To celebrate 2022 Identity Management Day, we are delighted to honor Chris Hawley, Director of Identity and Access Management in the Corporate Security and Infrastructure Office at Unisys, as our Identity and Access Management Leader for 2022. We had a chance to meet with him a few weeks ago in a customer panel session. Recently, I had the chance to meet with Chris to learn how he has led his team through the pandemic and implemented key initiatives over the last year.
As a distinguished leader, we recognized how Chris Hawley has utilized identity management best practices and security as part of key initiatives over the last year.
When the world changed and all of our associates had to work from remote locations, the assurance of our multi-factor authentication (MFA) combined with our new and improved user experience became priority number one. Chris Hawley Director of Identity and Access Management at Unisys and his team completed system and application upgrades, implemented load-balancing, and reconfigured the approach taken with multi-factor authentication as part of a program to improve security and the end-user experience. Resulting in the successful widespread use of MFA by all of the nearly 20,000 users regardless of network location. They call this program “MFA Everywhere.”
How has Chris Hawley influenced colleagues, organization, customers, or partners to practice better identity management?
Chris Hawley and his team designed and worked closely with SecureAuth to deploy the “MFA Everywhere” program, which has resulted in the acceptance of MFA as part of the daily experience of each of the company’s nearly 20,000 users. Collaborating with multiple teams and SecureAuth, a valued partner for Unisys, Chris Hawley convinced everyone this was the right journey. The teams worked in tandem to design and implement the solution, which tested well with Unisys associates and senior leadership, especially the frictionless user experience of the solution.
Chris Hawley is the Director of Identity and Access Management in the Corporate Security and Infrastructure Office at Unisys. Chris joined Unisys in 2002 and is responsible for the overall strategy and delivery of the Unisys certificate infrastructure (PKI), Identity and Access Management and provisioning, endpoint protection, and Multi-Factor Authentication solutions.
Chris’s team partners closely with Unisys’s global business units and IT to ensure that solutions are aligned with business needs and delivered in a timely manner. He is passionate about team building and helping others grow their skillsets and careers.
Chris holds a bachelor’s degree from Concordia University, is a native of Minnesota.
What technology platforms does the nominee use to practice effective identity management and security?
At Unisys, load-balanced Microsoft Windows servers provide multi-factor authentication services to users with traditional and mobile client devices, including Windows and Mac computers, mobile devices such as Apple iPhone and iPad, and Android devices. Unisys and SecureAuth embarked on a journey to ensure Unisys achieved their goal of “MFA Everywhere” – the official name of their program. This journey included reducing risk (implementing MFA), expanding use to all teams worldwide, improving the user experience, standardizing the platform, and enhancing the infrastructure
Explain why you feel that identity management is so important to the nominee.
Chris and his team are responsible for the provisioning and deprovisioning of highly-trusted digital identities (credentials) and extending the trust to 3rd party SaaS and Cloud applications through federation technologies provided by SecureAuth. These digital technologies and the trustworthiness established in the ecosystem enable the company to operate securely in the world of modern, cloud-based applications. With his leadership and collaboration with the nearly 20,000 associates worldwide, adoption of the solution was mandatory, not optional. This improved the experience for their associates and the increased security that came with it. Acceptance of this new program skyrocketed. “MFA Everywhere” has now lived up to its name. Load balanced windows servers provide multi-factor authentication services to users with various traditional and mobile client devices, including Windows and Mac computers, mobile devices such as Apple iPhone and iPad, and Android devices. Unisys and SecureAuth embarked on a journey to ensure Unisys achieved their goal of “MFA Everywhere” – the official name of their program. This journey included reducing risk (implementing MFA), expanding use to all teams worldwide, improving the user experience, standardizing the platform, and enhancing the infrastructure.
