Paul Connelly

Biography

Paul Connelly has more than 39 years of Information Security experience, starting as an Information Security Analyst at the National Security Agency in 1984. He built the first information security program at the White House and led it as Information Security Officer for nine years, serving under three Presidents.

He left federal service in 1996 to build a regional cybersecurity consulting practice for PricewaterhouseCoopers, becoming partner and spent six years supporting multiple federal agencies and Fortune 500 companies with security consulting, assessment, incident response, technology, and strategy services. 

After that, he built the first information security program at HCA Healthcare, a Fortune 100 U.S. healthcare provider. He became the Chief Security Officer (CSO) and his responsibilities expanded to include Privacy, Physical Security, and Information Governance. When he was promoted the CEO’s senior leadership team, he served on the Operating, Risk, Information Governance, DEI, and Employee Engagement committees, and had a key role in digital transformation of patient care and business operations, and data science partnership with Google. Stepped down from the CSO role in December 2022 after leading the program, and retired from HCA in April 2023.

Paul stepped down from the CSO role in December 2022 and retired from HCA in April 2023. He is currently serving as:

• Technical Advisor on Cybersecurity to the board of the U.S. Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network
• Developer of cybersecurity education at Belmont University
• Board of Directors, Dismas, a not-for-profit that provides men and women released from state and federal incarceration the skills and support to re-enter society as contributing members

Among Paul’s proudest accomplishments has been the development of people, with thirty-three members of his teams selected as CISOs.