Before Hodges took on the role, the state’s deputy chief information security officer, Michael Davis, held the position in an interim capacity after former state CISO David Allen stepped down last October.
Hodges brings more than 21 years of IT experience to the role, recently serving as a disclosure officer and senior IT security manager for the Georgia Department of Revenue (DOR).
During his time with DOR, Hodges held various roles, including server platform manager, network support and security manager, IT operations manager and database support manager.
In his most recent role as a disclosure and senior IT security manager, Hodges oversaw the department’s IT service delivery, IT governance program, information security office and information disclosure program, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Before that, Hodges was an enterprise network engineer manager for the Georgia Department of Administrative Services from 1996 to 2001.
He also has private-sector experience and is credited as being part of a team “that developed one of the first commercially marketed disk encryption and access control systems for IBM-compatible computers,” according to the statement from the Georgia Technology Authority.
It is this extensive experience that has qualified him for the role, Thomas said in a release.
“Steve understands state systems and the challenges in protecting them,” she said. “Information security is our top priority, and I am confident that Steve’s insight and leadership will benefit the state.”
