Episode 5

Dan Lohrmann, Chief Strategist and CSO for Security Mentor – Yorkshire Tea Drinker!

Published on: 16th September, 2021

This week we chat with the guy who served as the first CISO for the state of Michigan, Dan Lohrmann in May 2002. Today he serves as Chief Security Officer at Security Mentor, Inc. He has advised senior leaders at the White House, National Governors™ Association (NGA), National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), federal, state and local government agencies, Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and non-profit institutions. He’s a frequent author for GovTech and other blogs. Tune in to hear Dan’s story of the time he nearly got fired and why his personal favourite is Yorkshire tea!

 Guest

Highlights:

0:00 - Intros, Background & The Small Cybersecurity Family

  • Cybersecurity is not for the feint of heart, but it's constantly fun and changing
  • Y2K and Michigan
  • Centralizing IT and creating the CISO role

8:09 - Applying Football to Career

  • Siblings impact and influence
  • Football is a lot like security
  • Hockey analogy - Go to where the puck is going
  • Leadership - Cuts across both personal and professional lives

14:45 - Getting "Fired"

  • Dan was given a wifi project
  • Staff Meeting - Dan and Teri Takai confrontation
  • Lesson Learned: Get to YES and bring alternatives to business

22:22 - Importance of Relationships

  • Build trust and relationships
  • Go to lunch!
  • Easy to say, but hard to do
  • Have a good baseline and plan to get to goals
  • Good leadership, relationships and partnerships are key to leadership success

Final Thoughts:

  • The Best is Yet to Come
  • Yorkshire Tea is Dan's Favorite!


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About the Podcast

The CISO Diaries
The path to cybersecurity leadership is not a direct route and it's those divergent routes that create the amazing stories and histories of leaders who are driving security to keep businesses and people safe.

We’re Leah McLean and Syya Yasotornrat and we intend to give CISOs and cybersecurity professionals a place to be their authentic selves. These are the unedited stories told of how they got into cybersecurity, the real struggles they’ve persevered through, personal anecdotes that make them tick, and leadership advice based on experiences.

We aren't the kind of cybersecurity podcasts that focuses on the technologies, or recent incidents. We are the podcast that focuses on the people behind the headlines and the incredible diversity of experiences and backgrounds. (And it's not lost on us that we're two awesome female hosts)!

Let's face it: we are a cybersecurity tribe and we need all hands on deck!

We hope you enjoy our CISO diary entries.

After all, we're only human, right?

Special thanks to our sponsor, Cyber Future Foundation, a non-profit global cybersecurity executive leadership community, where leaders, thinkers, and futurists discuss and develop actionable guidance and frameworks for a trusted and safer world.

About your hosts

Syya Yasotornrat

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Syya is a tenured tech sales professional with her time at SonicWALL and Hewlett Packard (HPE) with some hospitality at the Walt Disney Company and IT recruitment experience in the mix. She is currently a podcast strategist and consultant, helping others to bring out their voice and legacy through podcasting. She loves to learn and talk about anything, so feel free to reach out!

Leah McLean

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Leah is Vice President, Cybersecurity Specialist at Mastercard. She is focused on implementing strategy and programs to evolve cybersecurity risk management approaches and cybersecurity awareness and training. She actively contributes in community working groups to advance cybersecurity risk management and third-party risk. Leah is also a mentor to candidates breaking into cybersecurity careers, and collaborates with employers to rethink their workforce and hiring strategies.
Leah is a co-founder at Whole Cyber Human Initiative, a non-profit focused on redefining how we identify, train, equip, advance knowledge, and build workforce development within IT and Cybersecurity. She also volunteers for Cyber Future Foundation, a non-profit driving workforce development initiatives and private and public sector collaboration.
Previously Leah held senior level roles as a cybersecurity practitioner at Armor, a cloud security company protecting data for SMB and mid-market customers, Apstra (acquired by Juniper Networks), A10 Networks and Cisco Systems. Leah serves on the Board of Advisors for Cloud Defense, Inc., a breach visibility cloud security startup and is on the board for the Cloud Security Alliance North Texas Chapter.
Leah holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, with an emphasis in International Relations from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is an active outdoor junkie always chasing adventure.