An AT&T exec manifested his C-suite position when he was earning his MBA: 'I literally came up with a plan to become a CISO' | Fortune

""I was actually getting my MBA, and my last class was product marketing, and they said, 'You are the product. Take yourself to the market,' Baich said. "So, I literally came up with a plan to become a CISO, and I executed on it." That plan eventually ended up landing Baich his first gig as a CISO at data broker company ChoicePoint. At the time, he said, the idea of a C-suite role for information security was still nascent."

""When I look back on it was very interesting about what the role and the expectations in the boardroom and the C-suite was for CISO," Baich said. "The challenges primarily were around helping the organization culturally understand: What does a CISO do and what value does it bring to the organization?" In the beginning. Baich, who has now worn the CISO hat five times, sat down with IT Brew to discuss his career journey, recalling the first time he realized his interest in computers."

"Critical point. The similarities between the military and Baich's CISO role at ChoicePoint and later, American Insurance Group and Wells Fargo, were striking. "Luckily for me, cybersecurity is as close to being in the military as you can get from most jobs, because you're constantly trying to defend against adversaries that are trying to obviously, either do harm or form some type of mischievous activity.""

A deliberate, executable career plan enabled a security leader to become a CISO, beginning during an MBA product-marketing exercise that framed the individual as a 'product.' The plan led to an initial CISO role at a data broker when C-suite information-security roles were still nascent. Early responsibilities focused on educating boards and organizations about the CISO role and proving its value. Technical curiosity began with Pascal programming and Boolean logic, followed by Naval Academy training and military service in surface warfare, cryptology, information warfare, and space. Cybersecurity work parallels military defense against persistent adversaries.

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