Samantha R. Gignac

Security Architect  ·  Cloud & Enterprise Security

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About

Cybersecurity Architect with over a decade of experience designing and governing enterprise security architectures across global financial, insurance, and healthcare environments. Proven leader in cloud, identity, logging, and threat-driven security architecture — partnering with business and executive stakeholders to balance innovation, autonomy, and risk.

Experience

Global Security Architect — AVP
Nov 2021 – Present
Zurich Insurance
Remote
  • Design and govern enterprise-wide security frameworks aligned to financial risk management strategies.
  • Vanguard Award recipient — company-wide, annual; selected as top cybersecurity professional for leadership and measurable risk reduction.
  • Evaluate and approve application security architecture using threat-driven risk analysis.
  • Lead cloud security initiatives including AWS to enhance scalability and resilience.
  • Enable decentralized teams to innovate securely while aligning with enterprise security objectives.
Cyber Defense Center Security Engineer
Apr 2019 – Oct 2021
KION Group – Dematic
Grand Rapids, MI
  • Implemented and operated core security platforms including SIEM, SOAR, sandboxing, EDR, and vulnerability analysis tools.
  • Led incident response and forensic investigations across enterprise environments.
  • Automated SOC workflows through SOAR playbook development to improve response consistency and efficiency.
Vulnerability Management Security Engineer
Dec 2018 – Apr 2019
Spectrum Health System
Grand Rapids, MI
  • Executed enterprise vulnerability and port scanning; analyzed results to identify remediation priorities.
  • Investigated emerging vulnerabilities and produced formal threat advisories for technical and leadership audiences.
Risk Management Security Analyst
May 2016 – Dec 2018
Spectrum Health System
Grand Rapids, MI
  • Conducted NIST-aligned risk assessments across HIPAA, PCI, financial, and employee data environments.
  • Managed third-party and internal risk reviews with Legal, Privacy, Engineering, and Architecture teams.
SAN Storage Engineer
May 2014 – May 2016
Allstate Insurance
Northbrook, IL
  • Managed lifecycle events including implementation of an all-flash array to replace end-of-life Non-Production arrays.
  • Implemented Storage Archiving capability (ZLUA) across 100+ Windows 2012 R2 servers.

Certifications

IAPP Certified Information Privacy Technologist (CIPT)
Feb 2025
SANS GIAC Defensible Security Architecture (GDSA)
Jan 2025
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
Mar 2024
ISC² Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
May 2022
SANS GIAC Certified Intrusion Analyst (GCIA)
Feb 2021
SANS GIAC Information Security Professional (GISP)
Jul 2020
SANS GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH)
May 2019
SANS GIAC Certified Enterprise Defender (GCED)
Aug 2018
SANS GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC)
Sep 2017

Education

B.S. in Computer Networks and Systems Engineering
Ferris State University  ·  Big Rapids, MI
Aug 2010 – May 2014
Outstanding Student of the Year — awarded twice.

Publications & Talks

How Zurich Insurance Group Built a Log Management Solution on AWS
AWS Big Data Blog · 2023
Architecting Enterprise Log Management on AWS
Conference Presentation (YouTube) · 2023

Professional Involvement

Contact

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