Joshua Spence was appointed by Gov. Jim Justice to fill the seat after the retirement of longtime IT leader John Dunlap, according to a press release from the governor's office. Dunlap was named CTO in January 2017, after serving more than 30 years in state government.
Spence had been serving as chief information security officer of West Virginia since 2015. He holds expertise in cybersecurity strategy, incident response, cryptography and risk management.
Prior to his service as the state's CISO, Spence served as the cybersecurity manager for the West Virginia Air National Guard. He has maintained his cybersecurity service with the Air National Guard, 130th Airlift Wing.
Spence holds a master’s degree in information technology from Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., as well as a number of industry certifications.
