The automotive and transportation sector is undergoing a digital transformation that has outpaced its security maturity in many organizations. Connected vehicles, digital supply chains, e-commerce parts distribution, and the shift to cloud-based operations have expanded the attack surface across an industry that historically did not think of itself as a high-value cyber target. The CISOs in this feature are protecting companies that keep vehicles moving, roads maintained, rail networks supplied, and drivers served across a sector where the physical and digital worlds are increasingly inseparable.
Dirk Maxwell — CISO, LKQ Corporation
Dirk Maxwell has served as CISO at LKQ Corporation since August 2017, overseeing security for one of the world’s largest distributors of alternative and specialty parts for the automotive aftermarket. Before LKQ, he spent more than five years at Sitel as VP of global IT security and SVP and chief security officer, leading security across a 75,000-person business outsourcing organization in 30-plus countries. Before Sitel, he spent three years at Kroll in director-level security and technology roles. He began his security career at Dell, spending more than eleven years progressing from IT audit manager through senior manager overseeing information security, product security, and disaster recovery. His earlier career includes IT audit manager roles at Compaq and Texas Instruments. That audit-rooted governance foundation, built across computing, risk consulting, and global outsourcing before landing in automotive parts distribution, reflects a career shaped by consistent risk-oriented discipline across operationally complex organizations.
Gopal Padinjaruveetil — VP and CISO, The Auto Club Group
Gopal Padinjaruveetil has served as VP and CISO at The Auto Club Group since April 2017, protecting member and employee information and leading security across an organization combining automotive services, insurance, travel, and financial products for millions of AAA members across eleven states. Before The Auto Club Group, he spent thirteen years at Capgemini as enterprise architect and global cybersecurity thought leader and strategist, shaping the firm’s approach to cyber risk and resilience internationally.
He arrived in the United States in 2000 with a background in chemistry and law from Indian universities, transitioned into technology through early roles at Pentasoft and Ness Global Solutions, and built his security career through deliberate, self-directed growth. He holds a US patent for understanding digital identity, has been recognized as a top CISO by IDC Group, teaches cybersecurity at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and holds CISA, CISM, CGEIT, CRISC, and TOGAF9 certifications. That journey from chemistry graduate to enterprise CISO reflects a career defined as much by resilience as by technical achievement.
Brian Mork — CISO and Chief Privacy Officer, Trinity Industries
Brian Mork has served as CISO at Trinity Industries since March 2022, adding chief privacy officer to his mandate in December 2025. His responsibilities span security operations, governance, risk, compliance, and privacy across Trinity’s global railcar manufacturing operations, with key accomplishments including establishing the Cyber Defense Center and Information Governance, Risk, and Compliance organizations. Before Trinity, he spent nearly three years as CISO at Westinghouse Electric, the world’s leading nuclear energy technology provider, and before that as CISO at Celanese, a Fortune 500 specialty materials manufacturer, where he was recruited to lead a complete program transformation. His earlier career spans principal security consulting at Cylance, security management at Alliance Data, lead security engineering for more than $30 million in DoD programs at L3 Communications, and four years as an ELINT and cryptologic systems supervisor in the United States Navy. He co-founded the Pittsburgh Hacker’s Association and speaks frequently at security and hacker conferences.
Brent Forrest — CISO, Crash Champions
Brent Forrest joined Crash Champions, one of the fastest-growing collision repair networks in the United States, as CISO in February 2025. Before Crash Champions, he spent more than four years at Flair Data Systems as field CISO and cybersecurity architect, serving fractional CISO roles across multiple industries including achieving HITRUST certification for one client’s Azure environment. His most substantive security tenure is more than eight years at EnLink Midstream, an oil and gas midstream company, where he built the cybersecurity program from the ground up, progressing from network and security administrator through cybersecurity leader, implementing OT and corporate security controls and serving on the OT Security Committee. He holds CISSP and C|CISO certifications and began his career in voice and data network engineering across oil and gas companies, giving him an operational technology foundation that directly informs his security leadership approach.
Roger Fetters — CISO, W.L. Gore and Associates
Roger Fetters has served as CISO at W.L. Gore and Associates since April 2024, leading global information security strategy and governance for a company whose advanced materials, including Gore-Tex, serve industries spanning outdoor performance, medical devices, aerospace, and industrial manufacturing. His path to the CISO seat is genuinely unusual. Before his security leadership roles, he spent nearly twelve years as a senior consultant at Computer Aid, including a five-year engagement as manager of software quality assurance and testing at American Water and earlier QA and testing leadership roles at AmeriHealth Mercy, Wilmington Trust, and pharmaceutical and financial services clients. He joined Gore in February 2017 as information security program manager, became IAM team leader in October 2019, and stepped into the CISO role in April 2024. That progression from software quality assurance and testing through identity and access management to CISO reflects a career built on the disciplines of process rigor, systems integrity, and controlled access that underpin effective security governance in a complex global manufacturing environment.
Securing the Road Ahead
The organizations in this feature distribute auto parts, repair collision-damaged vehicles, insure and serve drivers, manufacture railcars, and produce the advanced materials that go into the products keeping transportation networks running. Their security programs have to protect operational systems, customer data, supply chain integrity, and increasingly the digital platforms that connect physical operations to cloud environments. The leaders in this feature are building programs that move as fast as the industries they protect.
John Kevin Hao is a news and feature writer covering cybersecurity, technology, and business targeted for professional audiences.