California’s media and entertainment sector depends on cybersecurity leaders who can protect high-value content, fast-moving production environments, streaming platforms, broadcast operations, and large corporate ecosystems all at once. The executives in this feature work across film, television, streaming, and digital media businesses where cybersecurity is tightly tied to continuity, intellectual property protection, regulatory obligations, and audience trust. Their backgrounds span broadcast infrastructure, governance and compliance, studio operations, platform security, and the long-term modernization of security programs inside some of the industry’s most recognized companies.
Dean Perrine — Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer, Fox Corporation
Dean Perrine is chief information officer and chief information security officer at Fox Corporation, where he now oversees technology and security across FOX Sports, FOX News, FOX Television Stations, FOX Entertainment, and Tubi Media Group. His rise through the organization reflects deep operational experience across broadcast, digital, OTT, infrastructure, DevOps, and security, making him one of the clearest examples of a media executive who understands both the technical backbone and the security demands of modern content businesses.
Before stepping into the CIO and CISO role, Perrine served as Fox Corporation’s EVP and CISO and earlier as deputy CISO. His earlier work across 21st Century Fox included leadership over broadcast and digital infrastructure, network engineering, and technical operations supporting major launches and events, including FS1, FS2, and Super Bowl operations. That blend of media operations depth and security leadership stands out in an industry where resilience, uptime, and content protection are all mission critical.
Steve Schwartz — Vice President, Chief Information Security Officer, Lionsgate
Steve Schwartz is vice president and chief information security officer at Lionsgate, where he is responsible for information and network security across a wide enterprise footprint that includes more than 1,000 servers and 2,500 endpoint and mobile devices. His role covers core security programs such as network security, email security, data protection, access control, cloud security, incident management, business continuity, disaster recovery, compliance, awareness training, and vendor security review.
Schwartz brings more than two decades of leadership experience across security and information technology. Before joining Lionsgate, he held security leadership roles at IMAX and spent more than a decade at the Directors Guild of America-Producer Pension and Health Plans, where he served as director of information technology and HIPAA security officer. That background gives him a strong mix of governance, compliance, infrastructure, and operational discipline that fits especially well in entertainment organizations managing creative assets, business systems, and regulated information.
Jason Whitehurst — Vice President, Information Security Officer of Disney Entertainment & ESPN
Jason Whitehurst is vice president and information security officer of Disney Entertainment and ESPN at The Walt Disney Company. His background combines security leadership, governance, compliance, audit, and large-scale operational transformation across major media organizations, making him a strong fit for a sector where complexity often spans studios, networks, streaming products, sports media, and global content operations.
Before joining Disney, Whitehurst held senior security leadership roles at Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery. At Warner Bros. Discovery, he led governance, risk, compliance, and security operations across a broad portfolio that included film and TV studios, broadcast networks, game studios, and streaming products including HBO Max. His experience also includes merger integration planning, accessibility governance, digital forensics, vulnerability remediation, and the design of risk-based compliance programs, all of which are increasingly important in modern entertainment businesses.
Yao Su — Head of Information Security, Hulu
Yao Su is head of information security at Hulu, where she has progressed through multiple security roles inside the company before taking on top security leadership. That internal progression suggests not only technical depth but also familiarity with the specific challenges of streaming infrastructure, platform protection, and security program development inside a major digital media brand.
Before becoming head of information security, Su served at Hulu as a cyber security consultant, cyber security engineer, and earlier in data and security roles before joining the company. Her career path reflects hands-on technical security experience that matured into leadership within one of California’s most prominent streaming platforms. In a media environment where digital delivery and user trust are inseparable, that combination of internal institutional knowledge and technical grounding is especially valuable.
Barbara Cross — Vice President, Information Security, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Barbara Cross is vice president of information security at Sony Pictures Entertainment, where she holds one of the key security leadership roles inside a major studio environment. Her long tenure at Sony Pictures signals deep familiarity with the company’s information governance, records management, and security needs across a complex entertainment organization.
In addition to her information security role, Cross has also held senior responsibilities in records and information management at Sony Pictures Entertainment, including vice president and executive director positions in that function. That overlap is notable in media, where information security and records governance often intersect with content handling, legal requirements, preservation, and access control. Her experience gives her a particularly strong perspective on how security and information management can reinforce each other in a studio setting.
Security leadership across California’s media and entertainment giants
California’s media and entertainment businesses operate at the intersection of content, technology, live operations, and global distribution. The leaders in this feature show how security in this sector is no longer confined to IT defense alone. It now includes broadcast resilience, streaming platform protection, content governance, compliance, privacy, and operational coordination across large creative and technical environments. In a state that remains the center of the entertainment business, these are the kinds of executives helping define what durable cyber leadership looks like in media.
Explore more profiles of the leaders shaping cybersecurity across numerous industries in our CISOs to Watch collection.