Title: Chief Information Security Officer, Fairfax County Public Schools
Groups: Government Partners
VJ Rao is a respected cybersecurity leader in the public sector with more than two decades of leadership experience, best known for serving as the CISO for the 2016 and 2020 U.S. Presidential Debates. His career has focused on protecting critical infrastructure—particularly elections and education, where resilience matters as much as technology, and accountability is the true currency.
He holds a master’s degree from an Ivy League university, multiple industry-leading certifications (CISSP, COBIT 5, PMP, CISA, CDPSE, among others), and serves on several Boards. Colleagues know him as someone who blends sharp technical expertise with a clear-eyed view of human nature—and who never forgets that cybersecurity is ultimately about protecting people, not just systems.