The City welcomes new CISO

Marina Kelly is the City's new CISO

Marina Kelly, a native of Newton, N.C., will serve as the City of Raleigh's Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) starting April 8.

In this role, Kelly will navigate business risk to spearhead the City's security initiatives and fortify our digital assets. She will be responsible for steering the City through a complex, evolving security landscape by balancing organizational needs, business relationships, and risk to improve the community we serve.

Kelly's fascination with security began at a young age when her father, who was a police officer, used family outings as observation-skills training sessions.

Kelly graduated with bachelor degrees in education and history from St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, N.C., then embarked on a decade-long career in education. Driven by a passion ignited in her middle school years, Marina decided to pivot her career trajectory and focus on computers. Fueling her ambition, she pursued and earned a master's degree in computer science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her studies included software engineering, datacube computation algorithms, and cryptography.

Kelly worked her way through the technology ranks, beginning as business analyst and a project manager for companies in Toronto before becoming an information technology manager at N.C. State University in the Office of Information Technology, Enterprise Application Services division. While at NCSU, she led the implementation of e-commerce, business intelligence, student management, and low code development platforms.

Recently, Kelly worked as director of technology and data protection officer for cybersecurity and professional development organizations, specializing in the design and implementation of information security and compliance programs, digital transformations, risk management, and emerging technologies. She also authored the Secure Coding with the OWASP Top 10, an award-winning modular, self-paced online bootcamp for application developers.

When not working on "saving the Internet" (as her husband describes her job), she enjoys hanging out with her two Coton du Tulear dogs, reading, watching documentaries, nature walks, and baking.

Kelly's personal motto is one she learned from her dad: "Leave people, places, and things better than you found them."