Award Winning Pioneer in International Cyber Defense
Prior to retiring, Paul Raines was the Chief Information Security Officer for the United Nations Development Programme. In that capacity he was responsible for managing the cyber-security and disaster recovery planning for the Organization’s 177 locations around the world. His unit was the first and only United Nations unit to be ISO 9001, ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 certified.
His information security unit won international awards for outstanding performance including an Honors Laureate award from Computer World magazine in 2013 and a 7-time winner of the CSO50 award from CSO magazine—more than any other organization since the award was established. The CSO award honors the top 50 cybersecurity organizations in the world for business value and thought leadership. In 2020 his unit won a Future Edge 50 award from CIO magazine for technological innovation in developing an incident response and threat hunting platform. Finally, Computer World magazine has twice selected Mr. Raines for its Premier 100 award for being
among the 100 most influential IT leaders in the world.
Prior to UNDP, Mr. Raines worked for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) where he, as well as other members of the organization, was a joint recipient of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. Prior to working for the United Nations, he was the Chief Information Security Officer for Bloomberg LP, Barclays Capital and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Mr. Raines is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. A former Nutley resident, he and his wife, Rebecca, lived in Nutley, New Jersey for 15 years, where they were active members of the community before relocating to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Married for 41 years, they have one daughter. For relaxation, he enjoys opera, Shakespearean plays, French wine, and quiet mornings spent in a café with an espresso, pain au chocolat, and a good book on Roman history.