About Thomas “TJ” Johnson
TJ leads cybersecurity and risk management for a consulting firm in Chicago. He has lead cybersecurity efforts in the US Market for the fifth largest tax, accounting and advisory firm in the world and was the Chief Information Security Officer for a Technology Consulting firm in Chicago. Throughout his career, he has been responsible for providing security and compliance leadership that include areas such as vendor management, disaster recovery, business continuity, data protection, security products, budgeting, legal and risk management. He has over 25 years of experience in security and technology and has extensive compliance related expertise in banking, healthcare and manufacturing. His experience allowed him to work with medical centers, commercial banks, hedge funds, brokerage firms and manufacturers.
He has been interested in education for most of his life and has explored the many facets of the educational process from his work as a professional information security practitioner to hobbies of flying aircraft and amateur radio.
His tenure at IIT started in 2015 when he was asked to teach ITMS 588 - Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity and Incident Response. This subject matter is a love of his and is currently writing the textbook to supplement this class. He has also taught IT Project Management, Consulting for IT Professionals, Infrastructure as a Service, and Management for IT professionals.
Education
- Illinois Institute of Technology
Master of Science - Information Technology and Management
Specialization - Information Security
- Utah Valley University
Bachelor of Science - Aeronautical Sciences
Academic Experience
- Illinois Institute of Technology – 2015 - Present
- Adjunct Industry Professor of Information Technology and Management, 2015-Present
- Member, Curriculum Committee - Department of Information Technology and Management, 2016-Present
- Advisory Board Member, IIT Center for Cyber Security and Forensics Education (C2SAFE), 2018-Present
- Trinity Christian College – 2014 - 2018
- Adjunct Professor of Information Technology – Department of Adult Studies – Business Administration, 2014 - 2018
- Thornton Township Schools - Thornridge High School – 1989 - 1993
- Instructor / Student Teacher / Teacher assistant - Computer Science, 1989 – 1993
Non-Academic Experience
- Xamin – Vice-President Risk and Compliance - 2024 – Present
- An IT Managed Services and Consulting company specializing in highly regulated industries such as banking/finance.
- Responsible for consulting with our clients to provide Security Advisory (vCISO) Services - focusing on highly regulated industries such as finance, manufacturing, and healthcare.
- BDO – National Leader Cybersecurity - 2022 – 2024
- A global accounting, tax and consulting firm. Direct responsibility for the US based team delivering vCISO, Security Advisory and Cyber Maturity & Assessments to our customers.
- Responsible for the collaboration of all of our cybersecurity teams in the US - delivering best-in-class cybersecurity solutions to our customers.
- Member of the BDO Global Cyber Steering Committee as a representative for BDO USA
- Member of NACA (North American Cyber Alliance)
- Deft – CISO - 2019 - 2022
- Data center and Cloud hosting company with expertise in AWS public Cloud. Responsible for Information Security Governance that includes all aspects of compliance for the organization and Information Security spanning the corporate environment as well as client environments.
- IS Executives – Owner - 2013 – 2019
- Security and compliance consulting firm specializing on project-based work for regulated companies.
- Peters and Associates – vCISO - 2014 - 2019
- A technology consulting firm dedicated to the design, integration and support of enterprise business and technology solutions. Responsible for the security and compliance initiatives at various clients – focusing on the finance industry. Responsibilities include acting as the CISO for various organizations.
- Aqueity Inc. – VP – Managing Director - 2012-2014
- A technology consulting firm specializing in outsourced Information Technology and Managed Services. Responsible for managing the operations of the company as well as acting as a consultant to the client base on Information Security matters.
- Metropolitan Bank Group - Chicago, IL - 2004-2012
- MB Financial Corporation - Chicago, IL - 1991-2004
- Thornton Township Schools – Dolton, IL – 1989 - 1993
Certifications
- ISACA: CISM, CRISC, CISA, CDPSE
- CompTIA: Network+, A+, Security+
- ISC2: CISSP
- EC-Council: C|CISO
- AWS: Cloud Practitioner
- Axelos: ITIL v3 Foundation
Committees & Professional Development Activities
- ISACA Certification Working Group - CISM - 2021 - 2024
- ISACA Contracted Item Writer for CDPSE Certification - 2020
- ISACA Contracted Item Writer for NIST/COBIT Curriculum - 2019/2020
- ISACA Contracted Item writer for CISM Certification – 2016 – 2020
- ISACA CRISC Practice Analysis Task Force - 2020
- ISACA CRISC Exam & Item Development Working Group - 2020
- ISACA Certification Working Group - CISM - 2015-2018
- ISACA Item Writer Development Group – CISM – 2013-2014
- ISACA Test Enhancement Subcommittee - CRISC - 2011-2012
- FBI InfraGard – 2011 – 2024
Associations/Industry/Community
- Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) – Chair – Information Security SIG
- Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) – Various Committees - See below
- FBI InfraGard
- Gamma Nu Eta - the Information Technology Honor Society - Professional Member
- Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association – Life Member
- American Bonanza Society - Life Member
- American Radio Relay League - Life Member
Publications
- The Value of Certification – ISACA Journal – 2018
- Data and Computer Communications Information Security Management Handbook - Tenth Edition – 2014 – Content contributor, reviewer – ISBN 0-13-350648-7
- Information Security Management Handbook - Sixth Edition - Volume 6 - Chapter 9 - 2012 - CRC Press / Taylor & Francis - ISBN 0849374952
- Computer Security - Principles and Practice 2nd. Ed. – 2012 - Content contributor, reviewer – ISBN 0-13-277506-9
Classes Taught
Illinois Institute of Technology
- TECH 581 – Consulting for Technical Professionals
- ITMS 465/565 – Infrastructure as a Service (Using AWS)
- ITMM 470/570 – Fundamentals of Management for Technical Professionals
- ITMM 471/571 – Project Management for ITM
- ITMS 478/578 – Information System Security Management
- ITMS 588 – Incident Response, Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity
Trinity Christian College
- ABUS 317 – Information Technology Management