James Baird is Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer for Focus Brands, LLC, a leading developer of global, multi-channel foodservice brands including McAlister’s Deli, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Cinnabon, Carvel, and others. There, Baird leads the Information Security team responsible for Governance, Risk, and Compliance over Application Security, Cyber Security, Security Engineering, Security Analytics, and Physical Security, and he is also responsible for Data Privacy & Data Protection which provides governance over programs and techniques that ensure security and privacy of personal information to its domestic and international customers.

Mr. Baird has twenty-nine years in Information Technology with 22 of those in an information security role, and 15 of those years leading the global information security program across FinTech, business process outsourcing, non-profit charity, loss mitigation/foreclosure, commercial real estate, and retail industries in the commercial facilities, financial services, food and agriculture, healthcare and public health, and information technology critical infrastructure sectors. He is on the Board of Directors for Georgia Radio Reading Service (GaRRS), and previously has held director-level roles with ISSA, ISACA, and InfraGard. He holds CISSP, CRISC, CISM, and CIPM certifications and a master’s degree in Information Assurance from Capital Technology University.