Kevin Hardcastle has been appointed chief information security officer (CISO) for Washington University in St. Louis, reporting to John Gohsman, vice chancellor for information technology and chief information officer.
The appointment is the result of Gohsman’s recommendation to consolidate the School of Medicine’s and Information Services and Technology’s (IS&T) security offices into a single Information Security Office. This is part of an overall effort to develop an information security program that will improve the university’s risk posture.
Hardcastle, who joined the School of Medicine in 2007, previously held the position of information security officer for the School of Medicine, where he was responsible for revitalizing the information security program. He expanded from a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliance focus to a complete risk management effort. Hardcastle also led development of a holistic information security strategy, optimizing security posture through collaboration with leaders across the medical school.
“Kevin was critical to the university-wide assessment we conducted leading to this recommendation,” Gohsman said. “His leadership and expertise were apparent to me as we went through the assessment. I appreciate the investment WUSM (Washington University School of Medicine) made to create such a great team and their willingness to work with me to leverage this ‘bright spot’ to build a more robust program.”
In his new role, Hardcastle will head the Information Security Office and lead security efforts across all campuses, schools and departments. The CISO also will lead the Computer Security Incident Response Team. He and his staff will be co-located across the Danforth and Medical campuses.
Hardcastle will remain a member of the School of Medicine’s CIO Leadership Team. His appointment took effect July 1.