NASCIO Recognizes State Chief Information Security Officers with Jarrett Scholarship

AUSTIN, Tex., Monday, October 2 — The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) has awarded the Thomas M. Jarrett Cybersecurity Scholarship to three exceptional state Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) for the 2017 Annual Conference in Austin. This is the fifth year for the scholarship program, which was created to pay homage to Thomas M. Jarrett, past president of NASCIO (2004 – 2005), for his passion for cybersecurity. The scholarship grants current CISOs the opportunity to attend the NASCIO Annual Conference and contribute to the national dialogue on cybersecurity and related issues. 

The 2017 Thomas M. Jarrett Cybersecurity Scholarship recipients are Erik Avakian, Chief Information Security Officer, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (nominated by John MacMillan, Deputy Secretary of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania); Stan Gatewood, Chief Information Security Officer, State of Georgia (nominated by Calvin Rhodes, Executive Director and State Chief Information Officer, State of Georgia); and Kirk Lonbom, Chief Information Security Officer and Acting Chief Information Officer, State of Illinois (nominated by Hardik Bhatt, former Chief Information Officer, State of Illinois).