San Jose, California, United States, May 2025 – Auston Davis has taken on the role of City Chief Information Security Officer at the City of San José, one of the largest municipal organizations in the United States. In this pivotal leadership role, Auston will oversee the city’s cybersecurity strategy, data governance, and responsible AI policy implementation—ensuring the safety, resilience, and integrity of digital operations supporting over a million residents and 80,000 businesses in Silicon Valley.
Before his appointment to the City of San José, Auston served as Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Versant Health, where he successfully built an enterprise-wide security program aligned with NIST standards. His initiatives included transforming the HITRUST certification process, automating IAM systems, and cultivating a security-first culture that significantly reduced phishing vulnerability rates and increased employee engagement.
Earlier, he was the VP and Associate CIO at HeartFlow, Inc., where he was also the company’s first CISO. Over his three-year tenure, Auston led a cloud transformation initiative, established a Security DevOps function, and implemented a Zero Trust architecture that enabled the company to pivot quickly to remote operations during the pandemic—all while managing a multimillion-dollar security budget and building a high-performing global team.
Prior to that, he held the role of Chief Information Security Officer at Stanford Children’s Health, where he led post-breach recovery initiatives across a 60-site healthcare network. His accomplishments included launching predictive threat analytics, reducing policy violations, and establishing the Stanford Health CISO Council to drive cost efficiencies and security standardization.
Auston’s extensive experience also includes key roles at Kaiser Permanente, Symantec, Visa USA, Merrill Lynch, and Stanford University, as well as two decades of service as a Special Agent with the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations. His rich expertise spans cybercrime investigations, regulatory compliance, AI governance, incident response, and risk management.
About City of San José
Founded in 1777, San José is California’s first city and now serves as the Capital of Silicon Valley. With a population of over 1 million, it is the 10th largest city in the United States. The City of San José operates under a council-manager form of government and manages a $5 billion budget with a workforce of 7,000 employees. Known for its innovation and technological leadership, the city supports diverse initiatives in infrastructure, digital transformation, AI, data privacy, and resident services.
Read Also : HR Is Not a Support Function—It’s the CEO’s Most Powerful Growth Engine
The Fine Balance: Navigating Work, Life, and Mental Wellbeing
From Gatekeeping to Gateway Building: Transforming How Organisations Create Access
Leadership In Talent Management: A Powerful Driver for Economic Growth
