Sara Rouse

Sara Rouse is an accomplished IT & Security leader with more than 20 years of experience architecting, scaling, and securing technology environments for high-growth SaaS, aerospace, healthcare, and R&D organizations. Known for her balanced technical and executive leadership approach, Sara specializes in building high-performing IT organizations capable of supporting mission-critical, multi-site operations.

As Director of IT & Security, Sara built the IT & Security function from the ground up. She established enterprise-wide architecture, implemented NIST 800-171/800-53 compliance, automated identity governance, deployed SIEM and monitoring systems, and expanded infrastructure across five locations and AWS. Her leadership helped enable Umbra’s rapid growth and federal contract readiness.

Previously, Sara served as Director of IT where she modernized compute, storage, and network environments for complex R&D operations. She also delivered federal compliance programs and redesigned backup and DR systems leveraging AWS. She supported large DoD environments across multiple continents, leading infrastructure teams and creating policy frameworks that enabled ISO 20000 and 27001 certification.

Earlier in her career, Sara spent several years architecting a global HIPAA-compliant, FDA-governed telehealth platform with international data centers and 24×7 availability requirements. Her work enabled reliable medical robotics connectivity across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

Sara’s leadership is defined by operational rigor, scalability, strong security posture, and a deep understanding of how infrastructure enables business outcomes. She excels in environments requiring a combination of hands-on expertise, strategic direction, compliance maturity, and team development.