Donna Kidwell named ASU's Chief Information Security & Digital Trust Officer
Since August, UTO has been engaged in "UTO 2.1" -- our new approach to being a rapidly reconfigurable and entrepreneurial organizational structure that prioritizes and executes projects to better meet theneeds of our community.
So, when it came to planning for the future of the Chief Information Security Officer post after Tina Thorstenson left, it was important to look at it through our UTO 2.1 lens. It is not merely about replacing a position but shaping and realizing our future vision.
I'm pleased to share that we have developed the role of Chief Information Security & Digital Trust Officer and effective today (November 30, 2020), Donna Kidwell will be serving ASU in this groundbreaking role.
Donna joins us from EdPlus, where she has been Chief Technology Officer since August 2018. At EdPlus, Donna has led a diverse IT portfolio and amazing team centered around digitally serving learners everywhere. One such initiative has been the Trusted Learner Network, which has been a partnership between EdPlus and UTO -- and a foundational element of the CISDTO position.
In her new role as CISDTO, Donna has stewardship of the portfolio of both internal and external facing technical and socio-technical elements reflecting the full breadth of the University’s digital infrastructure as well as the ongoing need to educate the campus community. This is not a role that has historically existed at universities, but we innovate to meet the opportunities of the next generation.
Over the next decade, ASU’s ‘customer set’ will continue to evolve and so too does the design and the role of the information security portfolio. There will be more students engaged in learning online than in the digital immersive campus experience. This will require ASU to be intentional in the way we design and confer trust to the learner and their needs.
ASU’s institution-wide approach to information security must therefore be able to meet learners where they are and to provide flexibility by design to produce the premier learning experience that will differentiate ASU going forward. We look forward to welcoming Donna aboard to help us shape a future of higher education and digital trust that affords learners greater agency.
Key CISDTO portfolio elements include:
Cyber-risk and cyber-security
Design thinking strategies
Visibility and stakeholder inclusion
Designing and building internal and external trust
Empathy at the core of trust delivery
While cyber-risk and -security are part of this portfolio, please note that security operations will remain within UTO’s Service Delivery Core, as we’ve taken important steps recently to strategically align our security ops with our service delivery. Security services (e.g., risk assessment and incident response) are now part of our service delivery by design. Donna will be partnering with COO Jess Evans and team.
Please join me in officially welcoming Donna to UTO! You’ll be able to get to know her in an upcoming UTO newsroom Q&A so watch this space.
Forks up!
-Lev