Dr. Lauren Goodwin, a lecturer in Columbia’s M.S. in Technology Management (TMGT) program, traces her leadership philosophy back to her childhood in rural America, where "driving on dirt roads and collecting drinking water from a natural spring were part of everyday life." These experiences grounded her in resilience and sparked a fundamental curiosity about how technology could "reduce friction, increase safety, and unlock human potential."
Her career has since spanned some of the most complex and high-stakes sectors. She has worked across energy, finance, healthcare, and space, including cloud security modernization at JPMorgan Chase, serving as CTO for Morgan Health, and most recently as CIO at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
She is the founder of Mission Ops, a company specializing in secure edge AI for mission-critical environments. In a recent interview with SPS, Dr. Goodwin discussed her "mission-first" approach, the critical distinction between information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT), and why she believes the next generation of leaders must prioritize legacy and integrity over technical skill alone.
What initially sparked your interest in working in technology, digital engineering, and secure transformation across industries like energy, finance, healthcare, and space?
Working across energy, finance, healthcare, and space has exposed me to environments where high stakes and complexity demand the smartest solutions. Seeing technology transform everything from spaceflight operations to hospital system performance, global financial resilience, and onshore and offshore energy systems ignited my passion for building secure, scalable digital ecosystems that make an impact on Earth and beyond.
How does your experience leading global IT, digital transformation, and cybersecurity roles from cloud security modernization to spaceflight digital engineering shape the way you teach your courses?
My industry experience is the foundation of how I teach. I bring real-world architecture, cybersecurity, data, and AI challenges into the classroom— not hypotheticals. Each sector has shaped my teaching: space demands systems thinking at scale, finance requires zero-failure rigor, energy emphasizes secure OT design, and healthcare centers empathy and risk awareness. I translate what I have learned, successes and failures, into coursework that helps students think critically, architect responsibly, and design systems that perform under pressure.
In your view, how will emerging technologies such as edge AI and cloud security shape mission-critical industries, including energy, space, and healthcare, over the next five years?
AI and edge-based computing will continue to push decision making closer to where data is generated, such as on oil platforms, spacecraft, hospitals, and power systems. This shift will dramatically improve reliability, autonomy, and mission safety. Cloud security and zero-trust architectures will further redefine how organizations protect data across globally distributed environments, ensuring trust, resilience, and continuity.
At the same time, we will see a major shift in how AI itself is understood and applied. The world is beginning to realize that AI is far more than large language models. Modular AI architectures and system-specific, task-focused small models will accelerate adoption by requiring far less compute, energy, and infrastructure to deliver impact. These lighter, domain-tuned models can operate on the edge, integrate into mission systems, and run in disconnected or low-bandwidth environments.
We will also see space technology emerge as a major commercial market. Mission systems, edge computing in space, lunar surface operations, satellite networks, and AI-driven digital engineering will shift from niche to essential. Leaders across every sector will need to understand the capabilities space-based technologies can deliver back to Earth, from new communications models and real-time sensing to sustainable power and autonomous operations.
Over the next five years, AI and edge-based architectures will move from experimentation into embedded operations, predicting failures before they happen, increasing efficiency, improving human health outcomes, strengthening sustainability, and reducing risk.
How can technology leaders balance innovation and security when driving transformation in highly regulated, high-stakes industries?
Technology leaders must shift from treating security as a separate function to making it foundational to every solution. Security cannot be a gate at the end of a process or a team removed from the business. It must be engineered directly into the architecture, the infrastructure, and the code itself.
I advocate for interdisciplinary squads that include data, AI, architecture, engineering, experience, and security disciplines working as one team. When security engineering is embedded from the start, it strengthens innovation rather than slowing it down. It becomes part of how systems are designed, how decisions are made, and how risk is mitigated in real time.
For organizations to truly balance innovation and security, they must evolve beyond legacy structures in which security teams sit apart from delivery and operate through paperwork. The future requires security embedded into the business itself, engineered into products and platforms as a core operational capability. That is how transformation happens responsibly at scale.
On April 22, 2026, Dr. Lauren Goodwin will be speaking at a session of TMGT’s Topics in Technology Career Paths and Industry discussion series. Click here for registration information on this session and others.
About the Program
The Master of Science in Technology Management at Columbia University prepares graduates to lead digital transformation, and align technology and business strategy with an ethical lens. Through experiential learning, industry partnerships, and Columbia-supported research, students gain fluency in digital platforms and emerging technologies, and learn to design human-centered solutions that drive innovation and sustainable impact.
The program is available for part-time or full-time enrollment online or on campus in NYC. Learn more about the program here.
