Gary Lorenz, M.S.C.S.

50th Anniversary Notable Alumni Feature Gary Lorenz, M.S.C.S.: Gary has become a distinguished expert in cyber security, technology security and risk management. Over the years, he has served as both an advisor to and executive for many of the largest financial institutions in the world, including J. P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and countless others. In his current role as Vice President at USAA, he leads the Cyber and Data Risk Management teams and has oversight responsibility for Enterprise Information Security, Privacy, Business Continuation, Physical Security and Investigations and Enterprise Data.

“First and foremost, Tulsa Junior College, now Tulsa Community College, helped me to build a strong foundation of Mathematics and Engineering skills that are essential in my profession,” he said. “I was able to cultivate a strong work ethic and maintain high grades to be on the academic honor rolls for most of my time at TJC.”

Born and raised in Bartlesville, Gary graduated from TJC with honors with degrees in Mathematics and Physics in 1992. He went on to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He was awarded the Chapman Distinguished Ph.D. Fellowship and the Wilford Woobank Graduate Fellowship by the University of Tulsa. He completed all the course work in his Ph.D. program and passed the Ph.D. exams but decided to leave school prior to his dissertation to pursue a career with Ernst & Young.

While at TU, he assisted the Tulsa Police Department and numerous federal agencies in cyber security issues. He also served as a Principle Research Scientist at the Center for Information Security and managed the research and development efforts of several high-profile projects focused on infrastructure protection. This work was supported by Department of Defense, Department of Justice and the National Institute for Standards and Technologies.