Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly recently announced the appointment of John Godfrey to the role of state chief information security officer.

Godfrey takes over for Jeff Maxon, who had been serving as the CISO since July 2020 and who was recently tapped to serve as the state’s chief information technology officer (CITO). Maxon continued his CISO duties after his appointment to the CITO role until a permanent security officer was named.

In his new role, Godfrey will lead the Kansas Information Security Office (KISO) as it develops and implements information security and cybersecurity strategies.

“Coordination and collaboration are critical to advancing the cybersecurity posture of Kansas, and the KISO has been active in building a statewide cyber community that includes all 105 counties,” said John Godfrey in the announcement.

Godfrey brings a range of security experience to the job. He served as the CISO-in-residence and founder of LionHeart Cybersecurity Advisors in Kansas City, Kan. He also worked with several of the state’s Regents universities and spent more than 10 years with the University of Kansas Medical Center — six of those years were spent as CISO and associate vice chancellor for information security. In addition, he spent over five years as senior cybersecurity engineer, systems administrator and information security analyst at Kansas State University.

In 2021, Godfrey served as a member of the Governor’s Cybersecurity Task Force; he chaired the Statewide Communication and Collaboration Subcommittee.

“John Godfrey’s years of experience in information security give him the unique perspective of the challenges we face when providing secure and dependable digital services to Kansans,” Kelly said in the announcement.

Godfrey holds a Bachelor of Science degree in IT from American InterContinental University and a Bachelor of Science degree in justice studies and information networking and telecommunications from Fort Hays State University. He has a Master of Science in information assurance from Capital Technology University. Godfrey is currently working on obtaining a Doctor of Science in cybersecurity at Capital Technology University.