Teresa Zielinski
VP, Global CISO
GE Vernova
Teresa Zielinski is the Global CISO for GE Vernova, a one-year-old spin-off from General Electric, which is responsible for manufacturing products and services that power over 25% of the world. Previously, she served as the Global CISO for GE, where she had the unique experience of helping drive the company’s separation from the 130-year-old conglomerate, as well as building the new cybersecurity function and organization for GE Vernova. Teresa has 27 years of experience across various IT functions, and she has focused on cybersecurity for the past 15 years.
An interesting fact about Teresa is that she practiced Krav Maga for eight years and now partakes in CrossFit.
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Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
GE had an incident related to an advanced persistent threat (APT[CI1] ) when nation state attacks first started to become a risk. With the previous operational experience I had, I was asked to jump in and help during this issue. That led to building a more advanced cyber team and finally to my first CISO role in 2012. Since then, we have gone through multiple transformations, and I have built two cybersecurity organizations from the ground up. In addition, I have also taken on additional scope in product security and manufacturing.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
Horizontal leadership and building relationships are key once you have a proven foundation of hard work and a strong drive. I always tell the people I mentor that “your peers promote you.” The actual promotion comes from your leader, but it’s because of all the moments you spend helping your peers and whether or not they trust and like working with you. If they do, they will recommend you, and all those recommendations eventually add up to a promotion.
What is the greatest challenge CISOs face today, and how are you addressing it?
The ability to operate and transform at a fast pace is a challenge for most CISOs in today’s environment. It requires keeping the business safe through basic operations, hygiene, and design principles, including zero trust. At the same time, we’re being called on to transform the function to meet increasing business and customer needs, regulatory requirements and utilizing AI to help!
What is the key to success for someone just starting out as a CISO?
Ask for help – it took me a long time to learn this. Focus on building high-performing teams – it starts and ends with people!
How do you measure success as a leader?
I believe success is measured by the level of impact you are able to make and if you can really own and drive change. Do you have a command over your space, and can you communicate it in a simplified way? How you do all of this matters just as much, if not more!
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