(Valerie Abend, managing director, Accenture Security – Financial Services, North America.)
Accenture (Dublin) has announced that former U.S. Treasury official Valerie Abend has joined the firm as managing director, Accenture Security – Financial Services, North America. Abend has more than 20 years of public and private sector experience in the critical infrastructure and cybersecurity fields and has extensive expertise deploying cyber risk management and mitigation strategies to counter the wide spectrum of threats facing the financial services industry.
Kelly Bissell, Managing Director, Accenture Security.
Abend served as Senior Critical Infrastructure Officer at the U.S. Department of Treasury (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) advising U.S. banking regulatory principals on cybersecurity. Prior to joining the OCC, she led Bank of New York Mellon’s global business partnerships for information risk management as well as the bank’s external relationships with government, trade associations and industry groups.
“Valerie has been at the heart of cybersecurity issues affecting the U.S. financial system. Her vision in sector-wide cyber risk management issues will add tremendous value in helping our clients manage security at the intersection of regulation, technology, operations and innovation such as Blockchain and Fintech,” comments Kelly Bissell, managing director, Accenture Security. “As we continue to serve our clients across the globe, Valerie brings tremendous leadership and regulatory experience that will be instrumental in furthering our strategic goals. We are thrilled to welcome her to our growing team.”
Innovating to Achieve Strategic Business Objectives
“Financial institutions are on the front lines defending against sophisticated threat actors targeting the institutions’ customers, employees and third parties,” comments Abend. “I have spent my career helping financial institutions manage these security challenges and mitigate risks so they can focus on innovating to achieve their strategic business objectives. I am excited to join Accenture because it has the global presence and industry know-how needed to solve complex security challenges for clients.”
Abend is the latest of several high-level cybersecurity experts to join Accenture, following the June 2016 hiring of Kelly Bissell to head Accenture Security, the Sept. 2016 appointment of Gus Hunt to lead Accenture Federal Services’ Cybersecurity Practice, and the Dec. 2016 Justin Harvey to lead the company’s Incident Response Practice.
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