This episode kicks off a new series that will introduce listeners to people in key leadership positions at the Postal Service. In our first installment, we speak with Heather Dyer, the Postal Service’s Chief Information Security Officer. Our conversation with Heather covers the importance of her work and how keeping an open mind and adapting to change have been some of the most important keys to her success.
This week on Mailin' It, we’re joined by the Postal Service’s Chief Information Security Officer, Heather Dyer, as part of a new series on leaders at the Postal Service. From her early days to her current position, Heather shares insights, experiences, and lessons learned along the way. Join us to explore her remarkable career journey, her pivotal role in safeguarding the postal service's digital infrastructure, and the exciting cybersecurity technology upgrades underway as part of the Delivering for America plan.
Karla Kirby:
Hi, everybody. Welcome to Mailin’ It!, the official podcast of the United States Postal Service. I'm Karla Kirby.
Jonathan Castillo:
And I'm Jonathan Castillo. This episode we’re kicking off a new series that'll introduce you to people in key leadership positions at the Postal Service. Now, of course, we bring you conversations with Postal Service leadership all the time. This series will be a little bit different though, because we're not just going to talk about the important roles they play at USPS, but also about how they got where they are and what keeps them going. I guarantee we'll hear some really interesting stories along the way.
Karla Kirby:
I'm really looking forward to getting started with this series. This episode, we're speaking with Heather Dyer, the Postal Services Chief Information Security Officer. Heather, welcome to Mailin’ It.
Heather Dyer:
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Karla Kirby:
Heather has been the Postal Services information security leader for a little over two years now. When you consider that we have about 640,000 employees, and that our customer base is every address in the country, you start to get a sense of just how important Heather's job is, just to set the stage for our audience, what is a chief Information security officer's job?
Heather Dyer:
Well, for me and my team, it's all about really protecting one of the largest information and operational technology infrastructures in the world. Yes, I said in the world, in collaboration with our internal and external partners as well. So I oversee and lead the cybersecurity program, governance and policy. We have the cybersecurity risk and vulnerability management, cybersecurity engineering, so all of the tools that help keep us safe identity and access management, and of course, a 24-7 year-round cybersecurity operations group.
Jonathan Castillo:
That's a lot
Heather Dyer:
Correct. So just celebrated 25 years with the Postal Service. Yes. Congrats.
Karla Kirby:
Congratulations.
Heather Dyer:
I like to say when I was young and fresh back then when I started, but I am a third generation. So my mother, my grandmother, both retired from the Postal Service as window clerks, actually retired from the same office that I did once work in as well. But right outta high school, I thought my dream job was to be an elementary education school teacher. Very quickly realized that wasn't for me. So I did a dab in nursing. I did a dab in computer science for a while. Interesting enough, I started working for a local phone company in the mail room. So I was actually running and sorting the mail. I also took the postal exam as a backup.
Jonathan Castillo:
Okay. And, you know, I'm curious, you said third generation Postal Service you know, employee. Did your family encourage you to take the Postal Service exam?
Heather Dyer:
My, my mother did not encourage it. No, she didn't, but the rest of my family did. I mean, I think at the time, everybody understood how lucrative of a job it was and some of the possibilities that were available. It seemed to me like everybody in Maine - so that's where I grew up - was in Maine. Everybody kind of took the postal exam when they came out of high school. That was what we did coming outta high school, like…
Jonathan Castillo:
A rite of passage. Right.
Heather Dyer:
It was a great job. A lot of benefits at the time. You know, the, the culture in Maine was very much, you went to work, you looked for a job with benefits, you looked for jobs with a career path that led you to retirement, and you stayed there. So, you know, starting my journey in 1998 worked at several different positions out in the field. Like I said, I was a window clerk in my mom and my grandmother's office, and I, at the time, I, I really wanted to raise my hand and be a supervisor. So I did at the age of 23, to which I was told at the time, you're too young. You're a woman, and they're never gonna listen to you.
Karla Kirby:
So from what I know about you,
Heather Dyer:
Yeah, that's when I, I actually transferred offices. I had a great mentor at the time, the postmaster of that office, who, you know, he didn't think anything of the fact that I was 23 or a woman, and he really let me start shaping my career and in leadership really just from that position. So I went in, I learned as much as I could, right. I served in various roles in supervising, so starting with supervising, you know, window clerks and the people that were sorting the mail for carriers, and then went to be a delivery supervisor for city carriers, which I knew nothing about. But again, it's all about what, what can you learn from the employees that you're managing, right? It wasn't me walking in saying, you're doing this wrong, or I know your job better than you do. It was that collaborative approach to let me learn your job and what you do every day so that I can help make your job easier and more efficient.
Jonathan Castillo:
Heather, you mentioned that you were always willing to say yes, and, you know, that willingness to just open yourself to these new challenges kind of open the door to some of these opportunities. Could you elaborate a little bit on that?
Heather Dyer:
Yeah, so I think like I spent the first 15 years of my career in the field, maybe a little more than that, and then I was presented with an opportunity to go to the district as a business mail entry manager. That was my first experience at the district, which is funny, like at the time coming into the Postal Service, you don't think outside your scope of the office that you're in. You really don't, you know that there's opportunities in whatever position you're working in. So as a clerk, I knew I could be a supervisor. I knew I could be a postmaster. My biggest career aspiration at the time was to be a level 26 postmaster in Portland, Maine. Right? Not even understanding the breadth of everything else that was behind it. So being introduced to a whole different position that I was used to was dealing with the large customers that were shipping mail with us.
That really opened the door for me to come to headquarters. So I did, I did that for about a year, and then I came to headquarters as a business mailer support analyst working under, at the time it was mail entry and payment technology and technology, the buzzword, right? And that's when we really started to take all of these manual procedures that we had for verifying mail, making sure it was paid correctly. That's when we started automating that, and really depending on technology to help us streamline our operations and verification of mail, that once again, triggered my interest. Like I said, I'd spent some time in college in computer science, but that really, it really sparked my desire to really go back to school. I'd always had that desire to get my degree. It was a personal decision for me. It was something I always wanted, but I was raising children and working crazy hours. So, yeah, in my, in my thirties actually, I went back to college and got my degree in management information systems.
Jonathan Castillo:
That's impressive. Running, you know, managing a family, having a job, and then still being able to go to college and complete that degree. That's incredible.
Karla Kirby:
Yeah. So in that, working with other employees or just seeing what their job is, I assume that you did some networking with other employees. Is that safe to say?
Heather Dyer:
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's, that's when you start getting into, you're going to meetings and you're not afraid to speak up. I was never one to sit in a meeting and be the silent one. I always wanted to ask questions or learn more, and I think that's where your potential can really be recognized by other leaders and your peers as well.
Karla Kirby:
And you mentioned your postmaster acted as somewhat of a mentor. How did that help shape your career, and are there other mentors that you had along the way that gave you good advice throughout your time with the Postal Service?
Heather Dyer:
I really, I feel like I've had a number of mentors or people that have kind of guided me or shaped me into becoming what I am today. Really, it started with that postmaster of giving me the opportunity to really show what I could do in a leadership position. But from there, like I said, when you're in meetings and you're recognized by maybe other people, so I had a great district manager at the time, right? I got to go out on a, a lot of different special projects and a assignments to, to help with some areas that they perhaps were struggling in. So never shy. I never shied away from doing any of those things that people asked me to step in and do.
Jonathan Castillo:
You know, there's a lot of people that come into the organization looking to climb the ladder, so to speak, right? With the intent of advancing their careers. But that doesn't really seem to be the case with you. In fact if anything, it sounds more like a lot of times someone specifically asked you to take on these challenging new roles. Why do you think that is?
Heather Dyer:
Yeah, I think that's interesting from the fact of, I always knew I knew I wanted to move up. I knew I didn't want to work in the field all, you know, always, but I didn't say no. Right? And I think a lot of people say, you should have your career path. You should have it laid out. When somebody asks you, what do you wanna do when you grow up? You should have an answer to that. Mine took me so many different directions that it's crazy, right? Like I said, I, I thought district manager one day down that career path, and that's what I strive for. Then when I got into technology, it was like, okay, now while I'm comfortable in this position, I'm kind of overseeing all these systems. I'm working with customers. And then the surprise came of, Hey, come over and be the director of identity and access under the Chief Information security office. And that was huge for me, but again, it was a whole new challenge for me to take on, and I love taking challenges on.
Karla Kirby:
So it definitely seems like your career path has been very organic. Yeah. So when you were offered the position here at HQ, how did you feel about that? Did you think like, I have arrived or this is where I wanted to be, or, this is going to be a great new opportunity?
Heather Dyer:
I think it's funny, Karla, every time I get into a new position, I think I've made it. I'm here, right? I mean, I think this is where I'll be for the next five or six years. And then a new opportunity presents itself. Again, it just shows the breadth of opportunities that are available to people that they don't even think of when they think Postal Service. They don't understand the technology that goes behind, you know, placing a letter in a mailbox, right? So for me, it, yeah, every time I thought I was comfortable in a position or I thought I had my career figured out, I got an opportunity to do something new. And again, it's constantly challenging us to think outside of our comfort zones and really where can we best serve the Postal Service.
Karla Kirby:
So it seems like coming to headquarters here in Washington, DC was a pivotal part of your career. So what did you think about that when they called you and said, you know what, we want you to come on down to DC?
Heather Dyer:
It was actually a decision I'd been, you know, pondering on for several years. So I'd been offered a position before, and at the time, moving wasn't right for me. My kids were young. It's interesting. I grew up in Maine, so my grandmother, my grandparents lived across the street from me. My mother lived next door to me. My uncle lived across the street, down the road. Cousins, like we had a very tight knit family. For me to leave was not only a decision for me, but it was a decision impacting my family as well. I think at one point my mother said, every time you leave, you take a little piece of me with you. So, but we made the decision because the kids were older. My youngest was in his senior year of high school, and I said, okay, I'll go first. I rented in a little studio apartment in DC and my husband was going to come later after we'd gotten my youngest through college.
So we, you know, did the normal thing that we always do, and there was a party at Heather's house the day before we were leaving. Went out to dinner with my mother and my brother and my husband and the kids, and we got a phone call that said, Heather, you need to come home. It was my uncle. And they said, your house is on fire. And I was like, what are you talking about
Karla Kirby:
I can only imagine that ball of emotion.
Jonathan Castillo:
Talk about commitment.
Heather Dyer:
The one good thing though, my, like my husband ended up moving down with me shortly after that. Our youngest son pushed and graduated from high school early, and he came down and lived with us for a couple of years. So, right. It's, it's a great, it's been a great experience coming to DC.
Karla Kirby:
So would you say your interest in information systems came from exposure to computers, or did you have a desire to work with computers that drove you to information systems?
Heather Dyer:
I think a little of both, right? I had, I had the desire to get involved in technology way back when I worked at the phone company all those years ago, but then my career path went a different way. But then getting back into the position and being exposed to the technology and all it has to offer us, that really sparked my interest again.
Jonathan Castillo:
And so now you're the Chief Information Security Officer, the CISO, it's gotta be a big job, to say the least, right? Can you give us an idea of the scale the magnitude of the work that you and your team do?
Heather Dyer:
Yeah, I mean, I think Karla touched on it. We have 640,000 employees, right? So just when you think about that, we have 33,000 retail locations. We have over 400 processing facilities, and all of the equipment that is sitting inside those facilities, mobile phones, all of the mobile phones, all of the endpoints are your laptops or your desktops. We are responsible for securing all of that against an ever evolving threat landscape of, of hackers looking to crack into our systems, right?
Jonathan Castillo:
Awful lot. You're absolutely right. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's also my understanding that you and the team are out there educating our Postal Service employees on these best practices for keeping their information safe, not only at work, but also in their personal lives, right? So that is truly a lot of responsibility. So my question is, in your opinion, what would you say is the most challenging part of what you do?
Heather Dyer:
I think it is the education piece of it, right? The, the number one way that that hackers get into your systems is through phishing or compromising somebody's credentials. And listen, it's not just at work, right? It's at home as well. How many of us have gotten scam text messages or emails, right? Or gone to a website that you think is a legit website and it really isn't? So it's more, it's about educating on how you use the Postal Services information technology, but also how to keep yourself safe at home as well.
Jonathan Castillo:
Now, based on what we've talked about here, and you know, what I've read externally as well, it, it seems that information security is a very fast changing, very unpredictable world, right? There's always something new. It's always what's next out there. So how do you stay ahead of the latest threats, the latest technology?
Heather Dyer:
It's, well, we listen to podcasts
Karla Kirby:
So it sounds like when it comes to technology, you have a lot of things to think about that others may take for granted. So I'm curious, the Postmaster General's 10 year Delivering for America plan is having a huge impact on everything we do at the Postal Service. How is it particularly affecting technology?
Heather Dyer:
W when we think about, and I do wanna stop and give a shout out. Like I've been a Postal Service worker for 25 years now. Now is such an exciting time to be part of the Postal Service under Louis. He's bought, he's brought in a clear vision, right? To really transform the organization so that we're self-sustaining. And, and I really commend the fact that we have a clear direct plan to move forward. The DFA plan reaches every aspect of the Postal Service, including cybersecurity, right? We've committed to spending $2 billion in technology upgrades, and, and that includes enhancing our cybersecurity capabilities as well. It's about making wise investments, right? In new platforms to streamline operations. But we have to make sure that those platforms or these new technologies are protected as well. It's really moving into the future too, right? So you talk about technology, I've talked about AI, I've talked about quantum computing coming. We talk, we talk about the cloud. It's, it's really when you're modernizing applications or systems at this scale and scope, it really changes your focus. We're, we're focused on supporting the business and how we can enable them to move forward securely.
Karla Kirby:
So Heather, again, thanks for all of the great behind the scenes information that you shared about your career here at Postal and the importance of the work that you do every single day to keep the information of our customers as well as our employees safe. To wrap up and tie your work back to the reason why it matters to so many people, I was wondering, do you have fond memories of any particular letter or package that you received in the mail?
Heather Dyer:
I mean, I dunno if it's a specific piece of mail, but you can't tell me that you guys don't get excited when you go to the mailbox and there's a personally addressed letter or package waiting for, for you there. Right. So my mom, as I said, she's in Maine. I'm here in DC. Every season changes, she'll send me a care packet of like, dish towels for Halloween or St. Patrick's Day is coming up, so I'm sure I'll be getting one in the mail soon for that. But there's nothing better than that personal kind of connection when you can't be with people, right? We mail things to my grandson. He's eight years old and he still gets excited to go out to the mailbox and, and get that letter or the present. It makes me really proud to be a Postal worker and to be the Chief Information Security Officer and help protect our brand and get our mail and packages delivered to their homes.
Jonathan Castillo:
Heather, thank you so much for sharing all your amazing stories. You know, how you came up through the Postal Service, what cybersecurity entails. It, it was really a pleasure speaking with you. Thank you.
Karla Kirby:
Absolutely. And I think if nothing else, our listeners who may be thinking about careers at the Postal Service, as well as our employees here at the Postal Service can listen to your story and see that the path can be organic. You can start in the field and you can make it to HQ or wherever else you may wanna be across the organization because we are 640,000 strong.
Heather Dyer:
Yeah, thank you both for having me. It's been great.
Karla Kirby:
Well, Jonathan, it's time for another, Did You Know segment where we exchange fascinating facts about the Postal Service. Jonathan, why don't you kick us off today?
Jonathan Castillo:
Sure thing. Did you know that the Postal Service was not referred to as the US Postal Service or USPS until 1971?
Karla Kirby:
Okay, interesting. So what was it called before that?
Jonathan Castillo:
Well, way back in 1775, Congress agreed to instate the position of Postmaster General and offer Benjamin Franklin the job. George Washington would go on to make it official. With the 1792 Postal Service Act, the Post Office Department was set up and it would go by that name post office for many years to come.
Karla Kirby:
I feel like there's more to the story.
Jonathan Castillo:
Well, the Post Office Department did go through some pretty big changes over the years. One of the biggest came in 1872 when that year's Post Office Act elevated the post office to part of the US presidential cabinet.
Karla Kirby:
I feel like I'm in history class, so go ahead and bring it on home. How did the Post Office Department become USPS?
Jonathan Castillo:
That happened almost 100 years later with yet another Postal Act President Richard Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act in 1970, which replaced the cabinet level post office department with, you guessed it, the independently run United States Postal Service.
Karla Kirby:
Very cool. Here's hope and it stays the USPS for a while. Well, Jonathan, my Did You Know, relates to stamps and history,
Jonathan Castillo:
Two of my favorite topics.
Karla Kirby:
Did you know that Pocahontas and Sacajawea were the first two Native American women to be featured on US postage stamps?
Jonathan Castillo:
I did not know that. But I'm also not surprised they're such fixtures of early American history.
Karla Kirby:
Indeed, although the true story of Pocahontas is up for debate, there's no doubt she was a champion peacekeeper between Native Americans and English explorers in Jamestown in the 17th century to commemorate Pocahontas legacy. Her signature stamp was issued in 1907, exactly 300 years after the English settled in Jamestown. Sacajawea is revered for leading Louis and Clark, thousands of miles across the Western US and keeping everyone calm along the way. In 1994, she was featured in the Legends of the West Stamp Collection, along with Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, Bill Pickett, and more.
Jonathan Castillo:
Very cool. Stamps are such a great way to learn or relearn important moments in US history, and that wraps up this edition of Did You Know. Karla? I don't think we could have had a better guest to kick off our new series. Heather's story is so inspiring especially as an employee that came from the field myself to hear how her hard work, positive attitude, and just willingness to, to learn, grow, and take on new challenges outside of her comfort zone. It's remarkable.
Karla Kirby:
I absolutely share your sentiments, Jonathan. I think there are great opportunities at the Postal Service, and as I said before, whether you're an employee that's here now or you are considering a career at the Postal Service, there are so many opportunities and it can be organic. You don't have to come in steadfast as Heather said, and know exactly what you wanna do. You can let it happen over time just by being open to new opportunities. And that's all for this episode of Mailin’ It. Don't forget to subscribe to mailing it wherever you get your podcast to make sure you don't miss the next episode and follow along on Instagram @USPostalService, X @usps and on Facebook.