InformationWeek

Shumard's door is always open.

Shumard recruited Amy Bennett from Cigna's health care business. She heads up Cigna's information protection officer team.

Cigna chief information protection officer Craig Shumard divides his weeks commuting between the Philadelphia and Bloomfield offices. Wherever he finds himself, meetings with vendors, his staff, and others take up most of his time.

Shumard gave up coffee years ago and is often seen carrying bottled water from meeting to meeting. Who needs caffeine when you're head of security for a major employee benefits provider?

Shumard typically returns calls and e-mails between 5 and 7 p.m.

Shumard yields the floor to staff members such as Serge Beaulieu (director of Cigna's long-term technical security direction, strategy, and planning) but frequently interjects questions and comments to keep a meeting moving.

Shumard's sense of humor has served him well as he's worked to sell Cigna on the benefits of improved security. "He's got a good sense of humor, and that's helped him through, especially when he was a one-man show," says CIO Scott Storrer.

Shumard and his team meet with Aveksa president and CEO Deepak Taneja (R). Cigna would be a marquee customer for Aveksa's compliance management software, and Taneja is in Bloomfield to answer any questions.

Shumard sits at the head of the table during meetings with staff and vendors. He doesn't dominate the conversation, but he will interrupt with questions when he isn't hearing what he needs to know.

Shumard eats lunch with his staff, including information protection officer Amy Bennett, when he's at the Bloomfield office.

Bennett, who joined Cigna in 1997, says of Shumard, "Craig is a business person, and he can sit down with anyone at Cigna and explain how a security concept impacts Cigna's customers."

Late in the day, Shumard meets with IT staff, including head of security engineering and standards John Shepard. When a particular vendor's name comes up, Shumard asks, "Have you made sure they know we're not happy with them?" Shepard answer: "The riot act was read to them."