Outstanding Graduating Senior focuses on data security

With holiday shopping in full swing, consumers and companies are concerned about the security of personal and corporate digital information. This year’s Outstanding Graduating Senior from the Department of Information Systems has been focused on that issue too.

With holiday shopping in full swing, consumers and companies are concerned about the security of personal and corporate digital information. This year’s Outstanding Graduating Senior from the Department of Information Systems has been focused on that issue too. In fact, Nicholas Schmitzer has spent a good amount of his college career studying how to protect data and prevent breaches. Schmitzer’s work focuses on auditing organizations’ information technology systems to find flaws in those systems and put controls in place to make sure a company’s financial information and that of its customers are safe. “If there’s a flaw in the system it’s going to be exploited sooner or later,” he said.

With news of recent data breaches at stores like Target, Home Depot and Chase Bank, security is a major concern of businesses and their customers. Schmitzer said the system breaches happening across multiple industries are causing consumers to mistrust companies and can scare off shareholders — costing those companies a significant amount of money. Department Chairman Michael Goul cited a 2014 global study by the Ponemon Institute estimating the average cost of each data breach to be $3.5 million for the affected company. In his nomination letter, Goul said Schmitzer’s skills and dual major education have positioned him for success in this field. “This unsung hero has a quiet, but extremely significant impact,” Goul said.

En garde

Schmitzer, a double major in computer information systems and accounting, will graduate this month with a 4.0 GPA. “Nicholas has diligently prepared himself to have an impact,” Goul said. “He has excelled in all that he has done.” Goul said Schmitzer is on track to become a Chief Information Security Officer. The CISO prevents data attacks before they happen and if they do, the CISO acts swiftly and decisively to prevent disaster, Goul said. “Mr. Nicholas A. Schmitzer has prepared himself for a career trajectory leading directly to the CISO role,” Goul said in the letter. “… All of the markers are there in his resume and in his persona.”

Schmitzer will take those skills to PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he interned, as a risk assurance associate. In his role, Schmitzer will assure the integrity of the financial data coming out of a company’s information systems. “My job is to make sure investors can rely on the financial data being reported,” he said. Schmitzer had an early interest in numbers and computers. After a stock market project in grade school, he knew the path he’d take. “I knew I wanted to go into accounting starting in elementary school,” he said. It wasn’t the stock trading that necessarily interested him; it was the organization and tracking of those stocks that caught his attention. Schmitzer added CIS to his focus and started his academic college career in the W. P. Carey School of Business.

The W. P. Carey community

Schmitzer said he loved the atmosphere of the business school on campus. “I think W. P. Carey has one of the strongest senses of community among its students across ASU,” he said. Schmitzer was in the Barrett, The  Honors College, acting as a senior student recruiting assistant for the college. He also held several roles, including president, in Alpha Kappa Psi, a business honorary fraternity. “I like to believe that I have left a lasting impact on the W. P. Carey School of Business and more importantly the students that make up the community,” he said in a letter to the award selection committee.

Schmitzer also enjoys volunteering with the Arizona Association for Foster and Adoptive Parents, Best Buddies and Hospice of the Valley. Schmitzer and his fraternity brothers at Alpha Kappa Psi throw a mini carnival once a semester for the families and children of the Arizona Association for Foster and Adoptive Parents, hosting more than 400 people at the last event.

For Best Buddies, the fraternity creates a festive “Halloweentowne” with games, s’mores and costume contests. To honor Hospice of the Valley for the care they provided to a fellow brother’s parent in his final months, the fraternity started an annual 5k charity run. “Giving back and volunteering should be done simply because it is the right thing to do,” he said in the letter. As his graduation nears, Schmitzer is preparing for the exams to become a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Information Systems Auditor. Schmitzer said he hasn’t had time for much else. “I’ve been trying to pick up golf, but I’ve had very limited time to do that,” he said. But once the dust settles and before he begins working full time, he plans to take a graduation trip with friends.