Andersen’s final day with the state was Aug. 17. He was named CISO in December 2018, following 12 years of cybersecurity experience. He will be returning to the Washington, D.C., region to take up a position with the Executive Office of the President, a close set of West Wing advisers.
It’s not entirely clear what sort of work Andersen will be doing in the Trump White House. He did not immediately return a request for comment. Andersen made his departure from Vermont known in a recent email to a Government Technology photographer.
“We were extremely disappointed to hear Mr. Andersen was resigning and headed back to Virginia, where he had initially come to us from,” said CIO John Quinn. “Nick’s departure was on good terms and for family reasons. Nick brought an extraordinary amount of knowledge and expertise to the job, and the state of Vermont will miss him. We hope to get him back someday.”
Deputy CISO Scott Carbee will step in as the CISO on an interim basis.
Andersen arrived in Montpelier with deep experience in cybersecurity, and was particularly steeped in homeland security. He had recently served as vice president for Invictus International Consulting LLC. Prior to his work with Invictus, Andersen was chief information officer and senior cyber-risk executive for U.S. Naval Intelligence, along with the U.S. Coast Guard Intelligence.
One of Andersen’s most high-profile projects is the Vermont Security Operations Center, a public-private partnership with Norwich University. The center’s chief focus will be positioning the state to reduce cybersecurity risks.
