Austin Tousaw has built a career across organizations including Fidelity Investments, Deloitte, Meta, an AI startup, and now McDonald’s. Along the way, he’s worked in data engineering, cybersecurity, privacy, compliance, and global data protection, helping organizations navigate an increasingly complex technology landscape. While each role has been different, Tousaw credits the iSchool with giving him the foundation to adapt as technology and opportunities evolved.
Tousaw, senior manager of global data security operations at McDonald’s, joined the Infoversity podcast to discuss his career journey, the future of AI and cybersecurity, and why professional relationships have been just as important as technical skills.
When asked whether he could have imagined this career as an undergraduate student, his answer was simple.
“I really think the iSchool helped me get that foundation that I needed to understand what was next,” he said.
Courses in analytics, databases, cybersecurity, and data science helped him discover not only what interested him, but also what kind of work he wanted to pursue after graduation.
Before earning his degree, Tousaw completed a cybersecurity internship at Fidelity Investments. By the beginning of his senior year, he already had a full-time job offer, allowing him to focus on taking advanced courses that would prepare him for the next step.
After graduation, he entered Fidelity’s data engineering program. While the experience strengthened his technical foundation, it also helped him realize he wanted to work closer to cybersecurity and privacy.
“I realized I didn’t want to be technical,” he said.
Using relationships he had built during his internship, Tousaw transitioned into a cybersecurity analyst role, working on privacy and regulatory initiatives as data protection became an increasingly important focus across the financial industry.
That move also reinforced a lesson that would define his career.
After Fidelity, an iSchool alumni referral helped him land at Deloitte, where he joined a data privacy and protection consulting practice. From there, he was recruited to Meta, later joined an AI startup, and eventually reconnected with a former Deloitte manager who was building a new cybersecurity organization at McDonald’s.
Nearly every career move, Tousaw said, can be traced back to relationships.
“Every role that I have been in has been some sort of connection back to either the iSchool and Syracuse or to my former colleagues.”
For him, networking doesn’t end after graduation.
“You have your alumni base who can help guide, support, mentor, refer,” he said. “But when you get into a position, you need to be getting one-on-ones with all your cross-functional partners.”
Today, Tousaw helps oversee global data security operations at McDonald’s, where his work centers on protecting the company’s data across cloud environments. His team partners with software engineers, database administrators, and application teams to identify vulnerabilities, strengthen security controls, and reduce risk across the organization’s global technology infrastructure.
At a company operating in more than 120 countries and serving millions of customers every day, protecting information is critical.
Each organization, Tousaw explained, has different priorities. At Meta, the focus was moving quickly and launching new products. At McDonald’s, the priority is protecting one of the world’s most recognizable brands while ensuring the technology behind the customer experience remains secure.
That responsibility is becoming even more important as organizations adopt artificial intelligence.
Tousaw believes AI will create entirely new careers centered on AI security, data governance, and responsible AI. While phishing and social engineering remain major cybersecurity threats, he expects protecting large language models and preventing sensitive information from being exposed through AI systems to become an increasingly important part of the profession.
Beyond technology, Tousaw believes building a strong security culture starts with people.
Rather than viewing cybersecurity teams as barriers to innovation, he wants them to be trusted partners from the beginning of every project.
“I am not the brakes,” he said. “We want to be seen as one team.”
That collaborative mindset extends beyond the workplace. Tousaw credits the iSchool with teaching him how to stay current in an industry that changes constantly. As a student, courses regularly incorporated real-world cybersecurity incidents, helping him understand that learning doesn’t stop after graduation.
Today, he stays informed through industry publications, newsletters, and technology news, constantly looking for lessons that can be applied to his own work.
“The ability for the iSchool to continue to rapidly change yearly gives us as grads the opportunity to do that in the workforce,” he said.
Looking ahead, Tousaw sees data security, AI governance, and emerging technologies like quantum computing reshaping the next generation of technology careers. Many of the jobs today’s students will pursue, he believes, have not even been created yet.
His advice to students is simple: stay flexible, invest in relationships, and never stop learning.
“Learning doesn’t stop because you’re not in class anymore,” he said.
He also encourages young professionals to focus on what they can control. Reorganizations, layoffs, and unexpected career changes are part of today’s workforce, but they often create opportunities that would not have existed otherwise. Building strong relationships and remaining adaptable can make those moments easier to navigate.
A career that began with an internship has grown into a leadership role protecting the data of one of the world’s largest brands. For Tousaw, the path wasn’t planned from the beginning, but it was shaped by curiosity, continuous learning, and the relationships built along the way. His story is a reminder that success in technology isn’t just about keeping up with change. It’s about being ready to grow with it.