Cybersecurity program earns national acclaim

Information Security Program Manager Marc Child was recently recognized for his — and Great River Energy’s — efforts to promote a safe and secure electric system.

Child was honored with the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center’s (E-ISAC) Electricity Security Service Award. The inaugural award was presented during GridSecCon, a North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) virtual conference for grid security.

The award is named after Mike Assante, the first chief security officer at NERC, who was instrumental in creating a more secure critical infrastructure. As a tribute to Assante, the award recognizes individuals or teams that have made significant contributions to support the security of the North American electricity industry.

“Marc has demonstrated a commitment to industry and to ensuring electricity security,” said Manny Cancel, senior vice president and chief executive officer of E-ISAC. “Marc’s leadership has inspired teams to find innovative solutions in the continual pursuit of addressing security threats facing our industry and society.”

During his time at Great River Energy, Child has worked to mature the cooperative’s cybersecurity practices through on-going collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s CRISP program, E-ISAC and member-owner cooperatives.

“Marc has been and continues to be an active collaborator and contributor to advancing security to address today’s and tomorrow’s threats,” said Jim Jones, vice president and chief information officer at Great River Energy.  “He is a vital member of our security committee, where he currently serves as chair, and provides leadership to all cybersecurity-related efforts.”