Mike Cushing is Head of Cybersecurity & Network Engineering at Patagonia, where he has spent 13 years building the company's security function from the ground up — from identifying an unaddressed risk as an individual contributor to leading an enterprise security organization spanning cybersecurity operations, threat intelligence, incident response, and third-party risk management across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

He was nominated for CISO of the Year by the Retail and Hospitality ISAC (RH-ISAC), a peer-nominated honor from security leaders across the retail and consumer sector. Mike serves on several industry advisory boards, including the Evanta CISO Governing Body, the SANS Institute's GIAC Advisory Board, and the Cisco Product Innovation Council.

Mike's approach to security is grounded in a simple philosophy: security exists to help the business take risk intelligently, not to stand in its way.