New Hampshire names education cyber director as new state CISO

New Hampshire has named Pamela McLeod, a cyber director with ACT, the standardized testing company, as the state’s new chief information security officer, state Chief Information Officer Denis Goulet confirmed on Tuesday.

The news, first reported by Government Technology, follows the departure last month of former state CISO Ken Weeks, who held the position for nearly four years. McLeod brings more 15 years of experience from the education sector, where she has served as a CISO for New Hampshire’s Concord School District and a chair of the school board in Alton, New Hampshire, according to her LinkedIn profile. Local governments and school systems are frequent targets of ransomware and other cyberattacks.

“I am excited to announce that Pam McLeod will be joining the state of New Hampshire as Chief Information Security Officer in April,” Goulet wrote in an emailed statement. “Pam comes to us with significant public sector technology experience and has been a great leader and partner in NH’s whole-of-state cybersecurity effort. Pam’s energy, passion, and cybersecurity domain expertise make her an excellent addition to the NH Department of Information Technology leadership team.”

Weeks was appointed in 2022 and came to New Hampshire after decades in federal service, including time with the Navy and National Security Agency. During his tenure, he helped guide cybersecurity strategy in a state defined by limited staffing and highly distributed IT operations.

In a 2024 email exchange with this publication, he observed that local agencies, especially those in rural areas, often lack enough resources to support fully independent security programs, which can lead to state CISOs taking on additional responsibilities.

“I’m not so sure that most Civil Service systems in the various states even make succession planning possible,” Weeks wrote following a report from the National Association of State CIOs on the topic of why security officials aren’t staying in their roles. “Structurally, it is difficult, and with a shrinking length of tenure, [it’s] more like a Hockey game: somebody goes down, next person up.”

Weeks has accepted a job as national security adviser for The ATOM Group, which sells cyber defense services and custom software development.