Valerie Abend

Valerie Abend has over two decades of experience spearheading financial services sector-wide and enterprise- wide security and resilience programs. As Accenture’s Global Financial Services Security Practice Leader and the South Security Leader, Valerie is responsible for growing and managing the business, teams, and client relationships. She advises C-suite executives, boards, regulators and policymakers on managing cyber risk and resilience and serves as the firm’s lead global cyber policy and regulatory advisor.

Previously, Valerie served as the Senior Critical Infrastructure Officer for the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. In this role, she conceptualized and led the U.S. Federal banking agencies’ cybersecurity and resilience strategy. She was a Managing Director at Bank of New York Mellon and has held positions with the Federal Reserve Board and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Critical Infrastructure Protection at the Treasury Department.

Valerie has testified several times in front of Congress and is frequently quoted in media on cybersecurity issues. She is the Chair of the Accenture Cybersecurity Forum Women’s Council and serves as a member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Cybersecurity Advisory Panel, the Board of Advisors for the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), and the Advisory Group of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace FinCyber Project. Valerie recently joined the Board of Directors of the Cloud Security Alliance.