Shawn Abelson

Shawn is a seasoned security leader with 15 years of experience building and leading risk management and red teaming programs. His career spans emergency response, corporate security, penetration testing, and academia—giving him a unique perspective on both reactive crisis management and proactive security stress testing. Previously, he served as the Head of Global Security Risk Management & Red Teaming at Meta, where he developed enterprise-wide adversarial testing strategies. Today, he consults with global organizations on integrating red teaming into strategic security programs and teaches at the University of Minnesota. Shawn’s work is grounded in the belief that scientific rigor, research, and structured testing are essential for security programs to stay ahead of evolving threats.