Tolgay Kizilelma, PhD

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Director of the MS in Cybersecurity Program, Associate Professor of Cybersecurity

Barowsky School of Business

Barowsky School of Business

Tolgay is the founding Director of the MS in Cybersecurity program and an Associate Professor of Cybersecurity in the Barowsky School of Business. He is a business-driven IT leader and trusted business partner with 30 years of experience covering the entire business IT spectrum within education, healthcare, research, and distribution industries. Tolgay has extensive technical and business knowledge within information technology and information security/cybersecurity. As an adjunct faculty at Saint Mary’s College of California, School of Economics and Business Administration, he has been teaching various data analytics courses as part of the Master of Science in Business Analytics and Professional MBA programs since 2017. Tolgay has also served as the Chief Information Security Officer for multiple University of California campuses. Early in his career, he managed the U.S. IT operations for a leading national fuel systems integrator and distributor.

Tolgay is an advocate of lifelong learning and frequently participates at cybersecurity conferences as a keynote speaker, presenter, and panelist. 

Education

Dokuz Eylul University (Turkey), PhD, Information Security, Patient Safety, and Quality

Saint Mary’s College of California, MBA

Ege University (Turkey), BS, Computer Engineering

Training

  • FBI Cyber Academy Program
  • Cornell Strategic Healthcare Leadership Program
  • Cornell Executive Healthcare Leadership Program
  • Cornell Healthcare Change Management Program
  • UC Systemwide, People Management Program
  • UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business, IT Leadership Program
  • UC Berkeley, Project Management Program
  • SANS - MGT520: Leading Cloud Security Design and Implementation
  • SANS - SEC566: Implementing and Auditing Security Frameworks and Controls
  • SANS - SEC510: Public Cloud Security: AWS, Azure, and GCP
  • SANS - SEC474: Building A Healthcare Security & Compliance Program
  • SANS - SEC545: Cloud Security Architecture and Operations
  • SANS - SEC505: Securing Windows and PowerShell Automation
  • SANS - SEC501: Advanced Security Essentials - Enterprise Defender

Certifications

CCISO, Accredited CGEIT/CRISC/CISM/CISA/COBIT 2019 Trainer, AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, ITIL Expert/MP/SL/Master, CBAP, CET, TOGAF Certified, PCI-ISA, CJIS L2, COBIT 19 (Foundation, Design & Implementation, Implementing the NIST CSF) PMP, PgMP, PROSCI, CSSBB, CGEIT, CISA, CISM, CRISC, HCISPP, CPHIMS, CDPSE, CISSP, CIPT, CIPM, CIPP/US, FIP, SAFe, IT Risk, Healthcare Essentials, Healthcare Privacy & Security, Healthcare Risk Management 

Research Interests

Cybersecurity, Privacy, Digital Transformation, Business Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence

Honors and Awards

  • 2022 C100 Award – Top 100 CISOs by CISOs Connect
  • 2018 CENIC Award: Innovation in Networking for Broadband Applications

Volunteer Work

  • FBI Sacramento Citizens Academy Alumni Association – President (FBISACCAAA)
  • InfraGard Sacramento Advisory Member 
  • VigiTrust Global Advisory Board Member
  • Trusted CI Framework Advisory Board Member
  • ISACA Sacramento Board Member – Academic Relations Director
  • California Governor’s Cybersecurity Task Force Workforce Development and Education Subcommittee Member

Contact Information