Lora Vaughn

Lora Vaughn McIntosh is Chief Information Security Officer at Simmons Bank. Lora brings 15 years of cybersecurity experience to her current role of overseeing programs to secure Simmons’ assets and data. 

Lora joined Simmons from Regions Bank, where she most recently served as manager of the cybersecurity operations center. In this role, Lora oversaw and supported 24/7 security monitoring and incident response. 

In addition to her role as an online course instructor through LinkedIn Learning, Lora is a seasoned speaker for cybersecurity events around the nation ranging from InfoSecurity Connect (2018, 2019) and Alabama Cyber Now (2018) to Rapid7 United Summit (2017) and Women in Cybersecurity Conference (2014). 

Lora holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Birmingham-Southern College and is a certified information systems security professional (CISSP).

Accomplished Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) with over 20 years of experience leading comprehensive cybersecurity and compliance programs. Demonstrated ability to transform and scale security initiatives, drive innovation, and foster a culture of security excellence. Experience securing advanced technologies, including multi-cloud environments, Zero Trust architecture, cloud-native solutions, and containerization. Strong background in heavily regulated industries including Financial Services, Healthcare, and Energy with a proven track record of helping companies achieve business enabling compliance.

Simmons Bank

Simmons Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Simmons First National Corporation (NASDAQ: SFNC), a Mid-South based financial holding company that has paid cash dividends for 115 consecutive years. Simmons Bank operates 234 branches in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. Founded in 1903, Simmons Bank offers comprehensive financial solutions delivered with a client-centric approach. In 2024, Simmons Bank was recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the 2024-2025 Best Companies to Work For in the South and by Forbes as one of America’s Best-In-State Banks 2024 in Tennessee. In 2023, Simmons Bank was recognized by Forbes’ as one of “America’s Best Midsize Employer” and among the “World’s Best Banks” for the fourth consecutive year

Security Programs: Board Reporting, Security Operations, Vulnerability Management, Application Security, Incident Response, Offensive Security, Identity and Access Management, Product Security, Cyber Resilience, Security Risk Management, GRC, Data Security, Security Education, DR/BCP

Security Compliance: PCI, SOC2, GLBA, SOX, ISO27001, NIST SP 800-53, NIST CSF, GDPR, DORA

Technology: Multi-cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure), Zero Trust Architecture, SIEM, Container Security, Microservices Architecture, SAST, DAST, RASP, Cloud-native Security, Bug Bounty, Vulnerability Assessment, Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

Certification: ISC2 CISSP