The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) is proud to welcome Michael Isper as its new Director of Security, Reliability and Resilience. Isper will lead the cyber and physical security efforts for the association, managing its ongoing collaboration efforts with member companies and the federal government to ensure the reliable delivery of natural gas to end users.
“The pipeline industry places the utmost importance on the security of our systems, and we work with federal government agencies consistently to protect against potential threats stemming from a natural event, terrorist activity or cyber attack,” said INGAA president and CEO Don Santa. “Coming from a notable security background in both the energy sector and the federal government, Mike is uniquely positioned to take on this vital role.”
Isper brings 13 years of direct pipeline security experience to INGAA, working in both the oil and natural gas industry’s corporate security environment and the federal government. Most recently, he served as a program manager with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Surface Security Division. In that role, Isper supported the cyber and physical security disciplines for the oil and natural gas industry’s public-private security partnership, stakeholder engagement and risk-reduction activities for the nation’s pipeline systems. He was instrumental in the successful coordination of industry and government throughout the process of publishing TSA’s March 2018 Pipeline Security Guidelines.
Prior to his work with TSA, Isper served as the Corporate Security Compliance Manager at Dominion Energy, where he led efforts to provide security solutions for the company’s multi-state energy operations. He led the charge in ensuring the alignment between Dominion’s natural gas transmission and distribution assets and pipeline security programs administered by TSA, DHS and the U.S. Department of Transportation, as well as other federal security laws.
“In the age of rapidly evolving cyber threats, we continually work as an industry to adapt, update protocols and build upon our baseline security practices,” said Santa. “Mike will undoubtedly move INGAA and our members forward in our efforts to keep critical energy infrastructure secure while safely and reliably delivering natural gas to communities across the country.”
For more information on INGAA’s cyber and physical security efforts, visit this link.
