George Smirnoff is Managing Director, Global Head of Cyber, Technology, Data, and Resilience Risk for Barclays. He is a cybersecurity, technology, and risk leader driven by a mission to both protect and enable the business and has a record of success building outstanding programs with strong cultures that thrive on challenge, innovation, and opportunity. He is a recognized thought leader in cyber frameworks, regulatory harmonization, and privacy.

Notably, for the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council (FSSCC), George served as Secretary (2010-12) and Member of the Executive Committee (2010-12, 2014-20). During his tenure, he contributed significantly to the development of the Financial Services Cybersecurity Framework, based on NIST, FFIEC, and ISO, and had the privilege of representing the sector when introducing it for public comment. Prior to Barclays, George served as a CISO for 8 years. At Synchrony, he rapidly scaled and matured its new InfoSec program after the split from GE Capital, establishing a culture focused on talent, advanced capabilities, and innovation. As Comerica’s first CISO, he built its InfoSec program and was given the additional functions of Technology Risk, Information Lifecycle Management, and Resilience to create a holistic program.

Earlier in his career, George served as Executive Director, Information Security Officer and Global Chief Operating Officer for Operational Risk at Morgan Stanley and led the Information Management and Analysis Services practice for the Financial Services Office of Ernst & Young. Together with his foundational work in application development and IT strategy, his career experiences have allowed him to develop a strong strategic mindset combining deep technology and security architecture skills with advanced business acumen.

Further, George has extensive Board and Regulatory experience and holds a JD from Cleveland-Marshall, a MBA from Cleveland State, a BA from Bucknell, and has completed the Goizuetta Executive Program at Emory.