Zahira Gonzalvo, Chief Information Security and Privacy Officer for Flagstar Bank, is not your typical CISO. For starters, she’s a woman, she’s Latin American, and she works in Troy, Michigan, a city that doesn’t even crack the top 10 most populated cities in the state. Zahira shares her journey from technology risk and audit to cyber risk and ultimately to the chief information security and privacy role she holds today at Flagstar. The CISO role has generally followed the same arc. Organizations increasingly view CISOs less as technology and operations experts and more business and risk mitigation experts. This evolution, and Zahira’s ability to keep pace with it, led her to play an important role in Flagstar’s handling of the novel coronavirus. She owes her success to hard work, patience, and perseverance. She also explains the differing, but equally important roles mentors and sponsors play in career development, especially for minorities.
We hope you enjoy this insightful conversation with Zahira.
