"associate deputy assistant secretary for cyber and information security"
This was the actual title for someone we would call the "Chief Information Security Officer". It is an excellent example of how we oversell our own positions within our profession when, in fact, the management level within the company is likely to be (as far as I can tell from the title) one step above janitor.
I did an informal survey of 15 people once and found this: "Out of the 15 responses, 8 were two levels from the CEO (one person, usually a CIO, in-between), 5 were three levels from the CEO, and two were 4 and 5 levels from the CEO." Not bad, but also not what I would call at a true "Chief" level.We should be more realistic in how we present ourselves within our profession and more understanding when evaluating the authority given to our peers.
A couple more data points:
Past Employer A: CISO –> SVP –> COO –> President of Firm
Past Employer B: CISO –> Sr. Director –> CIO –> CFO –> CEO/President of Firm
In each case, you could argue that the penultimate link was actually about even in the org chart with the final (i.e., rightmost) link, but formally this was not the case.
Employer A used to have an additional layer between the CISO and the SVP, (A VP, not surprisingly), but they re-orged.
The Daily Incite – July 5, 2006
July 5, 2006 Good Morning: I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays. I had a nice day with family and friends, but am done with my holiday now and ready to get back to it. Ive got a lot of blogging to catch up on and a few client deliverables to g
Hmmmm…I like that title.
It’s almost as good as “Research Director.”
Know anyone with that title, Pete?
Love,
Chris
Chief Security Strategist
(…and short-order cook, right tackle, bartender, prophet and bricklayer.)