The OpenSSF is pleased to welcome new Chief Architect, Dana Wang! Dana Wang is a technology leader with a track record of delivering results and making impacts at enterprise scale. Dana was formerly the Executive Director of Public Cloud Network Security at JPMorgan Chase. She led the public cloud edge network security platform engineering, service delivery, and business enablement to protect enterprise workloads in the public cloud and hybrid environments.
Join us for a conversation with OpenSSF Chief Architect, Dana Wang.
Why did you decide to join the OpenSSF?
Open source software is the foundation of digital technologies and innovation. It’s critical to secure open source in order to advance technologies responsibly. Working alongside strong leaders and partnering with individuals and organizations around the world to make the open source ecosystem more secure is the level of global impact I’m hoping to make.
How have your previous experiences led you to this role?
I have grown my career in health insurance and financial industries delivering software solutions. Some solutions are applications serving end users directly, for example, online pharmacy. Some solutions are infrastructure and security controls for online banking and payment platforms, for example, Web Application Firewall and Egress Proxy. Open source software has been a critical dependency in every solution. It has not only made these industries’ digital transformation possible. It has also accelerated innovations globally. Security is key to building and shipping reliable software solutions. Improving the open source software security for the greater public good beyond regularly consuming it led me here.
What professional experiences have shaped your leadership style?
I have been fortunate to have the encouragement, guidance, and support from the people I worked with, since my first job. People have been generous with their time and effort investing in me. I have been trusted with the opportunities that have uplifted me to be a better professional and a better human being. These experiences have taught me that leaders grow leaders and uplift others. I have made a commitment to proactively find opportunities for people, trust them with the autonomy to execute, put them under the spotlight, and let them shine.
Tell us something interesting about yourself.
During my first 1-1 with a new engineer in my team, I always asked them about their expectations for me as their manager. It’s always a pleasant surprise for them.
What is your primary goal in your position?
My goal is to advance and sustain the end-to-end security of the open source software supply chain, increase the reliability, security, and operational efficiency of open source powered systems.
What challenges do you foresee in your role, and how do you plan to address them?
I anticipate ambiguities and competing priorities. I will gain clarity through close engagement with the open source communities and transparent dialogs with the stakeholders. Managing competing priorities will be through hearing stakeholders’ voices, the risk and impact analysis of the priorities, establishing frameworks and processes, streamlining efforts to deliver key results incrementally with higher efficiency, and the flexibility to adapt to the changing security landscape.
What are you hoping to accomplish in your first few months on the job?
I’m hoping to better understand the landscape of the open source ecosystem with a focus on the most critical projects, deep dive into key initiatives, get to know the stakeholders, and understand their needs. Based on the input from various channels, I will gain clarity on priorities and develop action plans. Establishing trust with open source communities and stakeholders is key.