Security vendors don’t build meaningful products by guessing. They build them by listening closely to the leaders operating at the sharp edge of cyber risk; the CISOs responsible for protecting global enterprises, regulated industries, and massive digital ecosystems. The leaders below are not just decision-makers; they are architects of modern security strategy, culture, and resilience. Their feedback shapes roadmaps, influences markets, and often determines whether a security product survives real-world deployment.
Phil Venables — Strategic Security Advisor, Google | Partner, Ballistic Ventures
Phil Venables brings rare depth across engineering, enterprise risk, cloud security, and board-level governance. After serving as Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer for Google Cloud, where he helped define security at hyperscale, Venables now acts as a Strategic Security Advisor at Google, guiding security thinking across cloud services and emerging technologies. In parallel, he is a Partner at Ballistic Ventures, working hands-on with early-stage cybersecurity companies at the intersection of innovation and execution. His career spans multiple industries and geographies, from deeply technical roles to advising boards on resilience, risk, and cyber governance, a perspective few vendors can afford to ignore.
Jerry Geisler — EVP & Global CISO, Walmart
Jerry Geisler leads one of the largest and most complex information security programs in the world as Executive Vice President and Global CISO of Walmart. His remit spans data security for millions of customers and associates, as well as global security strategy, engineering, forensics, threat intelligence, governance, compliance, and cyber operations across IT, OT, cloud, platform, and product environments. Under his leadership, Walmart’s security organization has earned a reputation as a forward-thinking, innovation-driven program tightly aligned with business enablement. With more than three decades at Walmart, Geisler’s insights reflect a deep understanding of how security must operate at planetary scale.
Chandra McMahon — SVP & CISO, CVS Health
As Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at CVS Health, Chandra McMahon leads the global security organization responsible for protecting one of the most trusted brands in healthcare. Her role spans safeguarding patient, customer, and partner data while driving continuous innovation in IT infrastructure and cyber defense. CVS Health’s unique footprint across communities nationwide gives McMahon’s team a critical role in protecting sensitive health information at scale. Her leadership reflects a balance of mission-driven security, operational excellence, and long-term resilience, qualities that make her feedback invaluable to vendors serving regulated and data-intensive industries.
Guy Rosen — Chief Information Security Officer, Meta
Guy Rosen has spent over a decade shaping security and integrity at Meta, currently serving as Chief Information Security Officer. Prior to assuming the CISO role, he led Meta’s safety and integrity efforts as a Product Vice President, following earlier leadership roles across growth and global connectivity initiatives. Rosen’s career is defined by operating at massive consumer and platform scale, where security, trust, and product design intersect. His experience securing complex social ecosystems (while balancing privacy, safety, and innovation) makes his perspective uniquely influential for vendors building products for internet-scale platforms.
Patrick Benoit — EVP & CISO, Vast Bank
Patrick Benoit serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Vast Bank, where he is responsible for protecting both information and physical assets in a highly regulated financial environment. His role blends strategic leadership with operational execution, covering cyber risk, governance, and enterprise resilience. In addition to his banking role, Benoit serves on the CIO/CISO Advisory Board at HMG Strategy, contributing to peer-driven discussions on the future of security leadership. His perspective reflects the realities of modern financial services security, where trust, compliance, and innovation must coexist.
Geoff Belknap — CVP, Operating CISO (Core & Enterprise), Microsoft
Geoff Belknap is Corporate Vice President and Operating CISO for Core and Enterprise at Microsoft, bringing over two decades of experience across security, engineering, and leadership. His role places him at the heart of Microsoft’s internal security operations, where protecting a global technology ecosystem requires constant adaptation and innovation. Known for blending technical rigor with business insight, Belknap has built a reputation for driving collaboration, inclusion, and operational excellence. His feedback is especially valuable to vendors building for cloud-first, enterprise-grade environments.
Meredith R. Harper — CISO Advisor, SYN Ventures
Meredith R. Harper is a seasoned cybersecurity leader with more than 30 years of experience across healthcare, insurance, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and data brokerage. As a CISO Advisor at SYN Ventures, she works closely with emerging security companies and enterprise leaders, applying deep expertise across cyber threat intelligence, insider risk, incident response, IAM, application security, vulnerability management, and security architecture. Harper’s career reflects sustained success building and leading high-performing security teams, making her guidance particularly valuable to vendors seeking to align technology with operational reality.
Ricardo Lafosse — Chief Information Security Officer, The Kraft Heinz Company
Ricardo Lafosse serves as Chief Information Security Officer at The Kraft Heinz Company, overseeing security for a global consumer goods organization with diverse operational and digital environments. With more than 16 years in senior technical and leadership roles across government, healthcare, education, and financial services, Lafosse has architected enterprise-wide programs spanning incident response, risk management, application security, cloud security frameworks, and data protection. His experience balancing innovation with operational continuity in a complex manufacturing and consumer landscape makes his insights highly relevant for enterprise security vendors.
Jaya Baloo — COO & CISO / Founder, AISLE™
Jaya Baloo is the Founder, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Information Security Officer of AISLE™, where she brings a distinctly strategic and operational approach to cybersecurity leadership. Known globally for her expertise and outspoken thought leadership, Baloo’s career spans executive security roles, public speaking, and industry influence. Her current work reflects a focus on building security into organizational DNA, not just tooling, a perspective vendors increasingly seek as security shifts from technology to strategy.
Bryce Austin — CEO, TCE Strategy
Bryce Austin is a recognized cybersecurity expert, author, keynote speaker, and advisor, currently serving as CEO of TCE Strategy. Through his firm, Austin provides fractional CIO and CISO services, incident response leadership, and ransomware expertise to organizations across industries, including financial services, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and technology. His work advising boards and executive teams gives him a panoramic view of what organizations actually need from security solutions, and where vendors often miss the mark.
Maryam Bechtel — General Manager & CISO, TAL Australia
Maryam Bechtel is the General Manager and Chief Information Security Officer at TAL Australia, bringing over 17 years of global experience across advisory, consulting, and in-house security leadership roles. Recognized for driving transformation and building cyber-savvy organizations, Bechtel has worked across multiple continents and sectors. Her ability to translate security strategy into organizational resilience makes her a trusted voice for vendors serving international and highly regulated markets.
Mark Carter — Chief Information Security Officer, Navan
Mark Carter is Chief Information Security Officer at Navan and a widely respected information security executive, board member, entrepreneur, and investor. Over a 25-year career, he has held senior leadership roles at companies including Google, Microsoft, Amazon, PayPal, Tesla, Salesforce, and Gemalto. Carter has co-founded multiple successful startups and led businesses generating hundreds of millions in ARR across security, AI, SaaS, and cloud platforms. His impact on security and compliance at scale has shaped industry direction, making his feedback especially influential for vendors building next-generation platforms.
Ariel Litvin — Advisory Board Member, BlueVoyant | Former CISO, First Quality Enterprises
Ariel Litvin is a seasoned cybersecurity and technology executive with over 30 years of leadership experience across global enterprises. Most recently, he served as Chief Information Security Officer at First Quality Enterprises, leading cybersecurity strategy across diversified manufacturing and consumer products businesses. He now serves as an Advisory Board Member at BlueVoyant, following earlier senior advisory roles at PwC focused on cybersecurity, forensics, and M&A due diligence. Litvin’s background in complex transformations and large-scale integrations gives vendors invaluable insight into enterprise security realities.
Kevin McKenzie — VP & CISO, Ferguson Enterprises
Kevin McKenzie is Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Ferguson Enterprises, responsible for securing North America’s largest value distributor serving residential and non-residential construction markets. His career spans healthcare, federal systems, high-performance computing, retail, and media, giving him a rare cross-industry perspective. At Ferguson, McKenzie leads global information security across more than 1,800 locations in the U.S. and Canada, delivering real-time intelligence, strategic vision, and operational resilience at scale, an experience vendors rely on when validating enterprise-grade security solutions.
Why These Voices Matter
For security vendors, feedback from leaders like these is more than market research — it’s survival intelligence. These CISOs operate where strategy meets consequence, where tools are tested under pressure, and where security either enables the business or becomes its bottleneck. Listening to them doesn’t just improve products; it defines what modern cybersecurity must become.