Kenny Sparks

About Kenny Sparks

Senior CIO, CISO, and Technology Risk Management Executive with 40 years of experience leading enterprise IT, cyber security, and operational risk programs. Background includes roles as Chief Information Officer, Chief Information Security Officer, IT Director, Technology Risk Manager, and Senior IT Consultant across Financial Services, Banking, Manufacturing, Telecommunications, Biotechnology, and Research organizations.Expertise includes IT strategy, information security, cyber security, technology risk management, operational risk, control frameworks, cloud computing, infrastructure modernization, disaster recovery, business continuity, and regulatory compliance. Extensive experience working in highly regulated environments and partnering with audit, risk, compliance, and regulatory bodies.Led globally distributed teams of up to 85 direct reports, managed CapEx and OpEx budgets of up to $85M, and delivered enterprise cost reduction programs resulting in savings of up to $20M. Vast international experience supporting 24x7 operations and global business units.Frequently recruited for executive leadership roles requiring CIO, CISO, IT Director, Cyber Security Leader, Technology Risk Manager, or Senior IT Consultant capabilities. Trusted advisor to C-suite executives, boards, auditors, and regulators.

Experience

1. Executive Director COO Senior Cyber Security Information Security & Technology Officer

   Wells Fargo

   Oct 2019 — Present · Charlotte, NC, US

   Hired by the bank due to significant expertise in Information Security and Technology Risk Management. In this role, I am the Team lead for Information Security and Technology Risk for the COO Organization. The company sought out my expertise in this area because of the renewed focus on Risk Management, securing customer and bank information and preventing security breaches, data exfiltration and other damaging security specific events. Also hired to create net new information security policies, procedures and methodologies for the COO Organization and to insure compliance with all policies, procedures and regulations for the COO Organization and its subordinate Lines of Business (LOBs). Am also currently developing policies and procedures specific to the discipline of Safety & Physical Security for the COO Organization as well. Liaison between the COO RPE and the Business Control Leaders (BCLs) for each Line of Business. Work to identify, document, assess and mitigate risks and incidents as expediently as possible while following all appropriate Wells Fargo corporate policies/procedures and those developed for ands specific to the COO Organization. Perform all assigned responsibilities through an Information Security focused lens to protect the bank in every instance.

Education

• University of North Carolina at Charlotte

  Bachelors in Economics, Economics/Business Administration

  1981

Skills

• Wan Acceleration
• Management
• Networking
• Information Security
• Hardware
• Infrastructure
• Firewalls
• Cloud Computing
• Change Management
• Application Development Management
• Business Analysis
• Network Security
• Software Development
• Iaas and Saas
• Disaster Recovery
• Information Technology
• 26 Years IT Leadership
• Operating Systems
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Storage
• Consulting
• Vmware
• Integration
• IT Strategy
• Sdlc
• Application Lifecycle Management
• Troubleshooting
• Ips/Ids Implementation/Management
• IT Management
• Virtualization
• Servers
• Itil
• Project Management
• Information Security Management
• Sharepoint
• Vendor Management
• Wan Optimisation
• Start-Ups
• Data Center
• Layer 1