Kelli Burns serves as SVP, chief information security officer at Accolade. She leads a team of information security professionals supporting Accolade's vision to create and maintain a best-in-class information security and privacy posture supporting growth and maintaining the trust of customers and members. Before joining Accolade, Burns held multiple positions at Symetra Financial including CISO. During this time, she was pivotal in building out the cybersecurity program and enabling the business to make decisions swiftly while protecting the data of customers and employees. Expanding her leadership role beyond her technical capabilities, Burns was the founding leader and executive sponsor for Symetra’s Diversity and Inclusion Council and developed their IT Emerging Leaders enterprise program. She is well-regarded in the Seattle community for mentoring women in cybersecurity and technology. Burns holds a B.S. in Management Information Systems from the University of Montana and is currently pursuing her MBA from Penn State University.
As companies review their processes, below are three approaches they can keep top of mind — namely, increasing employee training and utilizing technology as safeguards, making a point to learn and change processes following attacks, and prioritizing vetting partners’ security.