Feseha T

Cybersecurity, risk, and data systems professional with 20+ years of experience leading data-intensive programs, security governance, audits, and risk assessments across public-sector, nonprofit, and international development environments. Holds OSCP+, CISA, PMP, CompTIA Security+, AWS Certified Security – Specialty, and AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate credentials, with graduate study in Cybersecurity Technology at UMGC. Experienced in vulnerability assessment, penetration testing labs, security analysis, cloud security, identity and access controls, data protection, third-party risk, and secure system design.

Strong bridge between technical findings, business risk, compliance, and leadership decision-making.

Cybersecurity, Audit & Data Protection Lead at Impacts for Development (I4D) (2025-01 – Present)

• Conduct cybersecurity audits, risk assessments, vulnerability reviews, and security analysis for cloud-based evaluation, CRM, and data systems handling sensitive beneficiary, financial, and government data across Africa, Asia, and the U.S.
• Perform authorized security reviews, including access-control testing, RBAC validation, secure configuration assessment, data-flow review, and assessment of authentication, logging, encryption, backup, and data-sharing controls.
• Support penetration-testing-style assessments in approved environments by identifying attack surfaces, reviewing system exposure, documenting weaknesses, and translating findings into prioritized remediation actions.
• Design role-based access control models to segregate administrative, analytical, partner, and reporting privileges across cloud-hosted systems and third-party platforms.
• Lead third-party and vendor risk reviews, assessing data protection practices, security controls, integration risks, and compliance obligations.
• Develop executive-ready security reports, audit documentation, remediation trackers, and governance recommendations aligned with NIST, CIS Controls, and donor compliance expectations.

Global Data Security, Systems Governance & Risk Manager at Peace Corps (U.S. Government) (2020-01 – 2025-01)

• Led data security governance and risk management for global enterprise performance platforms spanning 65+ countries and protecting staff, volunteer, partner, and beneficiary data.
• Defined and reviewed access-control policies, user-role models, approval workflows, privilege escalation procedures, MFA adoption, and least-privilege practices for country and headquarters users.
• Coordinated response to data exposure risks, access anomalies, system misuse concerns, access violations, and secure system onboarding issues in collaboration with technical and leadership teams.
• Prepared executive dashboards, data-risk briefs, and security-informed recommendations, translating complex data protection and control issues into decision-ready guidance.
• Strengthened data governance, validation rules, audit trails, reporting controls, and data-quality processes across global Education, Health, Youth, Agriculture, Environment, Climate Change, and Economic Development systems.

Enterprise Data Security & Systems Governance Manager at Abt Associates (2018-01 – 2025-01)

• Oversaw secure data systems, analytics platforms, and control environments supporting USAID, FCDO, and global health/governance portfolios ranging from approximately $40M to $300M.
• Integrated security-by-design, access control, data integrity, privacy, and secure reporting principles into dashboards, databases, and enterprise analytics workflows.
• Conducted vendor and third-party reviews for cloud platforms, data vendors, data collection applications, and business intelligence tools used across multi-country programs.
• Supported disaster recovery, backup planning, secure data handling, retention controls, and controlled analytics environments for sensitive health, financial, and governance data.

Global Data Security, Compliance & Systems Lead at United States Pharmacopeia (USP) (2015-01 – 2018-01)

• Led data security governance, access controls, auditability, logging, and traceability improvements for pharmaceutical quality and surveillance databases operating across 36+ countries.
• Implemented access segmentation, secure data pipelines, and control validation processes for regulatory reporting systems and public health decision-making.
• Collaborated with IT and regulatory teams to align system security, compliance, reporting requirements, and data protection practices.

Director, Program Data Security & Privacy at Martha's Table (2014-01 – 2015-01)

• Established organizational data protection policies covering client records, financial data, donor information, privacy practices, access controls, and secure reporting workflows.
• Led risk assessments related to data misuse, privacy exposure, unauthorized system access, and security of client-facing information systems.

M.S. in Cybersecurity Technology – University of Maryland Global Campus

Master of Public Health in MPH – George Washington University

Graduate Certificate in Policy & Program Evaluation – Georgetown University

M.A. in Sociology & Social Anthropology – Addis Ababa University

B.A. in Political Science & International Relations – Addis Ababa University