Her Story
About Nancy
Nancy Grimes has been in cybersecurity for 6 years, focusing on mainframe cybersecurity as the legacy backbone for banking, financial, and government industries. Her work involves assessing the mainframe through audits, reviewing RACF logs, analyzing Splunk data for accesses, identifying gaps, and performing gap analysis. She joined Kyndryl one month ago after working at Nobles, a government contractor, where contracts were canceled. Grimes began her career in development, progressed to architecting systems, and transitioned into cybersecurity. She earned a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1986 and holds certifications including Security Plus CE, SANS GCLD, IBM Cybersecurity Analyst Certificate, and EC Council Certified Security Analyst. She is a member of ISC2, ISACA, CompTIA, and Women in Cybersecurity. Grimes was featured in the Marquis Who's Who of America 26-27 edition and selected as a Top Influential Woman for 2026. She attributes her success to enjoying puzzles and figuring out the unknown by digging into details to identify anomalous behavior. Grimes advises not to stop learning to avoid being left behind by technology and encourages young women not to be intimidated, to pursue their dreams, and not to let anyone tell them they cannot succeed.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Nancy
01What do you attribute your success to?
I like puzzles and figuring out the unknown. I don't like to not understand how something works. I like to dig into the details and figure things out. That is an essential part of my job in cybersecurity - you have to know what is happening and identify anomalous behavior.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Don't stop learning. Because if you stop learning and technology, you're going to be left behind.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't be intimidated. Pursue your dreams. Do not let anyone stop you, and do not let anyone tell you that you can't.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Being a woman in the industry. Women are still not viewed as equals to men. You have to assert yourself and make sure people understand you know what you're talking about. When starting out it's a bigger factor.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Work is honesty, a work-home balance. In my personal life, it would be my family, And God.
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