Speaker
Dave Packham
Director of Identity and Access Management, ISO-IAM
Overview
Dave Packham is the Director of Identity & Access Management (IAM) within the Information Security Office (ISO) at the University of Utah. Bringing decades of IT and cybersecurity experience to the role, he oversees the institution's digital identity infrastructure, access control frameworks, and security integration across both main campus and University of Utah Health organizations.
Professional Background
- Tech Foundations: Originally from Southern California, Dave began his IT career working on Unix systems at WordPerfect, collaborating with NeXT computer development teams, and later transitioning through Novell.
- University Tenure: He joined the University of Utah as one of the institution's first IT security employees and Unix hardware technicians. Throughout his tenure at the U, he has held key leadership positions, including Manager of UMail & Collaboration and Associate Director of IAM, before becoming Director.
Key Focus Areas & Leadership
- Enterprise Access Control: Leads major IAM infrastructure initiatives, including Active Directory (AD) consolidation and Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) deployment to enforce least-privilege access while maintaining system usability.
- Cybersecurity Advocacy: Drives institutional security initiatives, advocating for centralized threat-monitoring toolsets, universal multi-factor authentication (MFA) adoption, and robust credential standards (such as 14+ character passphrases).