Open to opportunities

Avishai Avivi

@avishaiavivi

Message

Fractional CISO delivering AI governance, privacy, and security risk reductions.

Zimbabwe

Message

What I'm looking for

I’m looking for a CISO/CIO advisory or leadership role where I can unify GRC, privacy, and AI governance, modernize security operations, and communicate risk clearly to boards—delivering measurable assurance without inflating spend.

I’m a C-suite cybersecurity and privacy leader operating at the intersection of cybersecurity, privacy, and AI—governing it all through a unified risk and compliance (GRC) lens. I make cybersecurity accessible by translating technical risk and regulatory complexity into language that lands with boards, audit committees, and engineering teams.

Across 30 years in financial services, telecommunications, and SaaS, I’ve led major security organizations, managed $20M+ budgets, and delivered outcomes like SOC 1/2 and ISO 27001 certifications with zero audit exceptions. I’ve reduced security spend (including a 30% reduction through stack rationalization), protected 20M+ PII records, improved phishing click-rates to ~4% or below, and built AI governance programs aligned to FCC/CPNI, data residency, and security requirements to enable compliant adoption at business speed. Most recently, I’ve provided fractional CISO and CIO leadership, including hands-on support for IaC-based secured production environments and executive risk reporting that turns exposure into business-level decisions.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Principal, Fractional CISO & CIO

Current

Remote Independent Practice

Jul 2025 - Present (1 year)

Provided fractional CISO and CIO advisory for a fintech/gaming platform, delivering security governance and technology strategy and standing up an IaC-based production environment for iOS/Android users. Served as a technical advisor to a cyber investment portfolio supporting security architecture and investment due diligence.

Security Governance technology strategy Secure Production Environments Product Strategy Security Architecture Investment Due Diligence

CISO & Head of IT

BCM One

Mar 2025 - Jul 2026 (1 year 4 months)

Led combined cybersecurity and enterprise IT organization, owning strategy, infrastructure, compliance, and technology investment. Implemented AI-driven phishing training and security review automation, coordinated penetration testing, and built an enterprise AI governance program for compliant AI adoption.

Cybersecurity Training Security Review Automation Penetration Testing Enterprise AI Governance Data Residency Incident Response Crowdstrike

CISO & Chief Privacy Officer

SafeBreach, Inc

Nov 2021 - Jan 2025 (3 years 2 months)

Served as CISO and CPO for a cybersecurity SaaS, leading a lean security and IT function and building the cybersecurity program from the ground up. Delivered SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022, responded to a security incident with forensic partners, and owned the GDPR-aligned privacy program.

SOC II ISO 27001 Security Policy Development Security Incident Response Security Assurance GDPR Privacy By Design Data Processing Agreements

CISO & Chief Privacy Officer

Experian / Tax Credit Co. (TCC)

Aug 2018 - Nov 2021 (3 years 3 months)

Owned the enterprise security and privacy program, protecting 20M+ PII records and achieving SOC 1/2 and ISO 27001 with zero exceptions. Launched a security awareness program that drove phishing click-rates to 4%.

Security Awareness Phishing SOC ISO 27001 Privacy Programs

Vice President & Deputy CISO

E*TRADE Financial Corp

Apr 2016 - Nov 2017 (1 year 7 months)

Assisted the CISO with board-level cyber-risk reporting and led third-party penetration testing for mission-critical customer-facing applications. Designed a vulnerability and patch management framework to unify operations across multiple IT teams.

Penetration Testing Vulnerability Management Patch Management

Senior VP & Security Architect

Wells Fargo & Co

Jan 2014 - Apr 2016 (2 years 3 months)

Led growth of the security architecture team and expanded responsibilities across security strategy and security awareness and training. Developed cloud and SaaS security strategy for a Cloud Security Excellence Center and established enterprise security guardrails across a large application portfolio.

Security Architecture Security Strategy Security Awareness Training Cloud Security SaaS Security GuardRails

Sr. Director, Security Product Group

Juniper Networks

May 2000 - Dec 2012 (12 years 7 months)

Progressed through acquisitions into security engineering leadership, owning areas including security research, application security, QA, technical writing, and development. Led engineering for an intrusion prevention system and delivered IDP 8200 while reducing engineering OpEx through financial governance.

Security Research Application Security QA Financial Governance

Sr. Account Manager

Israel Xpert Trusted Systems Ltd.

May 1999 - May 2000 (1 year)

Worked as a Sr. Account Manager at Israel Xpert Trusted Systems Ltd. in the security reseller and systems integrator space.

IT Manager

Check Point Software Technologies

May 1998 - May 1999 (1 year)

Managed IT operations at Check Point Software Technologies.

Captain, Acting CISO

Israel Defense Forces (Unit 8200)

Feb 1993 - May 1998 (5 years 3 months)

Served as Captain and Acting CISO in Israel Defense Forces (Unit 8200) within a military intelligence and cybersecurity role.

Education

Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework

Columbia Business School

Master of Business Administration, Business Administration

Earned a Master of Business Administration through the Berkeley–Columbia Executive MBA program, with the Columbia Business School degree awarded in 2010.