MorganFranklin Cyber hires Jerome Farquharson as energy sector lead

MorganFranklin Cyber, a Charlotte, NC-based cybersecurity consulting and managed services firm, has hired Jerome Farquharson, DMin, as managing director and head of the energy and oil & gas sectors.

Based in St. Louis, Farquharson will lead cybersecurity governance, regulatory compliance, executive advisory, and business development initiatives in the utilities market.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jerome to the MorganFranklin Cyber leadership team,” said Ferdinand Hamada, CRO and head of sectors, to whom Farquharson will report. “His deep expertise in cybersecurity, resilience, and compliance for Fortune 500 companies and government organizations strengthens our ability to help clients in critical infrastructure sectors navigate an increasingly complex threat landscape.”

Farquharson brings 20+ years of experience advising large companies and government agencies on cybersecurity, compliance, operational resilience, and risk management.

He has served as virtual CISO, developed and implemented security frameworks across IT and OT environments, and pioneered models for OT/IT convergence adopted by major utilities.

Farquharson previously spent 19 years with engineering consultancy Burns & McDonnell, where he held several leadership positions. He most recently served as a senior managing director within 1898 & Co., a business consulting division launched in 2019.

Before his tenure at Burns & McDonnell, Farquharson spent six years at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he was a senior systems manager and senior network security engineer.

Farquharson holds a doctor of ministry and master of counseling from Covenant Theological Seminary and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in computer science from Clark Atlanta University.

“Critical infrastructure organizations face intensifying threats as they undergo digital transformation. My focus will be on helping clients achieve resilience, meet regulatory obligations, and turn cybersecurity challenges into business advantages,” Farquharson said.

MorganFranklin has 120+ employees listed on LinkedIn and offices in the US, Czechia, and India. The firm has practices in architecture and engineering, cyber and operational resilience, cyber strategy, identity and access management, governance and compliance, and AI.

Private equity firm MC Partners earlier this year acquired MorganFranklin Cyber from Vaco, a Nashville-based HR and management consulting firm.

The firm recently welcomed Jatin Arora as a managing director and head of cyber strategy & governance, risk, and compliance (GRC).