23. Damien Scalzo, CIO, Mercedes Benz Financial Services

Damien Scalzo is the CIO of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Australia/New Zealand. For over 15 years, Damien has combined his business and technology experience as a CIO, Management Consultant, Systems Integrator and Chartered Accountant to help organisations use technology to add value to their core and new business processes across industries including Financial Services, Manufacturing, Utilities, and Public sector. Damien is passionate about technology and also spends time mentoring startups to grow and scale In this episode, Damien will share his tips on managing cyber security at the executive level. As a mentor for startups, Damien is able to share with us exactly when startups should be considering their security strategy. Using his experiences from a combination tech leadership and security background, Damien shares various effective reporting structures for security leaders. Find out how Damien keeps his knowledge on current security trends updated, and how he uses this information to protect the organisation Links: LinkedIn Time Stamps: 01:00 - Damien Scalzo's introduction and background 04:08 - How security organisations can obtain value and funding  05:55 - Your first hire when building a new team security team 06:14 - "I always liked the idea, in anything, in hiring the talent that finds its own talent. It's always been better to hire the leader first who then builds their team up." - Damien Scalzo 07:20 - Understanding how to take risk in a corporate environment 08:10 - Should security leaders report directly to the CEO? 09:22 - "Whether the CIO represents security at the board or the CISO comes into the board as a guest, the CEO has to be the person that sets the tone from the top for security." - Damien Scalzo 10:03 - Understanding cyber security at the executive level 12:08 - How to stay current with updated knowledge on security trends to keep your team, peers and executives informed 15:05 - When should a start up organisation consider a security strategy and dedicated security leaders? What can they do in the meantime? 17:00 - Damien's best advice for CIOs from his unique experience combination of start-up mentoring, and being a leader in tech with a security background