John Israel is the State of Minnesota's Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). At MNIT, he leads the executive branch cybersecurity teams, the Minnesota Cybersecurity Task Force (MCTF), and collaborative efforts to engage with entities statewide to build effective cybersecurity strategies across all levels of government in the state.
John has over 25 years of IT experience leading, building, and growing cybersecurity and IT functions in municipal, county, and state entities integrating highly technical functions into strategic organizational operations. Before joining MNIT in 2008, John led IT operations for the Washington County Sheriff's Office.
Most recently, John served as the state's Interim CISO overseeing cybersecurity operations for the state and multiple grant-funded outreach programs that provide cybersecurity support and resources to counties, port cities, and tribal nations throughout Minnesota. John has held many leadership roles in our organization.
In his roles at MNIT, including Deputy CISO and Security Operations Center (SOC) leader, John has been instrumental in building the state's security operations teams. This includes the state's first Security Operations Center (SOC) and the cybersecurity threat intelligence sharing capabilities within the Minnesota Fusion Center hosted by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. In 2019, John received the Visionary Security Operations Leader of the Year from the Cyber Security Summit.
John holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia University in Saint Paul, a Master of Science degree from Norwich University in Vermont, and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification from ISC(2).
