Karen Worstell
Ms. Karen Worstell entertains with personal and industry anecdotes and inspires with specific strategies to stay the course and thrive in high-stress situations, rather than just "play through the pain." As a tech industry executive for high profile companies, and a highly skilled coach for technical leaders, she brings warmth as well as knowledge so your audience will have actionable steps to take back to the workplace that will positively impact productivity, innovation, and retention of top talent.
Karen got hooked on everything cybersecurity when her grad school professor encrypted the final exam.
Karen served as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Microsoft Corporation. As Microsoft's CISO, Ms. Worstell was responsible for securing Microsoft's information assets worldwide and defending internal assets against cybercrime. She joined Microsoft in early 2005, and led policy development and deployment, IT governance, system security analysis and engineering, assessment and compliance, investigations, and the Security Center of Excellence.
Prior to joining Microsoft, she was the VP of IT Risk Management and CISO for AT&T Wireless (now Cingular) where she played a key role in the successful implementation of general computer controls for Sarbanes-Oxley. She has 30 years of information security experience spans the government classified and commercial sectors.
Before joining AT&T Wireless she led the Security practice for SRI International's consulting division and its spin-off, Atomic Tangerine, where she assisted clients with opportunity analysis for information security start-ups, led product development and security research on emerging trends, and consulted with global Fortune 500 and government customers in the U.S., Singapore and Europe. She served as President and Chief Executive Officer at AtomicTangerine, Inc. She has also served in senior information security roles at Bank of America, Boeing Defense and Space, Boeing Research and Technology, and Union Carbide Corporation. She served one term on the Computer Systems Security and Privacy Advisory Board of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
She holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Washington, and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Pacific Lutheran University. She is trained in resilience coaching through Robbins-Madanes Institute and with 2000 hours of supervised clinical training in acute care centers and the VA hospital as a pastoral care provider.
Karen is the founder and Managing Principal of W Risk Group LLC. She tweets at @karenworstell. Her newest publication is "Your Amazing Itty Bitty® Personal Data Protection Book: 15 Keys to Minimize Your Exposure to Cybercrime Using These Essential Steps" available on Amazon.
Ms. Karen Worstell entertains with personal and industry anecdotes and inspires with specific strategies to stay the course and thrive in high-stress situations, rather than just "play through the pain." As a tech industry executive for high profile companies, and a highly skilled coach for technical leaders, she brings warmth as well as knowledge so your audience will have actionable steps to take back to the workplace that will positively impact productivity, innovation, and retention of top talent.
Karen got hooked on everything cybersecurity when her grad school professor encrypted the final exam.
Karen served as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Microsoft Corporation. As Microsoft's CISO, Ms. Worstell was responsible for securing Microsoft's information assets worldwide and defending internal assets against cybercrime. She joined Microsoft in early 2005, and led policy development and deployment, IT governance, system security analysis and engineering, assessment and compliance, investigations, and the Security Center of Excellence.
Prior to joining Microsoft, she was the VP of IT Risk Management and CISO for AT&T Wireless (now Cingular) where she played a key role in the successful implementation of general computer controls for Sarbanes-Oxley. She has 30 years of information security experience spans the government classified and commercial sectors.
Before joining AT&T Wireless she led the Security practice for SRI International's consulting division and its spin-off, Atomic Tangerine, where she assisted clients with opportunity analysis for information security start-ups, led product development and security research on emerging trends, and consulted with global Fortune 500 and government customers in the U.S., Singapore and Europe. She served as President and Chief Executive Officer at AtomicTangerine, Inc. She has also served in senior information security roles at Bank of America, Boeing Defense and Space, Boeing Research and Technology, and Union Carbide Corporation. She served one term on the Computer Systems Security and Privacy Advisory Board of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
She holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Washington, and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Pacific Lutheran University. She is trained in resilience coaching through Robbins-Madanes Institute and with 2000 hours of supervised clinical training in acute care centers and the VA hospital as a pastoral care provider.
Karen is the founder and Managing Principal of W Risk Group LLC. She tweets at @karenworstell. Her newest publication is "Your Amazing Itty Bitty® Personal Data Protection Book: 15 Keys to Minimize Your Exposure to Cybercrime Using These Essential Steps" available on Amazon.
