Xochitl Monteon
VP, Cybersecurity Governance Risk & Compliance & Chief Privacy Officer
Intel
Xochitl Monteon is Chief Privacy Officer/Vice President Cybersecurity Risk & Governance at Intel, including leading Intel Privacy Office, Cybersecurity Compliance, Cyber & Privacy Awareness, and IT Mergers and Acquisitions.
Xochitl is responsible for driving Intel’s privacy strategy, managing the company’s privacy policies/procedures, ensuring IT M&A deliverables on deal value, driving privacy and cyber security related awareness training among employees, and communicating privacy and cybersecurity-related goals and values both internally and externally. She partners with cybersecurity to ensure controls are designed for managing privacy and that data assets are protected and in compliance with global regulatory requirements. With over 25 years of experience leading privacy, cyber security risk management, IT operations, business continuity, disaster recovery, cyber security and privacy awareness and training, and operational excellence in organizations spanning high tech, manufacturing, financial services, biotech, insurance, and healthcare, Xochitl brings a diverse view of risk and security to Intel Corporation.
Before joining Intel, she held several cyber security leadership roles at McAfee. She also held various technical leadership roles at eBay, Inc and PayPal. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from San Jose State University and is a Certified Business Continuity Planner (CBCP), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States (CIPP/US), Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer (CDPSE), Certified Information Privacy Technologists (CIPT) and Certified Information Security Manager (CISM).
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Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
I began my career as an Environmental Engineer at a small semiconductor company in Silicon Valley. Over the course of several years, my role expanded to include physical security, risk management, quality controls, export controls, and business continuity/disaster recovery. The one underlying element in all of these areas was managing risk and implementing controls to ensure continued operations of business. As I moved from industry to industry, I followed one rule, say 'yes' to enable growth and continuously learn. I love technology, process, and solving difficult problems, and there is no better place to be challenged on a daily basis with the volume of change than in cybersecurity and privacy.
What are your guiding leadership principles?
Embrace a culture of continuous learning and growth – where failures are seen as valuable opportunities for development – fostering an environment that encourages innovation and team empowerment.
With disruption being a key theme of the past few years, where do you see your role as a CISO going in the next 1-2 years?
The continued advances in technology, with innovations like AI, ML, and IOT, will continue to drive internal processing and technical controls. Also, the increased regulatory landscape; there are over 162 data privacy laws in effect globally and currently 198 AI-related laws and pieces of legislation across 37 countries. Keeping up with these evolving and varied laws is a constant challenge and requires continuous automation and shifting closer to developers/engineers to embed SecurityPrivacyByDesign at the ideation state. Finally, the continued sophistication of cyber threats, with attackers using advanced techniques such as AI-driven attacks, ransomware, and state-sponsored cyber activities, will require the industry to drive security for AI to keep pace.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in the role as a CISO?
Listen, Learn, and Lead. The ability to continuously learn, ask questions, and adapt are your greatest assets in a new C-level role.
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