Theresa Payton

First Female White House Chief Information Officer; AI Strategist; Business and Personal Security Expert; Privacy Visionary
Theresa
Payton

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AVAILABLE FOR

Virtual Presentation
Keynote
Fireside Chat
Panels

Fee ranges

Domestic In-Person (USA):

$25,000 - $35,000*

International In-Person:

Please inquire

Virtual:

$20,001 - $30,000*

Other:

* Ranges are presented as a guideline only. Speaker fees vary by engagement type and are subject to change without notice. For an exact quote, please contact Gravity Speakers.

Traveling from

Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

About

As a visionary in the digital world, who famously made history as the first female to serve as White House Chief Information Officer and is widely recognized as one of the nation’s most respected authorities on cybersecurity, Theresa Payton is a highly sought-after keynote speaker. She captivates audiences by drawing from her experience as a veteran cybercrime fighter and entrepreneur, masterfully blending memorable anecdotes with cutting-edge insights. 

A celebrated, patented inventor of new security designs, Payton identifies emerging trends and techniques to help businesses – and audiences –  combat cyber threats, from the impact of the Internet of Things to securing Big Data. She’s the cybersecurity expert organizations in both the public and private sectors turn to protect their most valuable resources, improve their IT systems and strategies and to discreetly guide them through data breaches.

Managing cybersecurity risk is what Payton knows and does best. Before overseeing IT operations as CIO for President George W. Bush and his administration, she held executive roles in banking technology for two of the country’s top financial institutions. After serving in the White House, she went on to co-found Dark3, a cybersecurity product company, and Fortalice Solutions, a world-class cybersecurity consulting firm ranked a “Top 5 Most Innovative Cybersecurity Company” in Northern Virginia, Maryland, and DC.  

Because of her ability to explain complex security issues and help non-tech-savvy people understand how to protect their privacy, Payton has been a frequent guest on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Fox Business, and Fox News and has been featured on CBS News, CNN, NBC News, and MSNBC, as well as Canadian and Irish news outlets. She also starred on the reality TV series “Hunted”, where highly trained investigators (including Payton) “hunted” to catch people attempting to hide throughout the world.

She is the author of multiple industry-leading books on IT strategy and cyber security, including “Manipulated: Inside the Cyberwar to Hijack Elections and Distort the Truth,” which The Guardian included on their list of the “Top 10 Books About Cybercrime.”

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Topics

Topics

AI and the Future of Us: Navigating the Promise and Perils of Artificial Intelligence

Secured Digital Transformation: Innovating Without Compromising Trust

From the White House to Your House: Leadership & Life Lessons

Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOu-Sk75aI0
Visa Spotlights, S2: Unmasking AI Deception in Cybersecurity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUdcBC-zelk
Zero Trust, Software Supply Chain, Modernization in DOD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GJEcw0SO2g
Your Role in Fighting Cybercrime
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xLDrhXmciI
Theresa Payton, Former White House CIO

Books / Movies As an Amazon Associate, Gravity earns from qualifying purchases.

Testimonials

“Thank you so SO much for joining us this week for the Banking Summit. Your presentation was a crowd favorite (currently ranked #1 in our feedback survey) and the perfect addition to our event.”

Alloy

“Theresa is very engaging and has so many amazing and relevant stories from her career. It's nice to hear all the real world situations she has dealt with. I wished her presentation was longer. Theresa made a lot of good points that are important to our industry. Consider having her back next year please!”

Magnet Forensics

“Theresa’s talk, ‘Unmasking Cybercriminals and the Triple Threat Facing Business and You’ was a wake-up call on how cybercriminals leverage AI and emerging technologies. Her expertise in risk mitigation, digital security, and real world cyber threats made this session incredibly insightful.”

Links

“Thank you for your brilliant presentation this morning at Great Audit Minds (GAM). Very informative, eye-opening, and dare I say, alarming. I ordered the last (!!) hardcover copy of your book from Amazon and am excited to read it.”

Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA)

“Theresa, I'm CTO at Four Points Technology. I loved your keynote especially the happy meals, smart phone bags and your advice on coming up with a deep fake pass phrase personally as well as at work. It made so much sense, but we don't think to set these up until it is too late.”

Four Points Technology

“Absolutely loved your session and the 2026 predictions!!!”

Cisco

“OMG!! I cannot begin to tell you how much we LOVE Theresa! She’s the best! The session was amazing and she is so warm and giving. I will certainly be recommending her to any of my colleagues after an engaging, informative, knowledgeable and warm speaker. In the meantime, I’m going to let all my colleagues in the events business know that they should just erase any other cybercrime speakers they have OFF their lists right now!”

Thomson Reuters

“Thank you for your fantastic presentation at Executive Summit and for being part of our (standing room only) Zero Trust session. I’ve heard nothing but great feedback from attendees on both fronts.”

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

“I loved her session at the Governor’s Cyber Security Summit. I especially enjoyed hearing about the ‘5 F’s’ and how to protect our privacy in the uprise of AI.”

Dell