Nicholas Lawrence
@nicholaslawrence
Senior GRC and cloud security leader driving audit readiness and risk reduction across regulated environments.
United StatesWhat I'm looking for
I am a Senior Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) and cloud security leader with 13+ years of experience delivering risk reduction and audit readiness across financial, healthcare, and technology sectors.
I have implemented and led programs aligned to NIST 800-53, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, SOC 1 & 2, HITRUST, HIPAA, GDPR and FedRAMP, and I drive continuous control monitoring and automation to increase control visibility and reduce remediation time.
My hands-on experience includes IAM and PAM governance (CyberArk, Azure AD, AWS IAM), cloud control testing across AWS and Azure, and third-party risk management for large vendor populations, delivering measurable improvements in audit closure and control posture.
I partner with executives and auditors to design KRI/KPI-driven dashboards, strengthen policy governance, and build scalable compliance programs that improve audit readiness and reduce recurring audit issues.
Experience
Work history, roles, and key accomplishments
JCDirected cloud, IAM and GRC governance for the BISO function, implemented CCM dashboards via RSA Archer increasing visibility into 200+ control metrics and led PAM (CyberArk) efforts that mitigated privileged access risk for 50k+ identities and improved audit readiness by 25%.
Senior IT Risk & Compliance Manager
Equitable Insurance
Jun 2022 - Dec 2023 (1 year 6 months)
Conducted risk and control assessments for 50+ enterprise systems ensuring SOC, NIST and ISO alignment, managed audit coordination and control design reducing recurring ITGC issues by 20% and closed 90% of open audit findings within SLA.
IT GRC & Security Assurance Lead
Pentagon Federal Credit Union
Jun 2021 - May 2022 (11 months)
Established policy governance frameworks and automated ServiceNow IRM compliance dashboards, improving SOX audit compliance by 15% and resolving 200+ IAM control gaps through targeted control testing and validation.
Senior Cybersecurity GRC Analyst
Fidelity Investments
Jul 2020 - Mar 2021 (8 months)
Directed third-party risk assessments for 100+ vendors to ensure GDPR, HIPAA and HITRUST compliance, integrated CCM using Archer dashboards and matured SOC 2/ISO 27001 control assurance to accelerate audit closure by 25%.
IT Security Analyst
Versant Health
Performed risk assessments, control testing and audit coordination across IAM and cloud security programs, developed risk register templates and dashboards that reduced privileged access exceptions by 30%.
Education
Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework
UCUniversity of Maryland Global Campus
Master of Science, Cybersecurity Management and Policy
2024 -
Pursuing a Master of Science in Cybersecurity Management and Policy with focus on cybersecurity governance and policy alignment.
Rivers State University of Science and Technology
Master of Business Administration, Accounting
2002 - 2004
Completed a Master of Business Administration in Accounting emphasizing managerial accounting and financial management.
Delta State University
Bachelor of Science, Accounting and Finance
1993 - 1997
Earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance covering financial reporting, auditing, and corporate finance.
Availability
Location
United StatesAuthorized to work in
Job categories
Skills
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