Ishan Brar

Ishan Singh Brar was born on January 1, 2001, in Punjab, India, to Rajdeep and Nikki Brar (nee Gill). Later that year, he immigrated to the United States with his family. His father, Rajdeep, was a highly ranked squash player in India and a former assistant squash coach at Harvard University. His grandfather, Kuldip Singh Brar, is a retired Brigadier General in the Indian Army. Ishan Brar has an older brother, Sanjeet Brar.

Brar attended Plano West High School, where his golf career overlapped with future professionals Parker and Pierceson Coody. He was also a Whiz Quiz champion at Robinson Middle School in 2013 and 2014.

He graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and a minor in Information Assurance/Cybersecurity. As a student, he received an Academic Excellence Scholarship (AES). Additional courses taken for his minor included Data and Applications Security, Computer and Network Security, and Digital Forensics.

In 2019, Brar was nominated to the United States Military Academy West Point by the late Congressman Sam Johnson. He ultimately declined the nomination to remain close to his family and accepted a full-time scholarship at UTD.

Brar's career has focused on cybersecurity. He began as an IAM Intern at Active Cyber from June to November 2021, where he obtained Okta Certified Professional and Okta Certified Administrator certifications and assisted with documentation and requirements gathering on Identity and Access Management (IAM) implementations.

He then served as a Consultant at Deloitte within the Cyber and Strategic Risk practice, working in the Cyber Identity practice of Risk and Financial Advisory and integrating client identity systems with Okta SSO, Ping Federate, and Saviynt Identity Cloud (IGA). Brar later became a Senior Associate at Alvarez and Marsal within the National Security, Trade and Technology team. He is currently an AI Security Engineer.

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Brar is Sikh. As of 2025, he resides in Brooklyn, New York, and also spends time in Dallas and El Paso. He is currently in a relationship with Sreeya Reddy, whom he met at UT Dallas in 2021. Brar took part in the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine trial from 2020 to 2022.

He is an avid gun owner and frequents Frisco Gun Club. He also spends evenings at The Clubs of Prestonwood in Dallas.

Brar holds multiple certifications including Okta Certified Professional, Okta Certified Administrator, and CompTIA Security+. He is an Associate of ISC2, having passed the CISSP exam in October 2025 (expires October 2026). His CompTIA Security+ certification was issued in January 2025 and expires in January 2035.

During his time at the University of Texas at Dallas, Brar served as the treasurer of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity from 2020 to 2022, overseeing finances totaling over $100,000 annually. He was responsible for collecting dues, tracking payments, and approving funding for operations, and also organized activities for the fraternity's philanthropy and social events. He also served as treasurer and co-founder of the Sikh Student Association at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Brar is a 5-handicap golfer and had a high school golf career at Plano West. His tournament career low is -1 at Pecan Hollow in 2018, where he won 1st place individually and 1st place team with Plano West.

He is also a three-time University of Texas at Dallas intramural winner, with two wins in football and one in basketball.