Dr. Yawo O. Kondo
A cybersecurity, risk & compliance management, and health informatics professional — a system analyst and global IT consultant supporting nonprofit, government, and healthcare organizations.
A non‑traditional path into information security.
I am an Information Systems Security professional with strong knowledge of incident response, infrastructure security, data security, identity and access management, compliance management, and health informatics across on‑prem, cloud, and hybrid environments (Azure or AWS). I am a subject‑matter expert in risk‑based certification and accreditation using FISMA, RMF, DoD RMF, FedRAMP, DIACAP, CSF, HIPAA, PCI DSS, GDPR, and ISO 27001, among others.
My path to information technology is not a traditional trajectory — I did not come from a computer science background. As a child, I dreamt of working for an international organization that would allow me to solve urgent global needs: poverty alleviation, health issues, conflicts, and other significant occurrences. That dream has shaped every degree, role, and engagement since.
My Story
Dr. Yawo O. Kondo is a cybersecurity professional with progressive knowledge in Information Technology (IT), including Electronic Health Records (EHR), Cloud services, Enterprise Systems Architecture, cybersecurity, InfoSec, Data Management, System Design, Risk Assessments, Contingency Plans, Security Test & Evaluation reports, and Vulnerability Assessment reports. He has advanced knowledge of frameworks such as FISMA, RMF, DoD RMF, FedRAMP, DIACAP, CSF, HIPAA, PCI DSS, GDPR, and ISO 27001, among others.
Yawo is also a security researcher and instructional systems specialist in cybersecurity. He is passionate about making learning exciting and interactive, a skill he has honed while working in the industry. Dr. Kondo is currently an adjunct professor at Washington Adventist University. He leads a team of highly trained professionals based in the U.S. and Africa, ensuring compliance with technology‑related regulations, critical infrastructure protection, data security and privacy research, business‑resiliency testing and reporting, and third‑party service provider management organization‑wide.
Dr. Kondo's commitment extends to corporate citizenship, having served on governing boards, leadership boards, boards of directors, and advisory boards on IT and security. He is the Director of Institutions, Departments & Centers — USA, Europe, and Canada Bureau — at SE‑INTERNATIONAL, providing technical support to local NGOs, private companies, and government institutions, and coaching them in proposal writing, business development, fundraising, program implementation, monitoring and evaluation, budget development, and events planning.
Dr. Kondo conducted a doctoral dissertation on Cyberattack Strategies for Nonprofit Organizations. He holds a bachelor's degree in International Studies with double concentrations in International Business Management and Global Strategy Studies from the University of Nebraska, a double master's degree in Healthcare Informatics from the University of Maryland, and in Strategies & Leadership in Information Technology from Walden University, along with numerous IT professional certifications.
Bachelor of Arts, International Studies
University of Nebraska, USA
Master of Science, Health Informatics
University of Maryland, USA
Master of IT, Strategic Leadership
Walden University, USA
Doctor of Information Technology
Walden University, USA
Education
As a child, I dreamt of working for an international organization that would allow me to solve urgent global needs. Each degree below was chosen to close a specific gap toward that goal.
Bachelor of Arts in International Studies
University of Nebraska, USAMy fascination with the world's politics and international perspectives exceeded anything else. I believed a degree in International Relations could open up the world to me — the dream that motivated my first degree, with a double concentration in International Business Management and Global Strategy Studies. It gave me significant exposure to world politics, governing policies, and the social and historical impact of global development, and reinforced my interest in economics, geography, history, and languages — until I started working for a nonprofit organization.
Master of Science in Health Informatics
University of Maryland, USAWhen I started working for a nonprofit organization that participates in community integration of people with developmental disabilities, I discovered healthcare also had an urgent need to develop innovative ways to acquire, store, retrieve, and secure healthcare information — the reasoning behind my enrollment in a Master of Science in Health Informatics Administration (MSHIA). My choice coincided with the acceleration of EHR adoption introduced by the CMS meaningful‑use incentive program, and equipped me to evaluate an organization's IT systems, design and apply EMR/EHR software, convert and analyze medical and health data, and train physicians and other medical professionals in IT systems, EMR/EHR, and computerized physician order entry (CPOE).
Master of Information Technology, Strategic Leadership
Walden University, USAAs I continued to work in the nonprofit world, I realized my Health Informatics degree did not give me the full scope of tools needed to address pressing issues related to patients' information in‑depth security. The MSIT Strategic Leadership degree gave me a sophisticated understanding of the technical expertise in integrating systems and leading global change initiatives — developing proactive and reactive security plans, leading IT in a dynamic environment, operating system & network architecture, enterprise systems architecture, systems analysis and design, and data modeling & database design.
Doctor of Information Technology (DIT)
Walden University, USAMy post‑graduate work was a continuity of my innate desire to develop solutions to daily IT challenges. With the onset of globalization, cybersecurity has become a ubiquitous concern — my focus targeted security and privacy issues in information technology, information assurance, data modeling, security plans, systems analysis, and compliance in nonprofit organizations. The qualitative multiple case study behind this degree explored the strategies nonprofit organizations employ to protect against cyberattacks, with a population of IT managers and directors in charge of security management in nonprofit organizations.
My Skills
Professional Skills
Recognitions
Assessments
Projects
Won
Software Knowledge
Personal Skills
- Thought Leadership
- Team Player
- Negotiation Skills
- Analytical
- Strategic Planning
- Community Advocate
- Information Security
- Social Capital Building
- Educator / Trainer
- Clinical Documentation
- Remediation
- Security System Planning
Publications
African Geopolitics 2025–2026: Strategic Trends and Future Trajectories
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Courage in the Shadow of Power: Why Togo Needs Its Intellectuals More Than Ever
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Is AI that Dangerous?
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Cybertheft in Africa
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The best way to reach me is via email or one of these networks: Twitter, Instagram.
Want to schedule an interview for information security, policy, risk, compliance, business strategic planning, training, or covering complex security issues? Please send me an email.