Phil Lea
Head of Privacy and Cyber Security
Landmark Group
Phil Lea is the Head of Privacy and Cyber Security at Landmark Group in Dubai, a position he has held since July 2023. He has worked in leadership and practitioner roles in security and privacy since 2001. Prior to joining Landmark, his roles have included Group CISO at Computacenter, Leadership Partner at Gartner and Managing Consultant at Fujitsu.
A few fun facts about Phil, he has a passion for night sky photography and for eating and preparing good food... all of which are well-satisfied here in the GCC.
Learn more about the Middle East CISO community here.
Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
I spotted a security gap in an internet-based business at the turn of the century that led me to pursue a career in information security. I spent many years focusing on the security management requirements of government organisations while developing my own knowledge in adjacent disciplines of project management, service delivery management and commercial management.
After four years as the Group CISO of a large European IT services and supply chain business, I wanted to add another aspect to my portfolio and pursued a Chief Privacy Officer role for a global organisation. This role gave me the strong foundations to bring my privacy knowledge to the GCC where those regulations are evolving right now.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
There has to be an element of trust between a leader and their teams - help them to develop, identify where my experience directly relates to the challenges they face, and give them the opportunity to grow. At the same time, the team has to accept the responsibility that goes with that trust and to seize the power with which they are empowered.
What is the greatest challenge CISOs face today, and how are you addressing it?
The role of a cyber security leader is always going to involve an element of reacting to the inevitable upcoming breach: prepare the organisation in advance, prepare the team and learn from experiences that other members of the team have supported in the past.
What is the key to success for someone just starting out as a CISO?
Be prepared to delegate. No one person can be expected to solve every problem and you'll be expected to work across the organisation to find those who can assist.
How do you measure success as a leader?
If I can "move the needle" some way towards making an organisation more secure or more compliant, then that's a positive. If I can inspire my team along the way, that makes it personally satisfying.
What is the value of being a member of Gartner C-level Communities?
It brings individuals from a wide range of sectors together; they promote dialogue between senior leaders on the challenges that we experience on a daily basis.
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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