Omar Khawaja is vice president and chief information security officer (CISO) for Highmark Health, a national health and wellness organization and the second largest integrated financing and delivery network by revenue in the United States. Omar has spent 15+ years delivering, developing and managing security solutions for startups, service providers, consulting firms and enterprises. In his current role, he oversees information security and risk management for the Highmark Health portfolio of leading health care businesses that employ more than 40,000 people and serve millions of Americans in 50 states. Prior to joining Highmark Health, Omar was with Verizon Enterprise Solutions, where he was responsible for their portfolio of security solutions with customers in 72 countries.

Omar currently serves on the boards of the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) and Action Housing Network; on the governing body of Evanta; on the CISO Workgroup of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association; as adjunct faculty member for the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) program at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh; and on boards of advisors for several security firms.