AUSTIN, Texas (Feb. 7, 2024) – Jacob Picart has joined Apogee, Inc., in the role of vice president for Security Services. Picart brings more than 25 years of experience focused on all aspects of networking and security architectures, systems administration, business continuity, cloud adoption within Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure and advocating zero-trust methodologies.
A member of the Apogee executive leadership team, Picart is responsible for expanding the company’s comprehensive portfolio of information security services for colleges and universities. He is also responsible for continuously improving internal security processes and procedures at Apogee. Committed to empowering and protecting Apogee customers, Picart also oversees Apogee’s network of virtual chief information security officers (vCISOs) and security partners.
“Jacob is a major asset to Apogee and our college and university IT customers. His knowledge and experience have accelerated our ability to deliver essential security services that complement our current managed network services and cloud services offerings,” said Scott Drossos, chief executive officer of Apogee.
Picart and the U.S.-based Apogee Security Services team support higher ed customers by addressing the following mission-critical needs:
- Engaging and embedding vCISOs for campuses that need supplemental senior-level security support;
- Conducting security risk assessments and creating strategic remediation plans;
- Reviewing and addressing policies and compliance requirements specific to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Family Education Rights and Privacy Acts, and Center for Internet Security Controls;
- Assessing the vulnerability of schools for attack vectors and designing plans for ransomware attack prevention and recovery; and,
- Managing endpoints and proposing security best practices.
“Apogee is a good match for me and my information security background. In my new role, I am committed to increasing our security posture internally and externally – for Apogee as a growing managed IT services provider and for the hundreds of customers that depend on us. Apogee is prepared to help colleges and universities address the security skills gap and help supplement their needs with our vCISO offering,” Picart said.
“Higher education is one of the top industry sectors targeted by adversary groups. With so much data hosted in the cloud, threat actors are actively targeting individual users and their identity. This means that thousands of faculty, staff, students, and alumni at every school can potentially be exposed to a major information security breach. Apogee is well-equipped to help our customers protect their users, data, information systems and technology,” Picart added.
Picart is a member of the CompTIA Community and a past member of the EC-Council. He has earned multiple security and cloud certifications, including Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), Microsoft Certified Security, Compliance and Identity Engineer, AWS and Azure Solutions Architect, CompTIA Network+ and Security+ certifications including various designations from industry leaders such as Splunk, Palo Alto Networks, and Brocade. Picart is now pursuing the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification from the International Information System Security Certification Consortium (also known as ISC2).
Prior to joining Apogee, Picart served as a cyber security architect, cloud solutions architect, and a network and system engineer. He has also led a Managed Services Provider (MSP) practice and served as an adjunct instructor of technology at a San Francisco-based business college, where he taught classes on Cisco-based networking and wireless, Microsoft and Linux server administration as well as information security and ethical hacking.
About Apogee
Established in Austin in 1999, Apogee is a leading provider of managed technology services that enable colleges and universities to innovate, enriching the campus experience and fostering student vitality. Uniquely positioned to serve higher education, Apogee supports a community of more than one million students and administrators at over 350 colleges and universities nationwide. The company’s comprehensive portfolio includes Managed Campus (networks, managed IT, cloud, and security services), ResNet (residential networks), campus engagement and digital signage, and video services.
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