Kim Valois named Chief Information Security Officer at SA Water

SA Water filled its Chief Information Security Officer role with Kim Valois, as the South Australian water utility made appointments under a new technology structure. Valois joins from Flinders University, where she held the CISO role for more than three and a half years. She reports to Chief Information Officer Elise Vervetjes.

An SA Water spokesperson told iTnews that Valois heads the utility's cyber security and resilience function. According to iTnews, SA Water set up four divisions in early March to strengthen its technology operations as it moves to become a smart utility. The technology group, where SA Water had been seeking a CISO, now includes senior roles for enterprise architecture, cyber and resilience, data and analytics, and technology operations, iTnews reports. The SA Water spokesperson said the other roles set up to help deliver the technology strategy cover strategy, architecture and value realisation, and program and project delivery, and also report through to the CIO.

Before joining Flinders University, Valois was doing defence work, iTnews reports. iTnews reports that a solution from Crowdstrike, a California based provider of endpoint and cloud workload security, was key to that strategy.

Flinders University appointed Karl Sellmann as CISO and associate director for IDS infrastructure after Valois departed on May 19, iTnews reports. Sellmann is due to start in the Flinders role in June, according to iTnews.

iTnews reports that Valois exits SA Water after nearly two years, with the utility now under new cyber security leadership. According to iTnews, SA Water appointed Neil Bray to replace her, with the title of senior manager of cyber security and resilience.