Joanne Peca

Dr. Joanne C. Peca has worked in the field of information technology, security, and privacy for nearly 30 years, in both hands-on and leadership roles.  She holds faculty appointments at Carnegie Mellon University in the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy and the CyLab Security and Privacy Institute.

Before joining Carnegie Mellon, she was a faculty member at Penn State University in the College of Information Sciences and Technology.  Joanne also served as the Chief Information Officer for Penn State Altoona for a decade, capping her tenure at the college with recognition as the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s CIO of the Year.

Joanne is the founder and principal of High Point Drive LLC, a consulting and coaching firm which allows her to share her leadership expertise in information technology, security, and privacy. Prior to that, she co-founded Media Vortex, Inc. and was an early-stage team member at InfoRocket, Inc. (which was later acquired by AT&T).

Throughout her career, Joanne has focused on understanding the role of organizational dynamics and interpersonal relationships and their impact on the development and deployment of innovative technology solutions and services.  This industry experience aligns with her research, which focuses on the intersection of organizational leadership and technology, security, and privacy.  Her research has been published by IEEE and ACM, among others, and she regularly serves as an invited speaker at both academic and industry events.

Joanne is a graduate of the Yale School of Management’s Global Executive Leadership Program. Additionally, she holds a doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Northeastern University, a Master of Science in Information Systems from Drexel University, a Master of Business Administration from Rider University, a Graduate Certificate in Project Management from Penn State University, and a Professional Certificate in Strategic Decision and Risk Management from Stanford University.

She is currently completing (just one course to go!) her graduate program in Privacy Engineering from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon and is pursuing her Juris Doctor degree at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Joanne holds certifications in information security (CISSP, C|CISO, and C|EH), information privacy (CIPP/US), IT service management (ITIL 4 / ITIL v3 Expert), and project management (PMP and Registered Scrum Master). She completed her Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth.