Maria Thompson - Department of Information Technology

Maria S. Thompson is the State Chief Risk and Security Officer for the State of North Carolina. 

Maria brings to the State over 20 years of experience in Information Technology and cybersecurity.  She served 20 years in the United States Marine Corps and retired as the Cybersecurity Chief/Information Assurance Chief for the Marine Corps.  Since then, she has served in numerous security roles such as Certification and Accreditation (C&A) lead for the Multi National Forces – Iraq and Senior Security Engineer in a Joint Military organization and Federal Agency. Maria joined the State of North Carolina, Department of Information Technology in 2015 as the State’s first Chief Risk Officer.

Maria earned her bachelor’s degree in Information Systems Management and also holds a Masters in Information Technology.  Maria’s personal honors include receiving the 2007 National Security Agency’s prestigious Rowlett Award for individual achievement in Information Assurance.  Additionally, she received the 2008 Office of Secretary of Defense Certificate of Excellence for the implementation of an IA strategy for the Information Assurance Workforce. Most recently, Maria was selected as a winner of one of the 2018 Triangle Business Journal Women in Business award and State Scoop’s 50th Award State Cybersecurity Leader.   Maria currently holds the following industry certifications, ISC2 CISSP, ISACA CRISC, National Security Agency IAM/IEM and ITIL v3.