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Contact UsCybersecurity Leadership
Kim L. Jones is a SANS Certified Instructor and CISO at Western Union. He teaches LDR514: Security Strategic Planning, Policy, and Leadership, bringing almost 40 years of intelligence, security, and risk management experience into the classroom. His work across regulated industries helps students connect strategy, policy, governance, and leadership to the decisions security leaders must make when the answer is rarely clean or purely technical.
Kim began his career after graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, then served as an Army Intelligence Officer. That early focus on keeping people safe carried into the private sector, where he built, operated, and managed security programs across finance, defense, healthcare, manufacturing, business outsourcing, and payment processing. He previously served in senior security leadership roles at organizations including eFunds, eTelecare, General Dynamics C4 Systems, Vantiv, Intuit, and High Wire Networks, and has advised Global 1000 companies as a virtual CISO and CISO mentor. Those experiences help him ground the course’s strategic planning, policy development, executive communication, and Cyber42 leadership simulation work in real leadership tradeoffs.
Kim holds a Master of Science in Information Assurance from Norwich University, a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point, the Certified Information Security Manager certification, the Certified Information Systems Security Professional certification, and the Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer certification. Kim Jones is also a faculty member of the SANS Technology Institute. SANS.edu is an NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense and multi-year winner of the National Cyber League competition. Beyond the classroom, he is a podcast host for N2K CyberWire’s CISO Perspectives, an RSA Conference contributor, and the principal architect of one of Arizona State University’s cybersecurity education programs.
Kim teaches leadership as a discipline built on judgment, context, and communication. He wants students to leave able to explain why security decisions matter, build strategic plans, craft policy that fits the organization, brief executives, and lead teams through ambiguity. His classroom style is practical, direct, and discussion-driven because theory only gets leaders so far. Outside of work, Kim enjoys spending time with family, reading, martial arts, and role-playing games, which feels fitting for someone who has spent a career helping leaders make better decisions when the map is incomplete.
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