Laura Deaner

Laura Deaner is the Chief Information Security Officer of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), appointed in June 2025. At DTCC, a financial market infrastructure company, she oversees the organization's enterprise-wide cyber strategy.

Career path

Deaner began her career at Old Dominion University's College of Engineering as a help desk technician while completing her computer science degree, followed by an internship at Newport News Shipbuilding working with network engineers on equipment installation and troubleshooting. She then worked in a 24/7 Security Operations Center on the night shift as a consultant for a major financial services company, before moving into a role as an Application Security Analyst at another financial services company. She went on to hold leadership roles at Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup.

She was named the first CISO at PR Newswire, where she built a security practice from the ground up and led the company through its first public breach. She joined S&P Global in 2016 as CISO, building an information security program aligned to business priorities and regulation and leading a cyber transformation that included the build-out of Business Information Security Officers.

In February 2021, Northwestern Mutual appointed Deaner as Chief Information Security Officer, making her the first woman to hold the position at the company; she led the Enterprise Information Risk & Cybersecurity team and was responsible for the firm's information security strategy. In that role she was accountable for Northwestern Mutual's enterprise-wide cybersecurity and information risk management strategy, presenting regularly to the Board, regulators, clients and financial advisors.

Board roles and recognition

Deaner has served on the Board of Directors of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) since December 2019 and was re-elected by community vote in 2023. In July 2019 she served as co-chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Futures Council on Cybersecurity, contributing at Davos in 2020. In 2025 she was inducted into the CSO Hall of Fame.

On AI and the future of the CISO role

Discussing emerging technology, Deaner said, "Cybersecurity is going through a real transformation, thanks to machine learning and artificial intelligence." She has also pointed to quantum computing as a near-term priority, saying it could break current encryption methods by 2030 and that this requires companies to inventory cryptography use and audit existing vulnerabilities. She has spoken on panels including at RSA and NYU School of Law, and has appeared on industry podcasts discussing risk reduction and passwordless authentication.