In manufacturing, a cybersecurity decision can stop a production line, delay a shipment, or expose the designs a company’s future depends on. The five leaders below protect an agricultural processor, a beverage company, a chip designer, a flash storage maker, and a consumer goods giant. Between them they have led a company through NotPetya, built product security for consumer robots, and run security for a semiconductor company through a major acquisition. One has since moved from the CISO seat into running her company’s entire technology organization.
Ruben D. Chacon – VP & Global CISO, ADM
Ruben D. Chacon started as a communications specialist at Siemens in Mexico City in 1992. He joined Kraft in Mexico in 1999 as technology manager, leading its Y2K transition and the integration of Kraft and Nabisco’s Mexican operations, then built a Latin American voice and data shared service center. He moved to Chicago in 2005 to run information security for Kraft across the Americas and later became its global privacy lead. When Kraft split, he stayed with MondelÄ“z International, earning its Values in Action award for leading data separation. After two years as deputy CISO at The Coca-Cola Company, he returned to MondelÄ“z as head of global privacy and then deputy CISO, where he led incident response and recovery after the NotPetya malware attack alongside the FBI. Chacon has since served as VP and CISO at Constellation Brands and CDW, and as Global VP and CISO at Eaton for more than four years, where his work included standardizing OT remote access across global plants. He joined ADM as Vice President and Global CISO in September 2026.
Ravi Thatavarthy – CISO, Primo Brands
Ravi Thatavarthy built iRobot’s information security program from the ground up as CISO for both products and IT, covering connected devices, mobile and cloud security, and customer privacy under GDPR. Before that he led enterprise and product security across more than 34 countries as CISO of Haemonetics, and built Kronos’s security and regulatory compliance programs from scratch. His early career was in middleware security architecture at Avaya, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, State Street, and Starwood Hotels, where he helped deliver an identity system for more than 100,000 employees and partners. Thatavarthy went on to serve as VP and CISO at BJ’s Wholesale Club and CISO at Rite Aid, later adding enterprise architecture as group vice president. After nearly a year as CIO of EmpiRx Health, he joined Primo Brands as CISO in July 2026. He has co-chaired governing bodies for both Evanta and CyberRisk Alliance in Boston since 2018.
Ian N. Dawson – CSO, Silicon Labs
Ian N. Dawson spent nine years as a partner and managing director for security operations at MainNerve in San Antonio. He moved to Charles Schwab in 2012, leading cybersecurity operations as managing director for five years. He then ran global cybersecurity operations at Alight Solutions and served as VP of cyber operations and resiliency at Advisor Group. At Lumen Technologies he led product and platform security for more than four years, becoming deputy CSO in 2024. Dawson joined Silicon Labs in Austin as Chief Security Officer in December 2025.
Greg Kim – VP & CISO, Sandisk
Greg Kim spent 22 years at Skyworks Solutions after starting at Conexant in 2000. He worked his way up from local IT operations to global infrastructure leadership before standing up the semiconductor company’s cybersecurity function and becoming its first Global CISO in 2019. He built the program from a fragmented starting point to ISO 27001 certification and later achieved CMMC 2.0 and TISAX Level 3. Promoted to VP, Global CISO and IT Operations in 2024, he took charge of a unified technology organization and led IT and security integration for the Qorvo acquisition. He also served as Skyworks’ interim CIO in 2026. Kim joined Sandisk as Vice President and CISO in August 2026, responsible for security across manufacturing, design, and commercial operations in nine countries. He was named 2025 SoCal ORBIE Global CISO of the Year, received a 2020 IDG CSO50 award, and is founding chapter chair of SoCalCISO.
Catherine McCully – Group CIO, Procter & Gamble
Catherine McCully built her career in financial services security, spending four years as a vice president at Bear Stearns and more than eight as an executive director at JPMorgan Chase. She moved to retail in 2016 as VP of Security at The TJX Companies and became its CISO in 2018. In August 2021 she joined Procter & Gamble as Chief Information Security Officer, leading security for the consumer goods company for more than four years. In January 2026 P&G named her Group Chief Information Officer, making her one of a small group of security leaders who have moved into the top technology seat at a global manufacturer. She holds an Executive Master’s in Technology Management from Penn Engineering, co-sponsored by Wharton, and a computer science degree from Bryn Mawr College.
Security That Keeps the Lines Running
These leaders arrived in manufacturing with very different playbooks. Chacon has spent more than two decades inside food and beverage manufacturers and lived through NotPetya. Kim spent his entire career in semiconductors and built a security program from nothing. Thatavarthy brings product security from consumer robotics and medical devices, Dawson brings years of security operations and product security from finance and telecom, and McCully brings the discipline of large financial institutions. Her move from CISO to CIO is a signal worth watching. As factories become more connected, the people who understand how to secure them are increasingly the ones trusted to run the technology itself.
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John Kevin Hao is a news and feature writer covering cybersecurity, technology, and business targeted for professional audiences.