Dr. Kizilelma is a business-driven IT/Cybersecurity GRC leader with three decades of experience covering Education, Healthcare, Research, Government, and Private sectors. He is the founding Director of the business focused Masters in Cybersecurity program and teaches online Cybersecurity GRC courses as an Associate Professor of Cybersecurity in the Barowsky School of Business at Dominican University of California. Dr. Kizilelma also served as the Chief Information Security Officer for multiple University of California campuses, and as the Information Security Officer for the top Sutter Health hospitals in Northern California. He has more than 50 industry certifications, is an accredited ISACA trainer for all the major certifications, has a B.S. degree in Computer Engineering, an MBA, and a Ph.D. focusing on Information Security, patient safety and quality management systems. He is currently serving as the ISACA Sacramento Chapter president and also volunteers for various non-profit organizations as a board member focusing on education, awareness, training, and community outreach efforts.

His contribution to the cybersecurity community was recognized with the 2022 C100 Award – Top 100 CISOs by CISOs Connect.