Founder Society of Payment Security Professionals

Chris is an experienced information security professional and recognized payment card and PCI expert. Chris is a co-founder of The Aegenis Group and the Society of Payment Security Professionals. From 2007-2009, the Aegenis Group was the worldwide trainer for all Qualified Security Assessors (QSA). Additionally, the company contracts with Visa Inc. to conduct PCI related training internationally to merchants and banks. He has conducted PCI and payment security training to over 10,000 people in 10 countries on 5 different continents.

Prior to founding The Society, Chris was employed at MasterCard Worldwide where he was one of MasterCard’s representatives on the Payment Card Industry Security Standards’ Council (PCI-SSC) Technical Working Group. He is also the founder of one of the industry’s first QSA firms and conducting scores of PCI assessments for merchants, service providers, and members. Chris was involved with the initial development of Visa' CISP program and founded one of the first QSA firms. Chris has worked at both MasterCard Worldwide and Visa USA on development of their respective data security programs.

Chris managed the development of the CPISM and CPISA certifications and is responsible for the development of much of the training materials.  He holds the CPISM, CPISA,CISSP, and CIPP professional certifications, numerous technical certifications, and has an MBA and BA degrees.