The 2023 Rising Stars of the Profession: Jordan Barth

Jordan Barth is a Managing Director in KPMG's Cyber Security Services practice. He leads cyber incident response engagement teams across industries in responding to ransomware attacks, network intrusions, cloud breaches, intellectual property theft and advanced persistent threats. As part of KPMG Cyber Response Services team, he leads Cloud (Azure/AWS/GCP) incident response automation and orchestration engagements. Additionally, Jordan has substantial experience leading and coordinating security assessments and remediation projects for security operations centers, performing adversary simulations (purple teaming) as well as incident response readiness and ransomware planning engagements.

What would you say has been the biggest factor in your success so far?

The biggest factor in my success has been the ongoing support and encouragement I've received from mentors and sponsors over the course of my career. When I first entered the workforce, I often sold myself short to others or convinced myself that being a senior leader at a leading consulting firm was out of reach for a gay person of color. The willingness of others to lean into my career and challenge my thinking has been a critical component of my success both personally and professionally. I've been fortunate to have mentors who believe in my abilities and helped me see a broader vision for what I could achieve. I've also had sponsors who've championed my career aspirations and helped me to push boundaries and challenge myself as a leader. So, while there is no singular milestone that I can attribute my success to, there is a long line of small mentorship moments that have made all the difference for me.

What do you enjoy most about your career in the consulting industry?

Consulting gives me the opportunity to sit at the nexus of two of my passions – technology and people. I've always found personal fulfillment in solving technology problems, and my career in cybersecurity has allowed me to find that same level of fulfillment on a professional scale. Cybersecurity consulting allows me to contribute to the greater good – investigating cyber criminals and helping bring them to justice. The risk landscape for our clients – and even us as individuals – is constantly evolving and I love that it challenges me to think of creative ways to approach issues. I've also found that a career in Consulting allows me to influence the people I work with to positively impact our society through how they approach technology. A few years ago, I realized that if I can get clients excited about how technology can transform cybersecurity, I can certainly get them excited about the ways we can use technology to create more equitable and inclusive workplaces and communities. Technology enables people at all levels to be champions for change, and I'm so grateful that my career is filled with opportunities to inspire others to be the change they want to see in others.

What is your proudest achievement to date?

My proudest achievement to date has been being able to advance to Managing Director while bringing my authentic self to work, being bold about who I am, and seeing how that visibility and representation has motivated others in the advancement of their careers.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

The best advice I've been given is to remember that some of the biggest challenges we face to our own success are the ones we imagine in our head. I've learned that I can likely achieve more than I expect if I convince myself it is possible.

What does this recognition mean to you?

I've been with KPMG for over 10 years and when I reflect back to when I first started in 2012, I didn't see a lot of other people "like me" in leadership positions. However, as I've moved through different phases of my career, I've found myself surrounded by leaders who encouraged and helped me to achieve more than I ever would have thought possible. To me, this recognition demonstrates that someone can be recognized as a leader in our profession while still being unapologetically exactly who they are, no matter what you look like, who you love, or how you identify as a person.

But ultimately the most important part of this recognition for me is the opportunity it provides to inspire the next generation of leaders to be their authentic, best selves every day at work – particularly for underrepresented minority professionals who might feel alone like I did when I first started my career. I firmly believe that representation is important, and the more we can diversify our thinking and experiences, the better off we'll all be!