An avid distance runner, Sam in on track to complete his 50th marathon+ the week of his 50th birthday!
Sam and his beautiful wife, Melinda, have been married for 28 years, with three amazing children.
SAM PFANSTIEL, Ph.D.
PRINCIPAL, FOUNDER
Sam is a perpetual student of innovation and technology. Over the past 30 years, he has held CIO, IT leadership, and principal security consulting roles with five organizations and managed over 1,000 distinct technology projects. Sam founded Diverge in 2004 in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and now resides in Broomfield, Colorado.
In 2022, Sam completed his doctorate, publishing his dissertation research entitled “Impact of Internal Control, Cybersecurity Risk, and Competitive Advantage on Retail Security Investment.” [Follow on ResearchGate]
Sam is currently engaged full-time running PCI and ISO compliance programs at Toast, and is not seeking private consulting engagements at this time for any services provided by Toast, or its customers or partners. If you need Sam to speak at your event, he would be happy to assist you within this role.
CURRENT CERTIFICATIONS
Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)
Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)
Certificate of Cloud Auditing Knowledge (CCAK)
Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
Payment Card Industry Professional (PCIP)
PCI Internal Security Assessor (ISA)
PREVIOUS CERTIFICATIONS
The following certifications may only be held by assessors employed by organizations certified to perform these assessments. While Sam no longer holds these certifications, he has extensive experience in these compliance frameworks and performing the corresponding assessments:
PCI Qualified Security Assessor (QSA)
PCI Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) Assessor
PCI Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) Application Assessor
PCI Qualified PIN Assessor (QPA)
PCI 3-D Secure Assessor (3DSA)
PCI Software Security Framework Secure Software Assessor (SSF SSA)
PCI Software Security Framework Secure Software Lifecycle Assessor (SSF SSLCA)
PCI Payment Application Qualified Security Assessor (PA-QSA)
Visa Security Assessor (Visa SA)
Certified TG-3 Auditor (CTGA)