Global CISO Guest: From the CIA to the Cloud: In conversation with a Cyber Visionary

William McMillan, has had a distinguished career spanning multiple sectors, takes the stage with a background that includes being the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the CIA, Senior Vice President for Information Security at Salesforce, and Chief Product Officer at Andesite. William shares that his career journey has been largely shaped by a passion for service and a thirst for adventure. His career path has taken him from the US Air Force Academy to international assignments, where he became deeply interested in intelligence and the growing role of cyber operations. This fascination led him to retool his expertise to focus on cyber security, eventually leading to his role at the CIA.

During his tenure as CISO at the CIA, William experienced a “baptism by fire” moment when he was thrust into the role just as the SolarWinds cyberattack emerged. The timing was almost comical—he was appointed on a Thursday,…