Hemant Baidwan

Hemant Baidwan previously served as Chief Information Security Officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where he oversaw cybersecurity strategy for one of the largest and most complex federal technology environments in the government. During his tenure, he spearheaded a number of transformative initiatives, including advancing Zero Trust implementation across DHS, launching the Hack DHS vulnerability disclosure program, and developing the Unified Cybersecurity Maturity Model to improve enterprise risk visibility. He also modernized risk management through automation and a risk operations model that enabled faster prioritization of cyber risk remediation, and contributed to advancing federal AI cybersecurity policy and cyber supply chain security. His leadership earned him multiple industry and federal awards for innovation and impact. Baidwan also served as Acting Deputy Chief Information Officer at DHS, was an inaugural member of the FedRAMP Board, and served as Vice Chair of the federal CISO Council — bringing a uniquely broad perspective across cybersecurity, IT governance, and federal policy. Today, Hemant is the Executive Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Knox Systems. In this role, he leads the company's cybersecurity program, advancing AI-driven cloud security, automated compliance, and secure federal cloud adoption for U.S. government and defense agencies. He draws on this deep federal expertise to help government agencies and technology providers accelerate secure cloud adoption, streamline FedRAMP authorizations, and strengthen national cyber resilience.