David Fagan
Director of Cybersecurity (CISO)
Ferrara
David Fagan is the Director of Cybersecurity (CISO) at Ferrara. He says, “After 23 years as the CIO of a bank group, I made a career change to Cybersecurity. I landed a great gig at a growing company and I’ve not looked back.”
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Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
Due to an acquisition, I was laid off from my CIO role. A recruiter approached a former vendor of mine with an opportunity at Ferrara. He did not want the role so referred it to me. When I joined, the company had no security program, so I’ve had the opportunity to build one from scratch.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
I give the business confidence to move fast. All of my decisions are designed to support that concept.
What is the greatest challenge CISOs face today, and how are you addressing it?
CISOs have built a reputation of fear-mongering and interference. I am branding myself and my team through the use of ‘Yes! And…’ when faced with new business opportunities.
What is the key to success for someone just starting out as a CISO?
Build a relationship of trust, especially with the head of Infrastructure and the CIO. Always support the business objective, if not the method and follow through with promises. Lead the business to maturity by showing that efficiency of processes yields intrinsic security. It’s not about putting in roadblocks, it’s about helping to engineer processes that are secure in the first place.
How do you measure success as a leader?
Enabling my staff to grow in their roles and move up in the company (or a different one). My two greatest success stories are former direct reports who rose to positions higher than my own.
What is the value of being a member of Gartner C-level Communities?
Real business discussions with those who have similar roles. The lack of intrusive vendor activities allows for more focus on true value.
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