Theresa Payton

from Sept/Oct 2022 Intermission

Happy 100, Theatre Tulsa

Cybercrime fighter, entrepreneur, inventor and author

Cybersecurity has become a huge concern for just about anyone who does anything online. Whole cities have been brought to the breaking point as hackers and fraudsters have honed their skills and gone after ever-bigger targets. Luckily, we have incredible minds racing to stay one step ahead of cyber criminals.

Theresa Payton grew up in a military family, a family that mostly preferred to work straight out of high school instead of going to college. When she was offered an academic scholarship, Payton decided to go a different route than most of her family. When starting college, her lone goal was to get as many degrees as possible in order to give herself the best shot at quality employment. Passion for a specific career was not even a part of the equation, just being employed.

While studying, that all changed and huge opportunities found Payton. As she says, cyber security is “a career that found [her].” She was offered a scholarship for a new master of science and management information systems program at the University of Virginia. She decided to go. Soon after graduating, Payton’s husband, who was in the Navy, was given orders to move to Florida. Once there, she started looking for work. She interviewed at Barnett Bank, now a part of Bank of America. The bank was so blown away by her that they created an entirely new department and position just for her in expert systems, data analytics and artificial intelligence.

By being on the cutting edge of technology, particularly in the banking industry, Payton soon realized she was also dealing with the cutting edge of fraud and other cybercrimes. Her love for technology and creating a better world for the user had to include making technology safe for the user.

Her work in her field was so incredible, she was tapped by George W. Bush to be his Chief Information Officer for the last two years of his second term. In fact, she was so good at her job of looking for crime, it took the staff at the White House quite a while to convince her they were real and giving her a real opportunity.

Her time in the White House included the introduction of the first smart phone, which created an entirely new challenge. But she was determined to leave the nation’s technology security better than she found it and ensure it would withstand the test of time. Her mantra while there was “Never here,” meaning that although the best and brightest can be hacked, it could not happen to the White House. While she was there, she was true to her mantra.

Payton now heads her own wildly successful cybersecurity company, Fortalice Solutions. She has some incredible stories, full of espionage and deception that sound like they come straight out of a spy novel. While on the Chapman stage, she will be sharing with the crowd her predictions on where cyber security is headed and how we can continually stay ahead of the curve while also having a backup plan. From the White House to Snoop Dogg’s house, Payton will share it all!