Jennifer Westphal
Vice President, Chief Information Security Officer
MGIC Investment Corporation
Jennifer Westphal is an IT leader with over 26 years’ experience in Information Technology with almost 19 of those years focused in Cyber Security. Jennifer currently operates as the VP- Chief Information Security Officer at MGIC (Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation). At MGIC Jennifer leads both the Information Security Engineering and Governance Risk and Compliance teams. Prior to her time at MGIC, Jennifer built a career in data security and technical support through roles of increasing responsibility at Roundy’s, Inc. in Milwaukee. Jennifer is a co-chair with the Gartner Milwaukee CIO\CISO Community. She is also a member of The United Way’s Women’s Leadership Council serving as a co-chair on the events committee and is a member of Technology United’s CIO Advisory Board.
On a personal note, Jennifer has a passion for cooking, entertaining friends and family, travel, watching documentaries and playing a heated round of cribbage with her husband. She is an advocate for local animal rescue and has two beautiful rescue dogs of her own.
Learn more about the Milwaukee CISO community here.
Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
My path has been a true work in progress! I started in IT over 26 years ago with Roundy's, Inc. I wanted to learn ALL areas of IT and did everything from training, hardware installation, software configuration and upgrades, technical support, and finally finding my passion in cyber security. Wearing so many hats within the IT organization was so valuable as I moved into cyber security.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
As a leader, I believe in building a strong team. To develop their talents, to be transparent, foster ideas and build a strong sense of pride within the team. To lead a security practice successfully you must understand your role is to enable the business strategies while ensuring appropriate security controls are implemented.
What is the greatest challenge CISOs face today, and how are you addressing it?
The ever-changing landscape of cyber threats. The best way to address this is to maintain the development of your team to be able to keep on top of security trends, constantly be assessing risk in your environment, updating your roadmap appropriately and keeping leaders in your organization constantly informed.
What is the key to success for someone just starting out as a CISO?
Maintaining collaboration with other C-Level peers. Make sure that you are effectively assessing risk and are able to communicate that with business leaders in non-technical language.
How do you measure success as a leader?
Having a security minded culture is so important. Making sure that the entire organization understands the importance of security controls and how much they all play a role in keeping the company secure. Success as a security leader is making sure you are building this culture from the board-level all the way to each and every employee.
What is the value of being a member of Gartner C-level Communities?
Networking is so important and the community allows you to build a community of like-minded leaders.
Gartner C-level Communities Governing Body members share their insights and leadership perspectives to shape the agendas and topics that address the top priorities impacting business leaders today.
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