About me
Dr. Shanique Worthey is a wife, mother, educator, and cybersecurity leader with more than 20 years of experience advancing digital transformation, instructional technology, and human‑centered cybersecurity in public‑sector education. She currently serves as the inaugural Manager of Security Awareness and Engagement for the DeKalb County School District, where she leads district‑wide initiatives focused on reducing human risk, strengthening cybersecurity culture, and aligning security awareness with enterprise cybersecurity strategy.
In her current role, Dr. Worthey architects and delivers a comprehensive Security Awareness and Engagement program that serves employees (Cyber Guardians), students (Cyber Champions), and families (Cyber Smart Parenting). Her work includes leadership of district‑wide phishing and social engineering awareness campaigns, development of role‑based cybersecurity training, executive communications, and data‑driven reporting to inform leadership decision‑making. She also plays a critical role in security governance, providing cybersecurity and privacy oversight for instructional software reviews and website filtering and access requests, ensuring technology adoption balances innovation, safety, compliance, and risk management.
Dr. Worthey is nationally recognized for her leadership at the intersection of education and technology. She serves on the Tech & Learning Advisory Board and is a recipient of the Innovative Educational Technology Specialist Award, honoring her impact in advancing secure, ethical, and effective technology use in education. She is deeply committed to building collaborative partnerships across IT, instructional leadership, executive teams, educators, families, and community stakeholders to foster trust and shared responsibility for cybersecurity.
Dr. Worthey has served in regional leadership roles supporting instructional technology governance and digital learning initiatives, including Webmasters, Parent Tech Café, Tech for Littles, Tech Dash for Leaders, and FUSE (Furthering Student Engagement) cohorts. Across each initiative, she emphasized digital citizenship, data privacy, and responsible technology integration while supporting scalability and long‑term sustainability.
As an educational leader, Dr. Worthey has been recognized as Teacher of the Year at both Wadsworth Elementary School (2008) and Ronald McNair Discovery Learning Academy (2019). Her doctoral research examined collaborative leadership teams and their impact on technology integration, a foundation that continues to inform her systems‑level approach to cybersecurity culture and change management.
Dr. Worthey holds multiple advanced degrees, including an Ed.D. in Teacher Leadership in Digital Transformation, and maintains professional certifications in Instructional Technology, Gifted and Elementary Education (P-5), CompTIA Security+, ISC² Certified in Cybersecurity, and completion of the MS‑ISAC Leadership Mentoring Program. She is an alumna of Spelman College, Grand Canyon University, University of West Georgia, and Capella University.
At the core of her work is a commitment to empowering people. Dr. Worthey believes that individuals, when informed, supported, and engaged, are the strongest layer of defense in cybersecurity, and she is passionate about building cultures where security awareness is understood, embraced, and sustained.
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