Jamey Sample

Vice President and Chief Security Officer, Xcel Energy

Jamey leads Xcel Energy’s Enterprise Security Risk and Emergency Management organization focusing on critical infrastructure security and resilience. The organization governs, oversees, and supports all aspects of enterprise cyber and information security, physical and personnel security, and enterprise continuity of operations and emergency management. This is a fully integrated program that cuts across all aspects of the enterprise and includes both information technology and operational technology and regulatory compliance with North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC CIP), Transportation Security Administration Pipeline Security, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Cybersecurity. Jamey is the company’s NERC CIP senior manager and led the companies COVID-19 response and return-to-work.

Jamey joined Xcel from Ernst and Young (EY), a professional services firm, where he served as the Americas Energy Security and Operational Technology Leader working with critical infrastructure and global leaders to safeguard the country’s most critical operations. Prior to EY, Jamey held senior leadership roles at several major utilities and an independent system operator. Jamey served as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and California Independent System Operator (CAISO). Jamey also served as a Cryptologic Technician in the United States Navy.

• Serves on both the NREL Clear Energy Cybersecurity Accelerator and the Analysis & Resilience Center (ARC) in various capacities. The Cybersecurity Accelerator is focused on accelerating cyber innovations for modern and renewable energy technologies. The ARC is a collective effort between the Financial Services and Energy sector to identify and develop cross-sector mitigation strategies and resilience solutions against systemic risk within these sectors and beyond.
• Served as a member of the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) Cyber Policy Task Force that is updating the bipartisan report, Securing Cyberspace for the 44th Presidency, for the 45th Presidency. This report serves as the primary blueprint for Administration policy and congressional legislative reform in the cyber space. Additionally served as an Advisor to the Department of Energy (DoE), Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability Research and Development Division, on various grant projects; DoE Risk Management Process and Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (C2M2), ES and ONG; NERC CIP Standard drafting team; EEI and AGA Cybersecurity Working Group; NERC CIPC Executive Committee Member; served on the WECC CIPC and Physical Security Working Group (PSWG).
• Assisted in the development of the SANS Global Industrial Cybersecurity Professional (GICSO) Certification. This certification establishes a base level of knowledge and understanding for the diverse set of professionals who engineer, operate, secure, and/or support control systems and share responsibility for the security of these environments.