Two decades as a CISO across public and private companies — from the largest technology platforms in the world to growth-stage startups building enterprise products. Now in service of the founders, leaders, boards, and executives making consequential decisions.
Geoff Belknap has spent more than two decades building and leading security programs at companies that operate at the highest stakes — CISO and security leadership roles across public and private companies, from the largest technology platforms in the world to growth-stage startups building enterprise products.
His career spans consumer technology, enterprise software, data analytics, financial services, and telecommunications — with experience as both an operator scaling security inside established companies and as a founding security leader inside earlier-stage ones.
Outside of executive roles, Geoff co-hosts Defense in Depth, one of the most candid conversations in cybersecurity, and is an active investor in the next generation of security tooling. He advises the founders, security leaders, boards, and executives navigating the questions that don’t have easy answers.
For executives growing into bigger roles, leaders navigating transitions, and the people responsible for getting the best out of senior teams. The human dimensions of leadership — the parts no playbook covers.
Advising boards on cybersecurity matters: policy, internal incidents, regulatory exposure, and long-range strategy. Helping directors ask the right questions — and recognize the right answers.
For CEOs, founders, and product leaders who need to think about security in the context of their actual business — not as a checklist, but as a set of decisions about risk, customers, and where to spend.
For boards, investors, founders, and C-level executives hiring their first or next security leader. Defining the role honestly, evaluating candidates, and avoiding the predictable mismatches.
Standing up a security function from nothing — or repairing one that grew faster than its foundation. Staffing, sequencing, governance, and the early-stage decisions that compound over years.
For founders building security products: positioning, buyer empathy, and the conversations that get you past the pilot. For buyers: cutting through the noise of a crowded market.
Engagements are scoped to fit the question. The right shape depends on the stakes, the timeline, and what the organization needs to learn or decide. A short conversation upfront is usually the fastest way to figure out which one fits.
Recurring counsel for founders or executives who need a sounding board on demand — quarterly cadence, with availability between sessions for the inevitable urgent questions.
Independent advisor or observer on boards where security is now a board-level concern. Helping directors navigate cyber matters with the rigor they apply to every other risk on the agenda.
Time-bounded engagements: program assessments, leadership offsites, CISO search support, vendor strategy, board prep. Defined scope, defined outcome.
For founders and executives who need a focused conversation rather than an ongoing engagement — one or two sessions on a specific question, decision, or moment.
More than twenty years across CISO and security leadership roles — publicly traded technology platforms with billions of users, enterprise SaaS and data platforms, and growth-stage companies building the next generation of enterprise products. Industries from consumer technology to financial services to telecommunications.
Each week, alongside David Spark, I take one debated topic in cybersecurity and pull it apart with the help of the InfoSec community. The conversations that result are the kind you’d hear at a CISO dinner — honest, unpolished, and often uncomfortable.
Listen →The best engagements start with a fifteen-minute conversation about the actual question. Send a note with some context and we can figure out from there whether and how I can help.
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