Ishtiaq Rouf

Ishtiaq Rouf has a strong background in the field of cybersecurity. Ishtiaq is currently serving as the Chief Product Officer at TalaSecure Inc., where they are responsible for overseeing the development of Tala Secure Defender, a security tool designed to protect cloud-based environments and IoT devices. Ishtiaq has been with the company since June 2023.

Prior to their current role, Ishtiaq held the position of Chief Executive at West Annapolis Family Dentistry starting from January 2020.

Ishtiaq has also worked at Alvarez & Marsal as a Manager and Senior Associate. During their time there from November 2018 to May 2023, they specialized in IT infrastructure, strategy, and leadership analysis as part of buy-side diligence in the M&A Services group.

Before joining Alvarez & Marsal, Ishtiaq served as an Information Security Engineer at Wells Fargo from April 2016 to November 2018. Ishtiaq was responsible for assessing FinTech applications and improving the security posture of the Wholesale Banking division.

Ishtiaq also worked at Itron as a Senior Software Engineer from March 2012 to March 2016. In this role, they served as an in-house penetration tester and subject matter expert in security, actively improving the security of customer-facing products.

Prior to their industry experience, Ishtiaq worked at Willis Towers Watson as an Application Security Analyst from January 2015 to July 2015. Ishtiaq managed security assessments of over 120 applications and developed in-house capacity for static and dynamic testing.

Ishtiaq's early career involved roles at the University of South Carolina, where they served as a Graduate Instructor and Graduate Research Assistant. As a Graduate Instructor from January 2010 to May 2012, they taught sophomore courses in Visual Basic, C++, and Computer Security. As a Graduate Research Assistant from July 2009 to May 2012, they analyzed the security and privacy risks of newly deployed wireless communication systems, specifically focusing on the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) project.

Overall, Ishtiaq Rouf has a diverse background in cybersecurity, with experience in product development, leadership, analysis, application security, and research.

Ishtiaq Rouf holds a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) in Accounting and Finance from Duke University's The Fuqua School of Business, which was obtained from 2017 to 2018. Prior to that, they pursued a Master's Degree in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of South Carolina from 2009 to 2012. From 2007 to 2009, Ishtiaq was enrolled in a Master's Degree program in Electrical Engineering at Virginia Tech. Ishtiaq completed their Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering at Louisiana State University, where they studied from 2004 to 2007. Ishtiaq initially started their higher education at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 2003 but transferred out as a freshman, pursuing civil engineering at that time.

In addition to their formal education, Ishtiaq Rouf has obtained certified qualifications. Ishtiaq completed the Six Sigma Green Belt certification from Optness Institute in April 2018. In May 2016, they attained the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification from (ISC)².