Modern CISO Network: Board Book

Dan Nelson, a seasoned leader and advisor within the cybersecurity community, has deep expertise in information security, risk management, and IT operations. His more than 25 years of experience spans early-stage startups, growth stage companies, and large enterprises, both public and private.

Since 2015, Dan has served as CISO for TraceLink, with a focus on enabling the business and building a robust security program that spans both the company’s SaaS offerings and corporate environment. Under his security leadership, TraceLink has continually met or exceeded customer expectations, achieving ISO 27001 certification (inclusive of ISO 27017 for cloud security) and SOC 2 Type II attestation. Additionally, Dan was a key contributor to the company’s ISO 9001 and Privacy Shield certifications. Dan also leads security initiatives related to mergers and acquisitions.

Prior to TraceLink, Dan was a director in Fidelity Investments’ Technology Risk Management (TRM) function, driving a standardized approach to TRM enterprise-wide, managing risk and controls assurance of offshore development partners, and driving strategic initiatives in collaboration with executive leadership. Before that, Dan was a founding member of @stake, the industry’s first independent security consulting firm, continuing his work growing the consulting business after the company’s acquisition by Symantec. Dan has delivered security consulting services to organizations across many industries with clients ranging from start-ups to the world’s largest enterprises.

An active member of the security community, Dan is currently an Advisory Council member for the Georgian Growth Network’s CISO/cybersecurity community, a board member of the Cloud Security Alliance Boston Chapter, and a member of other associations, including OWASP and InfraGard. Dan holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Babson College and completed the MassTLC Board Ready Bootcamp in 2021.