Mike Cushing

Background

About Mike Cushing

Global cybersecurity leader with a 13-year track record of building, scaling, and operating the security function at Patagonia, one of the world's most recognized retail and consumer brands. Nominated for CISO of the Year by the Retail and Hospitality ISAC, a peer-nominated recognition from security executives operating in the same threat environment.I operate at the intersection of security strategy and business enablement authoring multi-year cybersecurity roadmaps, designing cross-regional operating models, maintaining PCI-DSS compliance, and advising senior technology leadership on organizational design. What started as an individual contributor identifying unaddressed risk is now an enterprise security organization spanning cybersecurity operations, threat intelligence, incident response, and third-party risk management across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.I serve on multiple industry advisory boards, including the Evanta CISO Governing Body, the SANS Advisory Board, and the Cisco Product Innovation council, where I contribute to shaping security strategy and practice beyond my own organization.I lead with a simple principle: security exists to enable the business to take risk intelligently, not to prevent the business from moving. Everything I build, programs, teams, strategies, is designed around that idea.Areas of expertise: Enterprise Security Strategy | Retail & E-Commerce Security | PCI-DSS Compliance | Zero Trust Architecture | Cloud Security (Azure)| NIST CSF & 800-53 | Incident Response | Threat Intelligence | TPRM | Security Awareness | Budget & Financial Management | Global Operations