Alejandro Ibanez

My career actually started at WWU as student employee, working IT in the Viking Union after working in the ESC, (shoutout to Chris Miller), who gave me my first shot and taught me what it meant to show up and solve problems for people. That experience gave me the confidence to pursue technology as a career. After graduating, I joined Remitly as an IT intern and quickly found myself leading a global team of 18, helping a fast growing fintech scale securely through a cloud migrations and my first real IT compliance programs. That's where I discovered my passion for the intersection of security, risk, and trust. I moved to Facebook as a software engineer to build a stronger technical foundation, and later transitioned into security leadership at Upward Financial, where I built their security and engineering compliance program from the ground up. Along the way, I finished my Master's at UW and got involved with Minorities in Cybersecurity, which has been one of the most rewarding parts of my journey helping others break into this field. Currently, I serve as Head of Security at Upward Financial, where I lead a team focused on compliance, customer trust, and keeping the company secure as it grows. I'm excited about what's next.