Caroline Wong
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Caroline Wong
Additional Info
| Job title of nominated professional (or team name) | Chief Strategy Officer |
| Company (where nominated professional or team is working) | Cobalt |
| Website | https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinewmwong/ |
| Company size (employees) | 100 to 499 |
| Country | United States |
| Headquarters Region | North America |
Overview
Caroline is the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at Cobalt.io, a cybersecurity company pioneering Pentesting as a Service (PtaaS). As CSO, Caroline leads the Security, Community, and People teams at Cobalt. In her role, she merges her experience as a cybersecurity strategist to deliver global high performing programs that have helped propel Cobalt into the high-growth company it is now (Cobalt recently raised $29M in Series B funding and doubled headcount in 2020).
Throughout her career, Caroline has been working to boost the number of women in the field and advocates for workplace equality. She regularly speaks on topics such as DevSecOps alignment, infosec best practices, diversity in cybersecurity, and women in tech. Additionally, she hosts Humans of InfoSec, a podcast that explores the stories of real people, their work, & its impact on the information security industry. Caroline also teaches cybersecurity courses on LinkedIn Learning and is a member of the Forbes Technology Council.
Caroline is also a respected published author with her textbook, Security Metrics: A Beginner’s Guide, published by McGraw-Hill. And her writing has been featured in countless other books about cybersecurity.
Caroline has received numerous accolades for her work as a cybersecurity strategist, including a Women of Influence Award in the One to Watch category from the Executive Women’s Forum. She was featured as an Influencer in the 2017 Women in IT Security issue of SC Magazine and has been named one of the Top Women in Cloud by CloudNOW. She was named a 2019 Cyber Educator of the Year by the Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu. And most recently, in 2020, Caroline was recognized as a Power Player for Women in IT Security by SC Magazine.
Caroline is also a regular in industry conferences speaking at leading conferences including Interzone, DevOps Unbound, RSA, OWASP, and BSides.
Accomplishments
2020 tested Caroline’s strategic problem-solving abilities -- not to mention her ability to adapt to change -- marking her as a true security trailblazer.
--Scaling headcount. Cobalt made several notable hires and promotions filling highly strategic senior positions on all three of the teams that Caroline oversees: People, Security, and Community. Additionally, the People team was able to manage Cobalt’s 50% growth, maintain a high employee engagement score, and effectively onboarded 70+ new hires -- all while operating remotely.
--Community management. The Cobalt Core Community is Cobalt’s exclusive and private community of pentesters.Under Caroline’s strategic guidance, Cobalt saw a 53 percent year-over-year increase in the number of pentests conducted in 2020 and saw revenue grow 59% year-over-year.
--Industry evangelism. Caroline is a spokesperson both internally, to her fellow Cobalters, and externally, to peers in the security and leadership community. Within Cobalt, Caroline is a trusted coworker, highly regarded manager, and empathetic leader. She has provided thorough guidance as Cobalt transitioned to a fully remote company, and truly leads by example. She rolls up her sleeves and is in the trenches alongside her teams doing the work needed in a high-growth startup environment. In 2020, Caroline spoke at dozens of industry events -- not including episodes of her podcast, Humans of Infosec -- on a slew of timely topics including:
---A Digital Benediction (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkRwNhf__cs) - Interzone
---Hack Your Cybersecurity Career: Your Role in the Ecosystem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzLeYzinlz4&feature=emb_title) - RSA
