Holly Drake was appointed State of Ohio Chief Information Security Officer in February 2023 and brings extensive experience managing cybersecurity and privacy teams in complex organizations. As CISO, she leads the Office of Information Security and Privacy that supports the productivity, innovation, and organizational objectives of the state to provide secure services to Ohio citizens.

Drake was most recently Deputy Cybersecurity Strategic Advisor for CyberOhio within the office of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. As a member of the CyberOhio team, she built cybersecurity governance and technical maturity to protect Ohioans and their state government from today’s complex challenges.

Her information governance and oversight career initially spanned senior roles in private sector organizations ranging from mid-market to Fortune 50 in size where she drove the development of privacy, cybersecurity, and compliance initiatives. Prior joining to the State of Ohio, Drake built a bespoke privacy program for The Ohio State University, one of the largest educational institutions in the United States. She also led the cybersecurity governance teams, with responsibility for policy, cybersecurity control framework, risk assessment, disaster recovery, and data governance.

In either the public or private sectors, her mission is to always bring a pragmatic, collaborative approach to solving business and compliance challenges by balancing the uses of information while keeping core privacy and cybersecurity principles at the fore.

A graduate of The Ohio State University, Case Western Reserve University, and Capital University, Drake also maintains CIPP, CIPT, CISSP, and CISA certifications. She currently serves several industry initiatives while outside of work, she is a volunteer and advocate for literacy initiatives in her community.