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Benson’s top priorities in her new role, according to FI$Cal, “include familiarizing herself with FI$Cal’s enterprise and security posture” and focusing on recruitment.
“Her primary objective is to synchronize the goals of the Enterprise Security Services Office with the department’s mission, priorities, and the Cal-Secure roadmap, ensuring a cohesive and robust security strategy,” the release says.
Benson’s previous public-sector roles include having served as CIO and deputy director of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control; as associate director for Enterprise Solutions Services and project management officer for California State University at Monterey Bay; and as IT manager for the California Environmental Protection Agency.
Her experience in the industry includes having been a senior consultant for Enterprise Networking Solutions (ENS-Inc, now part of Optm); senior project manager for IBM; systems engineer for GE Capital; and application engineer for System Integrators Inc.
Benson was featured in an Industry Insider — California “One-on-One” interview in June 2020, while she was CIO at DTSC. In that role, she said, she was most proud of helping to transition the department “to a very open and transparent culture, where management and staff are in the decision-making process related to technology initiatives.”
Benson has a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration, with a specialization in management information systems, from California State University at Chico. In addition, she holds various industry certifications and is a certified Project Management Professional and an IT Infrastructure Library Practitioner.
