Austin Names New Chief Information Security Officer

The city of Austin, Texas, has named Shirley Erp its new chief information security officer (CISO). Erp will replace Kevin Williams, who was hired as Austin’s first citywide CISO in 2015 and will now take a position as the city’s chief information security administrator.

Erp will begin work with the city on June 1 and will be managing the city’s Information Security Office. Under the direction of Assistant City Manager, Rey Arellano, Erp will be responsible for the Citywide information security program that covers safeguarding the City’s information, data, and technology infrastructure, and for overseeing the information security governance committee. The CISO also supports cross-departmental issues and engages external stakeholders as it relates to the six Strategic Outcomes. The CISO office  consists of four service areas: Administration, Security Audit, Security Management, and Security Operations.

“I am excited about moving the city of Austin information security program to the next level to further mature the system by collaborating citywide and engaging departmental participation to leverage resources, increase knowledge, and expand our incident response capabilities,” Erp said in a press release from the city.

Most recently, Erp worked as a cybersecurity director and advisor at accounting firm, KPMG. She also previously worked as CISO for the Health and Human Services Commission of Texas and the assistant CISO for the University of Texas system. Erp obtained her bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Central Oklahoma and her master’s degree in technology management from Texas A & M University-Commerce.

“I’m very happy to have Shirley join our team. Her experience is a powerful asset to the work we do to protect our information security and risk management efforts,” assistant city manager Rey Arellano said in a statement.