George DeCesare
Operating Advisor
About George
George DeCesare is an Operating Advisor at Bessemer Venture Partners, where he advises portfolio companies on cybersecurity strategy, risk management, and organizational resilience.
George brings over two decades of experience building and leading cybersecurity programs at scale. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Risk Officer at Kaiser Permanente, where he reported directly to the CEO and Board of Directors. In this role, he established enterprise-wide cybersecurity and privacy strategies supporting 230,000 employees, 12M patients, and $130B in revenue. Under his leadership, Kaiser Permanente developed one of healthcare's most mature cybersecurity programs, which became a model adopted by peer organizations.
Prior to Kaiser Permanente, George held senior leadership positions at CommonSpirit Healthcare (formerly Dignity Health) and simultaneously served as a Reserve Captain with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, leading cybersecurity and forensic sciences best practices.
George is a board member of HITRUST and serves on several cybersecurity advisory boards, including the Board of Regents Cybersecurity at San Jose State University and the San Jose City Council Advisory Board. He has been a member of both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Cybersecurity Task Force and the White House Administration Cybersecurity Task Force. His efforts are recognized as one of the top contributors of cybersecurity intelligence to Information Sharing & Analysis Centers (ISACs) and has been honored multiple times as one of HITEC's Top 100 Global Technology Executives.
A sought-after keynote speaker and published author on cybersecurity and quantitative risk practices, George has contributed to federal rule-making for HIPAA, HITECH Act, and SEC Cybersecurity Disclosure, and participated in developing the OWASP AI Vulnerability Assessment and Scoring System.
George holds a Bachelor of Science and Juris Doctor from Northwestern California University School of Law and is a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM). He is an avid pilot and holds multiple flying privileges in the U.S. He resides in Northern California with his family.
