TOLEDO — Jason Slagle, president of Toledo-based managed IT and cybersecurity company CNWR, has been named to the Cyber25, a new statewide list honoring 25 people who protect Ohio’s businesses, public services and critical infrastructure, the company announced Thursday, Oct. 15.
The annual list, created by OhioX and Ohio Tech News, was unveiled Oct. 2 as Cybersecurity Awareness Month got underway, with honorees chosen from nominations submitted across the state. Many of this year’s names lead security for large institutions — state agencies, major health systems and universities — which makes Slagle’s selection stand out for a different reason: his work happens at the small-business level.
Ohio Tech News recognized Slagle for bringing practical, plain-spoken cybersecurity to the small and midsize organizations that keep Northwest Ohio running. CNWR’s clients are manufacturers, professional services firms and similar operations across Northwest Ohio, Southeast Michigan and beyond — many of them with no IT department of their own to watch for phishing schemes, ransomware and the other threats that now target businesses of every size.
Slagle is one of only two Toledo honorees on the inaugural list. The other is Bill McCreary, vice president, chief information officer and chief technology officer at the University of Toledo — the school where Slagle earned his own degree. Elsewhere, the list includes Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, security leaders from Nationwide and the Cleveland Clinic, and founders of some of Ohio’s best-known cybersecurity firms.
His background is hands-on. Slagle came up through the server room as a systems and network administrator, holds Red Hat and VMware engineering certifications, and wrote a 2015 book on securing a widely used server-automation tool. His later work turned toward security research, including reverse engineering — taking software apart to see where an attacker could break it — and toward teaching, including a cybersecurity class at the University of Toledo and hands-on sessions at conferences such as CodeMash in Sandusky.
The Cyber25 honor is his second major recognition in two years. In March 2025, the Global Technology Industry Association named him its North America Cybersecurity Leadership Award winner, citing his habit of sharing actionable guidance as new threats emerge.
CNWR itself has been serving the region since 1995, when Allen Rioux founded the company; Rioux still serves as chairman of its board. Its clients run from manufacturers and tool-and-die shops to veterinary practices, labor unions and churches, and its services range from fully managed IT and round-the-clock monitoring to disaster recovery and cloud support.
The timing of the honor carries a message Slagle himself makes often: attackers are lowering their sights, and the size a business has to reach before it becomes a target keeps shrinking. For Northwest Ohio owners marking Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the takeaway is that one of the state’s recognized defenders of small organizations is based in Toledo — and the awareness the Cyber25 list is meant to raise starts with the firms least likely to have a security team of their own.
