Nicole Dean
CISO, Accenture Federal Services
Nicole Dean’s most significant recent achievement was the rollout of Secure+. She and her team created standardized sandbox environments that allow the company’s innovation and project teams to quickly prototype in secure settings. They also developed a process to federalize assets created by the company’s commercial parent, driving greater efficiencies in contract delivery.
“Under Nicole’s leadership, Accenture Federal Services has continued to enhance its security and compliance posture which allows our clients to more assuredly embrace emerging technologies and securely prototype use cases,” said Paul Peck, AFS chief delivery officer.
Why Watch
In 2025, Dean and her team are heavily focused on adopting AI tools to enable the business while simplifying and maintaining compliance goals. It’s a reaction to the rapid growth of AFS, which has created some complex processes Dean said need to be simplified to enhance clients’ experiences.
“I regularly tell my team, ‘If you don’t lift that rock, you don’t know there’s a rattlesnake waiting to bite you,'” she said.
Fun fact: Dean loves to bake. Her specialties are coconut cake and eggnog cheesecake.