Shawnte Singletary
CMS
Deputy Director Division of Security & Privacy Compliance, OISPG
Shawnte is the Deputy Director Division of Security & Privacy Compliance in the Office of Information Security & Privacy Group.
A self-confessed fixer and a passionate advocate for people and technical competence, Shawnte's views leadership as helping each person understand how their work connects into the larger picture so that the sum is greater than the parts. This has been both a challenge and a necessity in her two decades of work in both government and corporate information security.
Her journey started as a teenager taking apart a computer to see how it worked, a lesson she learned from her mechanic father who liked to be hands-on. She then studied programming through school and college but didn't find to be enough. So she paid - from her own pocket - to take classes where she learned to do everything technical related to computers, servers, mainframes, and network devices. Learning how something works and how things should integrate came naturally to her. When she found herself working at the CISO office at Harland Clark, she was able to take all this experiential knowledge and put it together from a security perspective. Because she had done all the work herself, she was able to explain how security fits into each domain. Designing and leading security strategy for technology organizations enabled her to leverage all of her prior experience to deliver value across a broad canvas.
In 2016, Shawnte joined CMS as a CRA for two years where she worked with both technology and business stakeholders. She then accepted a position in the Division of Cyber Threat & Security Operations (DCTSO), taking on various projects that range from ACT to Cloud, and the role of GTL for the ISPG DevSecOps working group. In May of this year, Shawnte accepted the Deputy Director's position for the Division of Security & Privacy Compliance and is the FedRAMP Liaison for CMS. Prior to joining CMS, Shawnte supported the early iterations of the CDM program and led the vulnerability analysis project at SSA.
She values bringing people together and leveraging technical knowledge to continually improve information security for all facets of the organization. A native of Baltimore County, Shawnte holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Information Technology and several security certifications, including CISSP and CEH.
A self-confessed fixer and a passionate advocate for people and technical competence, Shawnte's views leadership as helping each person understand how their work connects into the larger picture so that the sum is greater than the parts. This has been both a challenge and a necessity in her two decades of work in both government and corporate information security.
Her journey started as a teenager taking apart a computer to see how it worked, a lesson she learned from her mechanic father who liked to be hands-on. She then studied programming through school and college but didn't find to be enough. So she paid - from her own pocket - to take classes where she learned to do everything technical related to computers, servers, mainframes, and network devices. Learning how something works and how things should integrate came naturally to her. When she found herself working at the CISO office at Harland Clark, she was able to take all this experiential knowledge and put it together from a security perspective. Because she had done all the work herself, she was able to explain how security fits into each domain. Designing and leading security strategy for technology organizations enabled her to leverage all of her prior experience to deliver value across a broad canvas.
In 2016, Shawnte joined CMS as a CRA for two years where she worked with both technology and business stakeholders. She then accepted a position in the Division of Cyber Threat & Security Operations (DCTSO), taking on various projects that range from ACT to Cloud, and the role of GTL for the ISPG DevSecOps working group. In May of this year, Shawnte accepted the Deputy Director's position for the Division of Security & Privacy Compliance and is the FedRAMP Liaison for CMS. Prior to joining CMS, Shawnte supported the early iterations of the CDM program and led the vulnerability analysis project at SSA.
She values bringing people together and leveraging technical knowledge to continually improve information security for all facets of the organization. A native of Baltimore County, Shawnte holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Information Technology and several security certifications, including CISSP and CEH.