SEC Names CIA Veteran Zerrusen to Cybersecurity Post

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday that CIA veteran Kevin Zerrusen has been named to serve as Chairman Jay Clayton’s senior advisor for cybersecurity policy.

Zerrusen — who currently serves as chair of the Intelligence National Security Alliance’s Cyber Council, a group chartered to promote effective public-private sector collaboration on cybersecurity issues — will coordinate efforts across the agency to address cybersecurity policy, engage with external stakeholders, and help enhance the SEC’s mechanisms for assessing cyber-related risks.

For the past five years, Zerrusen has served as managing director at Goldman Sachs, where he led initiatives to strengthen technology risk governance, incident management and insider threat programs.

“The Commission has the dual responsibility to promote efforts by market participants to address cyber risks and respond to cyber events as well as our own obligations to address cyber risks and prepare for cyber events affecting the agency itself,” said Clayton in a statement. “Kevin’s wide range of expertise regarding cybersecurity risk and financial markets, including 30 years in the intelligence community, will be invaluable to our continued pursuit of these important efforts.”

Zerrusen added in the statement that he looks forward to working Clayton, the SEC staff, and our fellow financial regulators “to continue to counter the cyber threat and increase the SEC’s security and resiliency posture.”

A 30-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, Zerrusen’s responsibilities included running the agency’s cyber center, which was responsible for analyzing, evaluating and countering foreign cyber threats.

He earned his MBA from Syracuse University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Dayton.