Upendra Mardikar joined TIAA in 2022 as Chief Information Security Officer. In this role, he is responsible for leading information security strategy and governance, security engineering and operations, and cyber defense and monitoring efforts.
With more than 25 years in the financial services industry, Upendra is a seasoned cybersecurity technology leader known for his track record of delivering large-scale transformations and developing innovative solutions to secure multi-cloud platforms and products, client-facing technologies, and customer and developer experiences.
Prior to TIAA, Upendra served as the CISO for Snap Finance, where he led the development and build of new cybersecurity platforms to enable business growth. He has also held various cybersecurity senior leadership positions at American Express, Visa, and PayPal, where he led high performing global teams to propel digital transformation and implement cybersecurity strategy and governance.
Upendra is an inventor credited with 95+ patents issued and pending, predominantly in cybersecurity, identity, biometrics, tokenization, blockchain and digital technology. He is a well-recognized thought leader on emerging security trends and notable keynote at industry conferences and universities, including European Identity & Cloud Conference, National Finance Center, Internet of Things, KNOW Identity conferences, Stanford University, UT Austin and others.
Upendra serves as a leading advisor with industry groups such as Oasis, Fast Identity Online and Trusted Computing Group and co-authored the first version of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Additionally, he wrote “Privacy: Applied. Proactive. Innovative.” and “Purple Book of Software Security.’ He also helped create an online community around cybersecurity called the Purple Book Community.
Upendra holds a master’s degree in business administration from Santa Clara University and a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Computer Science from VNIT in Nagpur, India. His security industry certifications include CISSP, ISSAP, CSSLP.