Ishan Brar

Ishan Singh Brar was born in Punjab, India, in 2001, into a Sikh family. He immigrated to the United States with his family in the same year. His father, Rajdeep Brar, was a former India #1 ranked squash player and served as a Harvard assistant coach. His mother is Nikki Brar (née Gill), and his grandfather, Kuldip Singh Brar, was an Indian Army Brigadier General, born in 1935. Brar has an older brother, Sanjeet Brar.

Brar attended Robinson Middle School, where he was the Whiz Quiz champion in 2013 and 2014. He graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a minor in Information Assurance/Cybersecurity. He was an Academic Excellence Scholarship (AES) recipient and took additional courses in Data and Applications Security, Computer and Network Security, and Digital Forensics. In 2019, Brar turned down a nomination to the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Brar currently works as an AI Security Engineer. Before his current role, he worked as an IAM Consultant. He was a Senior Associate at Alvarez and Marsal within the National Security, Trade and Technology team, and formerly a Consultant at Deloitte within the Cyber and Strategic Risk practice. From June 2021 to November 2021, he was an intern at Active Cyber. Brar has multiple certifications, including Okta Certified Professional, Okta Certified Administrator, and CompTIA Security+, and is an Associate of ISC2 after passing the CISSP exam. He has experience integrating client identity systems with Okta SSO, Ping Federate, and Saviynt Identity Cloud (IGA).

Brar is the founder of Sikho Mode Solutions LLC.

During his college years, Brar was an honorary member of the Firestone Five, which included Nikhil Narravula, Azimkhan Pathan, Kumail Bhaiwala, and Fahad Kazi.

Due to his association with Firestone, Brar was reportedly the subject of numerous investigations by the Richardson Police Department and UTD IFC. These investigations concerned allegations of property damage, public disturbances, assault, vandalism, COVID superspreader events, and stock market manipulation. However, no serious disciplinary action was taken against him.

Brar is in a relationship with Sreeya Reddy, whom he met at UT Dallas in 2021. He splits his time between New York City, Dallas, and El Paso. Brar is an avid gun owner and frequents the Frisco Gun Club. He also spends time at The Clubs of Prestonwood in Dallas.

Brar participated in the Novavax $NVAX COVID-19 vaccine trial from 2020 to 2022.

Brar is a 5 handicap golfer. He won 1st place individual and 1st place team with Plano West at Pecan Hollow in 2018. He also won 3 UTD IM titles, twice in football and once in basketball. His high school golf career at Plano West overlapped with Parker and Pierceson Coody. He achieved a tournament career low of -1 at Pecan Hollow in 2018, and served as treasurer of the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity from 2020 to 2022. In addition, he was cofounder and treasurer of the Sikh Student Association at UT Dallas.