Nicole Darden Ford

VP and CISO

Carrier

Nicole Darden Ford is an IT Strategic leader with 20+ years of success spanning the Federal Government and Corporate Venues. Nicole has held a variety of leadership roles within the private sector and federal government, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She has extensive knowledge and application experience in cybersecurity, cyber forensics and homeland security practices. In her most recent role, as the Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer for Carrier she is responsible for Information Security and Product (IOT) Cybersecurity, globally.Prior to joining Carrier, Nicole was the Vice President of Information Security and the Chief Information Security Officer for Baxter International Inc. where she had global responsibility for Information Security, as well as Information Governance and IT Quality Compliance. Nicole joined Baxter in December 2016 as the Vice President of Information Security and Chief Information Security Officer from Venable LLP, an AMLAW 100 law firm, where she was Director of Information Security. Nicole has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems from the University of Phoenix and a master’s degree in the Management of Information Technology from the University of Virginia. She holds the C|CISO, CISM, CEH and CISSP certifications. She served in leadership roles for various Baxter employee groups, including the Global Inclusion Council, African American Leadership Council and Baxter Women Leaders. She has held board roles on the H-ISAC, NTSC and Evanta Governing Board