Paul Connelly, NACD.DC

Professor of Practice for Cybersecurity, Belmont University; Independent Director, Fortified Health Security

Paul Connelly has more than three decades in senior leadership of cybersecurity and technology/data strategy and governance at a Fortune 100 company, a Big Four public accounting firm, and the White House. After starting his career at the National Security Agency (NSA), Connelly built the first cybersecurity programs at the White House and HCA Healthcare—leading them for a combined 28 years in chief information security officer (CISO) roles. In between those roles, Connelly spent six years building a cybersecurity audit and consulting practice and became a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Throughout his career, Connelly has been a developer of leaders, with forty members of his teams selected for CISO positions. He is currently, an independent director on the board of Fortified Health Security, and a technical advisor to the board of the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network