Alicia Lynch joined the Cognizant team in July of 2021 as the Senior Vice President, Chief Security Officer (CSO) bringing over 30 years of intelligence, security, and cyber experience with the Department of Defense, the Defense Contracting community and the private sector. Alicia retired as a Colonel from the US Army in 2012 where she served as both an Intelligence and Cyber Officer. Alicia earned respect as a dynamic leader of soldiers in combat as well as garrison environments in assignments around the world. As both a qualified intelligence professional and cyber specialist, she served in every echelon from Company to National while leading units from team-sized to commanding a Brigade. Since 2012 she has leveraged her technical experience in commercial executive level positions focused on cyber and security. She has recently held titles including the Chief Information Security Officer at SAIC, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer at Accenture Federal Services, and VP of Enterprise Solutions at a Cyber startup. Alicia is an active member and supporter of many organizations such as WashingtonExec CISO Council where she served as the founding Chairwoman and is on their Women’s Leadership Council, as well as the Northern Virginia Technology Council where she is on the Cybersecurity & Privacy Committee, and Zooms CISO Council. Alicia is also a Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in the Women’s Global Leadership Program. She has been named numerous times to the Top CISOs to watch in Washington, DC. Alicia holds an MBA from the University of Maryland, Robert H Smith School of Business and a CIO Program Certificate from the College of Information and Cyberspace, National Defense University. She also maintains an ISC2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.