Christian Winward named Chief Information Security Officer at PNC

PNC named Christian Winward as Chief Information Security Officer. Winward led FirstBank's technology modernization and joins PNC's leadership following the bank's integration of FirstBank, where he spent decades and rose through the ranks.

Acquirers naming an acquired company's technology leader to a group-level security seat is the less common integration outcome — the default pattern runs the other way, with target-company executives departing post-close. When it happens, it usually signals that the acquired institution's technology estate, and the person who ran it, graded well in diligence.

Banking Dive reports that Winward will head the enterprise information security arm at PNC, which covers cyber strategy and attack surface monitoring. According to Banking Dive, that arm also oversees security operations, data protection, incident response, risk assessments, governance, and subsidiary and third-party security.

Banking Dive reports that Winward's career at FirstBank spanned 35 years. According to Banking Dive, Winward began his FirstBank career as a teller in 1991 and eventually moved up to multiple C-suite roles. Banking Dive reports that, as CIO, Winward assisted in the integration of FirstBank with PNC. Banking Dive reports that chief information officer was the most recent of the roles Winward held at FirstBank.

Banking Dive reports the appointment came roughly seven months after PNC, a Pittsburgh-based lender, closed its $4.1 billion acquisition of FirstBank in Colorado.