Christine Gadsby, VP Product Security, BlackBerry

Additional Info

Job title of nominated professional (or team name)Vice President of Product Security
Company (where nominated professional or team is working)BlackBerry Limited
Websitehttp://www.blackberry.com
Company size (employees)1,000 to 4,999
CountryUnited States
Headquarters RegionNorth America

Overview

Christine Gadsby has worked in the security industry for nearly 20 years. As Vice President of Product Security at BlackBerry, Christine is responsible for ensuring the company’s software supply chain is protected. This includes a broad scope of responsibilities, such as the security posture of software, how security is built in at the design phase, and advisory communications.

Christine is an accomplished application security executive and highly regarded for orchestrating security programs, SDLC capabilities, automation and security tooling, risk mitigation strategies, and multi-party coordinated incident response and disclosure.

 

Accomplishments

• Christine created The Leadership Bench program at BlackBerry to support and advance diversity and leadership within the organization and in the cybersecurity industry. This program supports future leaders by challenging them with stretch goals that face other business units within the company, with the objective of developing their leadership abilities. The majority (90 per cent) of candidates in The Leadership Bench program have been female or visible minorities. Christine is committed to encouraging women and minorities by giving them opportunities to be exposed to the many areas of security that align with their passions and to remain in cybersecurity so we can broaden the view of the industry and address the talent and gender gap. This year, BlackBerry will sponsor program participants to speak or write about what they’ve learned. Christine will help them find local opportunities for them to share their experiences and educate others on their professional journeys in security, offering them valuable presentation or writing experience while giving back to the community.


• Christine has mentored many BlackBerry team members and co-op students over the years, across many functions. Christine is extremely proud of these efforts and her work, which demonstrates her values and desire to make a social impact and inspire other women. Christine is a member of Chief, a private membership network focused on connecting and supporting women executive leaders. Christine believes in empowering women to know their value and to take the power seat, get to the C-Suite, break through glass ceilings, and secure board seats.


• Christine is an advocate for transparency in the software supply chain and is responsible for ensuring BlackBerry’s software supply chain is protected. Christine’s thought leadership around the importance of securing our software supply chain has been highlighted at several security industry conferences, including RSA and Black Hat.