Zielinski right away understood that cybersecurity was not only about preventing bad things from happening but could also be for enabling business objectives.

She saw that cybersecurity cut across all functions and knew the processes and technologies that ran the business, allowing security leaders to see the big picture; that security was well-versed on the numerous risks, regulations, and requirements facing the organization; and, through its work with IT on product security, connected with customers and impacted their experience and sense of trust in the organization.

“Cyber has to thread the needle across every single function to get gaps closed and get processes working as they should,” she says. “In security, you have to understand what customers need, what regulations to meet, and you have to use that understanding to influence your executive colleagues. As I saw that, that’s when I knew the role was bigger, that it was not about having cyber for insurance but being proactive to enable the business.”