Chris Gergen

Chris Gergen is the Chief Information Security Officer of North Dakota Information Technology (NDIT), appointed in July 2025.

He oversees the state's information security program. That work covers protecting enterprise systems from internal and external threats and advising on key cyber issues.

Career path

Gergen has worked in North Dakota state government since 2012. His public service career began at the Bank of North Dakota, where he held several roles. GovTech reported that before NDIT he also held technology roles with Deloitte and the Center for Innovation. The sources give no dates or sequence for those positions.

He joined NDIT in 2019. The agency's leadership page lists his starting title as Senior Security Analyst, while its appointment announcement names that first role as Cyber Analysis and Response Lead. In that period he helped establish the state's Cyber Operations Center.

He was promoted to Director of Cyber Operations in 2022, leading teams responsible for delivering cybersecurity services.

According to GovTech, citing LinkedIn, he took on the interim CISO role in February. NDIT then named him permanent CISO on July 8, 2025. NDIT presented the appointment as a promotion from within its own ranks.

He holds a bachelor's degree in accountancy with a minor in information systems from the University of North Dakota. He is a former CPA and holds multiple cybersecurity certifications. NDIT and GovTech both credit him with nearly two decades of experience across cybersecurity, risk management and information technology.

A whole-of-state security remit

In a September 2025 GovTech interview, Gergen described leading North Dakota's whole-of-state strategy. That strategy is built around STAGEnet, the statewide network created by the 1999 legislative session, which all state agencies, colleges and universities, local governments and K-12 entities are required to use. He argued that raising the security posture of those connected entities strengthens the network and the state as a whole.

The state provides local governments and educational institutions with endpoint protection, vulnerability management, cybersecurity maturity assessments and security awareness training.

His initial priorities were modernization and investment in tools for faster threat detection and response. These included consolidating endpoint security onto one platform to enable more automation and, eventually, AI-enhanced monitoring. His team created guidance on the risks of deepfake media for state officials. Gergen said that because adversaries already use AI, defenders should apply it to anomaly detection and response automation, an option state officials are exploring.

North Dakota also shares threat intelligence with more than 10 states through a multistate Joint-Cybersecurity Operations Command Center. Gergen framed his function as supporting the wider business of government: "I see IT as an enabler of business, and I honestly see cybersecurity as an enabler of business".

Legislative testimony and events

On July 8, 2026, Gergen presented to a legislative interim meeting in his capacity as Chief Information Security Officer of the Information Technology Department. The minutes record that the department may enter memorandums of understanding or mutual aid agreements with state, local and tribal governments to provide cybersecurity consulting, strategy and prevention. They also note that participation in cybersecurity maturity assessments fell from 42 percent in 2020 to 16 percent during the 2025-26 interim.

The North Dakota Digital Government Summit in Bismarck lists him among its speakers as Chief Information Security Officer of NDIT.