FirstEnergy Corp. appointed Brian Harrell, a former senior U.S. homeland security official, as Vice President and Chief Security Officer. In his role, Harrell will enhance the company's enterprise security posture by strengthening defenses, expanding intelligence-driven detection and response capabilities and embedding security more deeply into business and operational planning.
His work will emphasize training, readiness and coordination across both corporate and field teams. Harrell's responsibilities span corporate and field security, 24/7 security operations, enterprisewide cybersecurity, threat intelligence, risk and compliance and security architecture and engineering. He will report to Chief Operating Officer Toby Thomas. Harrell previously served in senior roles within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), where he frequently testified before Congress on countering domestic terrorism and protecting critical infrastructure.
Most recently, Harrell served as Vice President and Chief Security Officer at Avangrid Energy, where he oversaw cybersecurity, physical security, intelligence, privacy and resilience programs across a multistate energy portfolio. During his tenure, he established 24/7 security operations centers, enhanced threat detection and intelligence capabilities, expanded security team capacity and regularly briefed executive leadership and boards on security risks and preparedness. Harrell has also held enterprise security leadership roles at Duke Energy and North American Electric Reliability Corporation, working closely with federal, state and local partners on critical infrastructure protection and risk mitigation.
He holds advanced degrees in homeland security and education, a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and professional certifications including Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) and Certified Protection Professional (CPP).
