Howard Whyte

On October 17, 2017, Howard Whyte was appointed to the position of FDIC Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Privacy Officer (CPO). As the CIO and CPO, Howard also serves as an advisor to the Chairman, Board members, and senior executive managers on all strategic issues relating to information technology (IT), including governance, investments, program management, strategic planning, and security. Howard reports directly to the Chairman and provides leadership to the Division of Information Technology (DIT) and the Office of the Chief Information Security Officer (OCISO) functions and operations.

Howard has over 20 years of information technology (IT) and security experience in the federal government, military, and private sector. Howard joined the FDIC in January 2017, as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). In that role, he worked to reduce cybersecurity risk by implementing a 24/7 Security Operations Center, incorporating threat intelligence into security operations, and worked with Divisions and Offices to address IT security challenges. Howard also reorganized the IT Security and Privacy staff to better enable implementation of the government’s Cybersecurity Framework and to improve the FDIC’s understanding and management of cybersecurity risks.

Prior to joining the FDIC, Howard led the Threat Management Center at Goldman Sachs, focusing on cybersecurity detection, protection, response, and recovery on a global scale. Previously, he served as CISO and Deputy CISO at NASA. Earlier in his career, he was a senior information assurance officer in the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command and the Defense Information Systems Agency, a telecommunications manager at Interim HealthCare, and an information management officer for the U.S. Army. Howard has a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Maryland and a Master of Business Administration, from the University of Phoenix.