Serena Bryson
Serena Bryson is a senior security program leader with over a decade of experience designing, building, and scaling information security programs across healthcare, financial services, and federally regulated environments. A former Director of Information Security and Compliance and current Senior Information Security Program Manager, Serena is known for her ability to translate complex regulatory and risk requirements into practical, resilient security programs that support business growth rather than slow it down. Her expertise spans cloud security architecture, governance, ZTNA/SASE implementation, and multi-framework compliance, including PCI DSS, HIPAA, FISMA, SOC 1/2, and HITRUST.
Serena approaches security as an interconnected ecosystem where technology, human behavior, operations, and risk converge. She specializes in identifying friction points within systems, understanding their root causes, and redesigning controls so security aligns with how organizations actually work. Her leadership style emphasizes clarity, intentional design, and scalability—building controls once and mapping them intelligently across frameworks to create sustainable, efficient security operations.
With a strong foundation in biology and information technology management, and credentials including CISSP and CASP+, Serena brings both analytical rigor and strategic perspective to her work. Beyond execution, she is an active thought leader and speaker in the cybersecurity community, regularly sharing insights on governance, risk, and human-centered security design. Serena is driven by a commitment to protecting what matters while building programs that evolve with purpose and integrity.
• Microsoft Security Immersion Completion Badge
• CompTIA SecurityX ce Certification
• (ISC)2 Security CISSP
• Third Party Risk Management
• Systems Security Certified Practitioner
• Incident Management
• Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt
• CompTIA Security+ ce
• Colorado Technical University- M.S.M.
• Belmont Abbey College- B.A.
• (ISC)2
• InfraGard
• QC SuperMom
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to a way of thinking that blends systems thinking, sociological insight, and pattern recognition. I don’t look at problems in isolation. I look at how people, processes, power structures, and technology interact. Understanding human behavior and organizational dynamics has been just as critical to my work as technical expertise. Over time, this lens has allowed me to spot patterns others miss, identify root causes instead of surface symptoms, and design solutions that actually work in the real world, not just theoretically. That ability to see the system, not just the task, has shaped every meaningful outcome in my career.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I’ve ever received is simple: every problem can be analyzed. Once you believe that, nothing feels impossible, only unexplored.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say, “Focus on understanding the logic behind what you’re doing, not just the tools—if you grasp why something works, you can apply that same reasoning to any tool or technology you encounter.”
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges in information security right now is that organizations are still trying to solve systemic problems with tactical fixes. We invest in tools faster than we invest in understanding how people, processes, incentives, and culture shape risk. That gap creates complexity without clarity and burnout without resilience.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values that matter most to me both professionally and personally are definitely integrity, clarity, and humanity. Integrity means doing what’s right even when it’s inconvenient or unseen. Clarity means creating understanding where there is complexity whether in systems, relationships, or decisions. And humanity means never losing sight of the people behind the process.
I believe excellence doesn’t require hardness, and strength doesn’t require disconnection. In every space I move through, I try to lead in a way that honors people as whole humans while still holding high standards for rigor, accountability, and impact. That balance between precision and compassion is what I strive to live out every day.
