Nick Peterson

Background

About Nick Peterson

IT and Cybersecurity Management | GRC and Third-Party Risk Strategist | IT Service Management Professional Results-driven IT and cybersecurity leader with 10+ years of experience delivering and managing enterprise technology services across multiple industries (retail, healthcare, hospitality, agriculture, and food production). Demonstrated expertise in GRC, IRM, ITSM, and cybersecurity domains, with a proven ability to deliver IT value aligned with business goals. Currently, I am the Senior Manager of Cybersecurity Risk Management with Smithfield Foods, leading the cyber risk management strategy, and overseeing programs that span enterprise IT risk, TPRM, policy governance, and maturity tracking. My approach combines servant leadership, agile project management, and practical maturity models to guide high-performing teams and executive stakeholders towards measurable outcomes and risk-informed decision making. A Few Career Highlights: — Tracked a 92% increase in cybersecurity program maturity in under 2 years at Smithfield Foods using NIST CSF and targeted gap remediation — Led development of an IPO-ready cyber risk program for one of the world’s largest food producers — Achieved 70% reduction in change-related incidents through enterprise IT change management program implementation and continuous improvement at O’Reilly Auto Parts — Designed and implemented GRC and TPRM programs for multiple large-scale international organizations, including experience integrating policy governance, risk management, compliance, maturity assessment, BC/DR, and AI driven vendor intelligence for centralized IT risk portfolio visibility I am passionate about continuous and Lean process improvement, digital transformation, innovation, and helping my team members grow and succeed. Specialties: Leadership, GRC, Integrated Risk Management, Cybersecurity, IT Service Management (ITIL), IT Governance, Quantitative Risk, IT Audit and Compliance, Cybersecurity Audit, Change Management and Change Enablement, Third Party Risk Management, Program and Project Management, Continual Improvement, Systems Thinking, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery, PCI Data Security Standards, Staff Development, Driving Efficiency While Improving Resilience and Security Posture, Teamwork