Recipients of first Resilient CISO Award announced at 2026 SC Awards

In partnership with Absolute Security, SC Media is presenting the Resilient CISO Award to five chief information security officers who go beyond traditional security practices to build organizations that can withstand, adapt to, and quickly recover from serious cyber incidents.

"Organizations have accepted that preventing every attack is impossible," says Casie Abello, VP of Corporate Marketing at Absolute Security. "The focus now must shift from pure prevention to resilience. It's about ensuring that while protection remains critical, businesses are prepared to recover quickly and emerge stronger when incidents occur."

Vince Aimutis, vice president — director of information services / CISO of Federated Mutual Insurance Company

We're proud to announce that one of the five recipients of the Resilient CISO Award is Vince Aimutis, CISO, vice president and director of information services at Federated Mutual Insurance Company, a nationwide insurance provider based in Owatonna, Minnesota.

"Vince makes security approachable by offering solutions — not roadblocks — and by proactively engaging leaders before issues arise," said one of the anonymous nominators who put Mr. Aimutis' name forward.

"During the Scattered Spider threat surge," wrote another, "he partnered closely with IT, networking, HR, and operations to build rapid, coordinated defenses without slowing critical business functions. His 'across‑the‑aisle' leadership on Zero Trust networking initiatives has helped teams modernize infrastructure while preserving speed, stability, and user experience."

Mr. Aimutis has spent nearly 20 years at Federated Insurance, starting as a system developer and rising through the ranks as a corporate project manager and a deputy CISO before reaching his current position.

"In 2025, Vince launched a continuous red team program, shifting validation from periodic testing to ongoing assessment of detection and response capabilities," said one of the nominating submissions.

Mr. Aimutis is also a board member at the Minnesota chapter of CIOs Against Cancer, a member of the advisory board of the peer-leadership network Minnesota CISO, and an advisor to Red Canary.

"Vince has built a high‑performing security organization by setting clear priorities, empowering individuals, and modeling a calm, consistent leadership style," said another submission. "He strengthens team capability through continuous improvement cycles, transparent communication, and a culture that values readiness over reaction. His leadership has resulted in a mature, coordinated security function capable of handling advanced threats and executing strategic initiatives with confidence and precision."

Please join us in congratulating Vince Aimutis as one of this year's Resilient CISO Award honorees.

Andres Andreu, CISO and CEO of Constella Intelligence

We're proud to announce that one of the five recipients of the Resilient CISO Award is Andres Andreu, CISO at Constella Intelligence, a risk-intelligence provider based in Redwood Shores, California.

"He gains support by making security a business enabler in the real world, not just talking a good game about it," wrote one of the people nominating Mr. Andreu for this award. "In moments of pressure, he is calm, factual, and decisive, clarifying decision rights and keeping both stakeholders and operators aligned."

"Andres translates business initiatives into clear, role-based requirements, then enables teams with reusable tools: reference architectures, 'secure defaults' in pipelines, and practical/adaptable playbooks that reduce friction," reads another nomination submission. "He also recognizes and rewards cross-functional collaboration, helping colleagues anticipate risks early and solve them before they become outages or customer-impacting events."

Mr. Andreu joined Constella Intelligence as COO and CISO in March 2025 and traded the COO role for the CEO one that September. Previously, he was deputy CISO at Hearst, CISO at online-education provider 2U, and CTO and CISO at industrial and IT network-security provider Bayshore Networks.

"Andres strengthens awareness by making it subjective, simple, relevant, and action-oriented," said another nomination submission. "He reinforces habits through leadership participation and timely lessons-learned that focus on behaviors, not blame."

Mr. Andreu is currently a venture consultant and cybersecurity advisory council member at Forgepoint Capital, and has held positions at Ogilvy and Mather, the Princeton Review and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"Andres consistently shares the 'why”' behind product and solution choices by publishing and speaking on the risks he sees accelerating, especially identity-driven exposure, AI-enabled attack scale, and operational resilience gaps," said a nomination submission.

Please join us in congratulating Andres Andreu as one of this year's Resilient CISO Award honorees.

Sharon Kelley, executive director for information security and chief information security officer for the New Jersey Institute of Technology

We're proud to announce that one of the five recipients of the Resilient CISO Award is Sharon Kelley, CISO and executive director for information security at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, New Jersey.

"Sharon Kelley has built a strong, resilient IT security team by prioritizing mentorship, structured learning and real-world operational exposure," reads one of the peer submissions nominating Ms. Kelley for this award. "She recognizes that technical skill alone is not enough; developing judgment, accountability and confidence is critical in cybersecurity."

"Through her involvement in establishing a student-powered SOC, she has contributed to a replicable approach that integrates operational security with workforce development," said another submission. "Her work demonstrates how institutions can strengthen defenses while creating meaningful career pathways for emerging talent — an issue of growing concern across the cybersecurity community."

Before she joined NJIT in mid-2023, Ms. Kelley was director of information security and compliance at Hudson, the travel-oriented retailer based in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Previously, she was a security professional at the Bergen County, New Jersey, prosecutor's office and a systems engineer at NIKSUN, a network-security provider in Princeton, New Jersey.

"Rather than relying solely on formal training programs, she emphasizes experiential learning through real-world incident response, threat analysis and collaboration with industry partners," said another nominating submission. "This commitment to continuous improvement ensures that NJIT's security capabilities evolve alongside the threat landscape and that team members remain adaptable, confident and prepared for increasingly complex challenges."

Ms. Kelley also spent more than 15 years as a network engineer and security consultant at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, and has also held positions at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the Bessemer Trust in Woodbridge, New Jersey.

Please join us in congratulating Sharon Kelley as one of this year's Resilient CISO Award honorees.

Allen Ohanian, CISO at the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services

We're proud to announce that one of the five recipients of the Resilient CISO Award is Allen Ohanian, CISO at the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in California.

"He empowers colleagues by making security an accelerator rather than a gate," reads one of the nomination submissions on Mr. Ohanian's behalf. "He embeds security early — requirements, architecture, procurement, and evidence — so teams avoid late-stage surprises and rework."

"With builder-level credibility as a former lead engineer, he institutionalized DevSecOps by deploying AppSec scanning (WhiteHat → Black Duck) and enforcing repeatable SDLC gates: SAST/DAST run in multiple cycles, findings are triaged quickly, and releases are blocked unless all findings — low, medium, high, and critical — are remediated before production," stated another submission.

Before he joined the L.A. County DCFS, where he has been for nearly 10 years, Mr. Ohanian spent nearly five years as the Information Security and Privacy Officer at the L.A. County Office of the County Counsel.

"As a PhD candidate in I/O Psychology — and a dissertation committee member — he translates research on culture, trust, and risk-taking into adoption strategies that work in the field," said a nomination submission. "He also advises and builds an AI-driven governance platform, converting operational lessons into scalable tooling."

"He strengthens awareness through a behavior-based program designed to change decisions, not just complete training," reads another. "He runs phishing simulations twice per month, tracks trends, and groups repeat failures for targeted coaching to pinpoint why the error occurred and how to prevent it."

Please join us in congratulating Allen Ohanian as one of this year's Resilient CISO Award honorees.

Rinki Sethi, CISO and CSO at Upwind Security

We're proud to announce that one of the five recipients of the Resilient CISO Award is Rinki Sethi, CISO and CSO at Upwind Security, a cloud-security provider based in San Francisco.

"Rinki Sethi has an impressive background focusing on what enables the business to move faster while balancing security, risks and overall resiliency from an operations and business perspective," wrote one of the judges for the Resilient CISO Award.

"Rinki has earned the trust of executive teams and boards by reframing cybersecurity as a business enabler, not just a control function," noted one of the nomination submissions on her behalf. "At Twitter, she stepped into the CISO role in the wake of the 2020 account-hijacking incident, partnering with executives and the board to rebuild trust and strengthen operational resilience."

Before she joined Upwind Security early in 2025, Ms. Sethi was the CISO and a vice president at BILL, a financial-automation-software provider based in San Jose, California. Before that, as already mentioned, she was CISO and a vice president at Twitter.

"For over two decades, Rinki has been a visible, trusted voice shaping how the industry thinks about resilience," stated another nomination submission. "She has led security at household-name brands, serves on multiple cybersecurity boards, and is a founding partner at Lockstep Ventures, a fund focused on the next generation of security innovation."

"Beyond her executive roles," that submission adds, "she helped design cybersecurity curricula and badges like for the Girl Scouts, bringing security education to new communities, and mentors emerging leaders, especially women and underrepresented talent."

In addition to her partnership at Lockstep Ventures, Ms. Sethi is an advisor to the online security-news publication Dark Reading and has served on boards of directors and in advisory positions for Vaultree, Living Security, ForgeRock and Oort, among others.

Before Twitter, she held information-security positions at IBM, Palo Alto Networks, Intuit, eBay, Walmart and PG&E, also holding vice-president rank at the first two.

"Rinki consistently anchors security to business outcomes, helping colleagues see how strong security can unlock growth," said another submission. "She empowers teams by giving them clear priorities, pragmatic guardrails, and modern tooling that reduces alert fatigue so they can focus on what actually moves the needle. Her leadership style — high expectations combined with high support — has helped teams execute ambitious digital and cloud transformations safely."

Please join us in congratulating Rinki Sethi as one of this year's Resilient CISO Award honorees.