Executive record
Christian Winward
Career profile: Christian Winward on CISO Spotlights ↗
Christian Winward is Chief Information Security Officer at PNC. The appointment was announced on July 27, 2026, per Pittsburgh Business Times.
Before the appointment: Chief Information Officer at FirstBank, per the same source.
1 tracked move on the Wire · Updated
Career timeline
Every move the record holds for Christian Winward, newest first, with the earlier roles the announcements name.
· Appointment
Named Chief Information Security Officer at PNC
Source: Pittsburgh Business Times ↗ · Move record
Before July 2026· Earlier role
Chief Information Officer at FirstBank
Named in the announcement of the PNC appointment · Source: Pittsburgh Business Times ↗
The appointment
Announced July 27, 2026 · Source: Pittsburgh Business Times ↗ · Move record
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.
The company: PNC
- Sector
- Financial Services
- Region
- North America
- Company record
- Who runs security at PNC: 1 confirmed move on the record
- Annual report
- Cybersecurity section of the fiscal 2025 Form 10-K, filed February 20, 2026
- Board oversight
- Named in the filing: Technology Committee.
Appointed in the same period
Other security chiefs in Financial Services whose appointment was announced within 90 days of Christian Winward's, nearest first (8 of 30). The Financial Services bench
Maury Pipkin, Chief Information Security Officer at Finance of America Reverse
Sandro Bucchianeri, Chief Information Security Officer at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group
Michael Sikorski, Chief Information Security Officer at Coinbase
Joe Harrington, Chief Information Security Officer at Stock Yards Bank & Trust
Tera Ladner, Senior Vice President and Global Chief Information Security Officer at Aflac
Vikas Bangia, Chief Information Security Officer at Bessemer Trust
Sean Bruton, Chief Information Security Officer at Illumia
Record facts
- Time in the seat
- 3 months since the appointment was announced (July 27, 2026), as of November 2026
- Moves on the record
- 1 confirmed move, each with its source
- On the record since
- August 1, 2026
- Financial Services in 2026
- 42 security-leadership appointments announced in the sector on the record
How these are counted. Time in the seat: Counted in whole months from the announcement of the appointment, the date the record holds; announcements rarely give a start date.
Questions about Christian Winward
- Who is the CISO of PNC?
- Christian Winward is Chief Information Security Officer at PNC. The appointment was announced on July 27, 2026, per Pittsburgh Business Times.
- When did Christian Winward become CISO of PNC?
- The appointment was announced on July 27, 2026, per Pittsburgh Business Times. The record holds the announcement, not a start date.
- Where did Christian Winward work before PNC?
- Before the appointment, Christian Winward was Chief Information Officer at FirstBank, according to the announcement (Pittsburgh Business Times).
Sources
- 1.Pittsburgh Business Times ↗: the appointment at PNC, July 27, 2026
- 2.SEC EDGAR: Form 10-K, fiscal 2025 ↗: the company's cybersecurity disclosure
- 3.CISO Spotlights career profile ↗: a fuller career profile on a sister site
This record begins with CISO Tribune's tracking in 2026.
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