Andrea Bergamini
Global VP & CISO
The Orbia Corporation
As of January 2021, Andrea is the Chief Information Security Officer at Orbia. His main focus is to enable Orbia’s purpose – to advance life around the world, and to do so safely. Andrea aims to be a trusted partner and to co-create value for Orbia as part of their global IT function. Andrea holds a master’s in Networks and Distributed Systems from Côte d'Azur University (2003-2004).
Learn more about leaders in the Benelux CISO community here.
Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
As a Telecommunications Engineer graduate, I started my career in IT consulting. I then had the opportunity to join General Electric (GE), as part of their IT and audit leadership programs. This was pivotal for me, as I took my initial steps in the world of cyber risk. I owe my current leadership style to GE and the leaders I met there.
Since then, I had the opportunity to grow in various leadership roles at Heineken, and more significantly at Cargill, where I had the privilege to establish their Cyber Defense Center and work with some great talent. This was my second pivotal moment, making the transition to Global CISO a reality.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
I try to hire people smarter than me, and trust and enable them to do the right thing. I always have their back. Ultimately, I try to follow the model preached by a well-known Premier League football coach – “If it goes well, credit goes to the team. If it doesn’t go well, it’s on me.”
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?
I see a continued duality between getting the basics right – the unglamorous stuff, the IT cyber hygiene – and then continuing to evolve as business partners – supporting digital core modernisation and transformation initiatives. All of this, with a customer-centric focus.
Moreover, I also see a growing opportunity to merge physical- and cyber-security responsibilities within the CISO role, into a CSO role. Several companies are already there, and I expect this to grow over time.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in the role as a CISO?
Stay anchored on the ‘why?’ and ‘so what?’ – keeping in mind that your key partners are not just within IT, but across functions and business leaders. Get to know them and adjust your communication style to drive impact.
Remember – ultimately, choices have to be made. Business leaders make risk decisions every single day, for millions of dollars. Cyber risk is no different. Help inform the right decisions and choices.
Tell us 3 fun facts about yourself.
- I’m an astrophotographer, operating a remote observatory fitted with two telescopes based out of Spain – more on that here.
- I’m deeply interested in math and astrophysics. I’m pretty sure I’ll end up doing a PhD if I get to retire.
- And finally, I love Lego. I’m running out of space in my office/game room!
What is the value of participating in a professional community through Evanta?
It’s easy to get tunnel vision when deeply focused on our day-to-day jobs. Evanta’s community of CISOs has provided meaningful opportunities to compare notes, gain insights and truly collaborate on practical solutions. When it comes to cybersecurity, we are all in it together, and Evanta’s community is a big help.
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