Melina Scotto Mastin

Melina Scotto is a seasoned CISO and Cyber Advisor to Fortune 500 corporations and federal civilian agencies. Her journey to CISO began 25 years ago as a database / IT manager at transportation nonprofit CTAA, where she managed and maintained network security. She had the honor of serving on the President’s Y2K security committee, specializing in disaster recovery for US city transportation systems. Melina reduced risks at a variety of non-profits before accepting a network security role at John Snow Inc, securing global health systems that provided life-saving antiretroviral drugs to PEPFAR countries. She then transitioned to domestic healthcare at George Washington Medical Faculty Associates. As a network security engineer, she focused on maintaining technicality in a dynamic virtual server and mobile device environment. In 2012, Melina joined the National Institute of Health (NIH), where she served 10 years in engineering security and leadership posts. She subsequently became Federal Health CISO and CPO for General Dynamics Information Technology, leading cybersecurity engineers and analysts across 140 Federal Health and state/local health contracts (FISMA/FedRAMP). Along the way, Melina collected certifications including, CISSP, CEH, CISA, CCSP, PMP and HCISPP. Most recently, she held the post of Vice President of Global Information Security and CISO at Hilton, where she focused on reducing cyber-risk across global systems, services, and applications.

Maryland resident and lifelong Orioles fan. When not securely linked into a server, she enjoys volunteering with the Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capital to encourage our next generation of women in tech. Melina also serves on advisory boards focused on cybersecurity education awareness such as Dark Reading, NCyTE, and Capital CISO.