program, remediated vulnerabilities, and placed outstanding items on the Risk Register.► Built a 3-year risk strategy, new governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) team, and risk management system to enable visibility into the risk appetite, risk profile, and controls. Additionally, influenced the development of an Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) program.► Averted a rise in the premium for cybersecurity insurance renewal without decreasing coverage by exploring, planning, and executing targeted cyber security initiatives to reduce risk.► Led the implementation of security at 60 global production sites 6-12 months faster than anticipated through partnership with site managers. Steered the project from business case through adoption.

Atlanta, Ga

Reporting to the CIO, I established the global IT security program, scaled internal and external teams, and managed an 8-figure budget. I managed security strategy, cloud security, cybersecurity, DevSecOps, threat & vulnerability management, risk assessment, risk management, and security operations.► Formed the global IT security leadership team, mission, vision, and security roadmap and launched the first cloud security initiative.► Raised the Cybersecurity Capacity Maturity Model (CMM) score by 1.25 points, exceeding the goal. Implemented NIST CSF, built a new vulnerability management program, and created a compliance program for PCI, SOX, SWIFT, GDPR, CCPA, and the China Cyber Security Law. Rebuilt the IAM program; deployed endpoint protection and response.► Increased overall security tool availability from ~75% to 99.99%.► In first 2 weeks, eradicated incoming phishing and spam emails by sourcing a solution vendor, forming an implementation team, leading roll-out of an email filtering program, and guiding the company through the change.► Achieved record SLA compliance and 7-figure savings in 1 year by outsourcing 24x7 security operations, security engineering, and QA testing. Oversaw contract negotiation, advised on metrics, headed transition, integrated security into SDLC, and increased SDLC automation.► Enabled consistency in security projects, minimized scope creep, and drove governance. Redesigned project processes from kick-off to approval, documentation, tracking, scope management, goal-setting, and timelines.► Transformed employee engagement to exceed that of all teams companywide through a culture of transparency, open communication, and inclusion. Led highest participation on the engagement survey.► Engendered a corporate culture and leadership team that viewed security through a risk lens, yielding lower insurance, IT, and other costs. Initiated a reevaluation of IT risks, alignment of risk to cost, and risk mitigation.

Duluth, Ga

I spearheaded global security operations teams of 30+ people, controlled a 7-figure budget, and reported to the CISO. I brought new capabilities to enterprise security, implementing solutions for cloud security, forensics, engineering, operations, endpoint protection, detection, threat intelligence, and threat hunting.► Raised the CMM score by 2.25 points.► Formed an incident response program that reduced security incidents 70% and developed a vulnerability management program that cut vulnerabilities 80%+. Hired and trained program talent, led program and process development, and drove implementation.► Strengthened threat detection and reduced effort by overhauling threat detection operations and integrating threat intelligence, EDR, and UEBA data through security automation and orchestration.► Established the private and SaaS cloud security program.► Almost eradicated executive phishing attacks and minimized malware cases across corporate email.► Maintained the highest engagement scores and an industry-leading turnover rate.

I drove the Security Services strategy, an 8-figure P&L, and 40+ Tier 1-3 staff. I also steered a revamp of security services and oversaw professional security service contracts for 150+ companies.► Reached and maintained zero customer attrition, boosted net profit 160% YoY, and more than doubled team efficiency. Launched retraining for all 40 employees on customer service. Streamlined processes, reconfigured service offerings, improved code, and managed SIEM systems and the cloud-based SIEM solution.► Accelerated the response and analysis for customer alerts from 2 hours to 30 minutes and trimmed costs by redesigning the end-to-end ticketing flow in ServiceNow.

I directed all 26 security operations programs, ~22 large-scale projects annually, and millions of dollars in security projects each year.► Guided the GRC team in building a companywide risk program, encompassing risk across internal, partner, vendor, retail, and software development operations.

I was honored with an invitation into Transformation Leaders, IBM’s Leadership Program for the top 1% of performers.My roles of increasing responsibility included:Principal, Security Services | Apr 2005 - Nov 2006Vulnerability Service Manager | Dec 2004 - Jan 2006Security Engineer | Oct 2002 - Dec 2004Security Operations Team Lead | Nov 1999 - Oct 2002