Rick Snyder, Former Michigan CIO Start Cybersecurity Firm SensCy in Ann Arbor

Rick Snyder, the governor of Michigan from 2011 to 2019, has teamed up with his former state CIO David Behen to start a cybersecurity company. Behen is a former Facilities Manager for the City of Ann Arbor. He also worked for Washtenaw County as the Deputy County Administrator and CIO for five years (2004-2009). Snyder’s company name is an anagram of Censys, an existing cybersecurity firm located in Ann Arbor. Censys employs approximately 80 people.

Snyder has taken on the role of CEO at the new firm SensCy, based in Ann Arbor. Behen, who led the state’s Department of Technology, Management and Budget during Snyder’s governorship, is the chief client success officer. SensCy is founded by two other senior executives, Bhushan Kulkarni and Dave Kelly.

The company is focused specifically on small and medium-sized organizations, offering consultation-type services including security assessments, improvement plans, policy writing, the creation of incident response plans, vulnerability scans and other types of monitoring. It also advertises a “personalized concierge service” where a dedicated cyber professional works with individual customers.

“SMOs find cyber solutions to be expensive, complicated, and time-consuming, unlike larger organizations who might have greater resources,” Snyder said in a press release. “SensCy’s sole focus is to improve the cyber health of small and medium-sized organizations, ensuring that they are prepared to respond should a cyber attack occur. We offer our clients an affordable, easily understood solution and the personal attention required to create a proactive cybersecurity culture to help mitigate their risk.”

Behen served as Michigan’s CIO for six years before stepping down to take a private-sector job in 2017. In his time in the role he pushed the state to modernize its technology, make use of the cloud and beef up its cybersecurity activities.

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