Susan Berezny
Head of Cyber Security
Equite Association
Susan Berezny is a passionate cyber security leader with 18 years experience building cyber security programs and over 30 years IT experience. Before joining Équité as the Head of Cyber Security, prior roles included Director of Information Security at federal crown corporation and 23 years working for one of the largest hospitals in Canada in various progressive positions.
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What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
I advocate for mentoring the next generation of cyber security professionals and believe in empowering employees to be their best selves. I believe good cyber security programs should be designed to be discreet, effective and embedded into business operations.
With disruption being a key theme of the past year, where do you see your role as a CISO going in the next 1-2 years?
The talent shortage continues to be a major hurdle. Focusing on retention strategies such as training and career pathing are key to maintaining an engaged and productive security team. We need to get creative. Hire a marketing student to help with your security awareness program or a mathematics student to help with your KPIs.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in the role as a CISO?
Remain calm through rough waters. Technical jargon needs to be minimized, advice needs to be sound and clear. Focus on supporting the business needs and not security as checkbox compliance.
Tell us a couple of fun facts about yourself.
My personal philosophy is rooted in work hard and play hard. Taking the time to disconnect actually makes you more productive at work (and a happier person).
My most challenging personal feat was bicycling 800KM on the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
What is the value of joining an Evanta community?
The group all faces similar challenges and being able to collaborate on them is key to successfully moving forward. I have met great people over the years, and we stay in touch outside of Evanta events.
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