Heather Adkins

Observer
DISC Type : ic

Review Board at BlackHat

Mountain View, California, United States

Overview

Heather Adkins is a veteran security executive and a founding member of Googles security team, where she serves as VP of Security Engineering. With over two decades of experience, she also holds key advisory roles, including Deputy Chair of the CISA Cyber Safety Review Board, to improve national cybersecurity.

Outside of her extensive work in technology, Heather is passionate about studying medieval history. She draws parallels between piecing together sparse historical records and investigating complex system compromises, using her wide-ranging reading habits on topics like quantum physics to find unique solutions to security challenges.

Her career in cybersecurity was sparked by curiosity, not fear, when the internet service provider she worked for in college was hacked.

Personality Overview

Curious

Value Driven

Assertive

They are generally strong communicators and are not easy to convince.  They are likely to ask many questions and look heavily for supporting information. They can sound friendly and charming but can quickly change gears to become inquisitive and probing.

Topics They Care About

AI-Driven Threats
Discusses the future of AI in security, including threats from "Agentic AI hackers" and the necessity of using AI-based tools for defense.
Cyber Incident Analysis
As Deputy Chair of the CISA Cyber Safety Review Board, she is deeply involved in post-mortems of major incidents like the Log4j vulnerability to provide national recommendations.
Combating Ransomware
Serves on the Steering Committee for the Ransomware Taskforce and speaks publicly on the need to address criminal and geopolitical attacks.

Media Appearances

Inside the Cyber Safety Review Board – Fireside Chat (Black Hat). Featured in Black Hat (official webcast)

See Now

Work History

4-2023
Review Board at BlackHat
2-2023
Steering Committee Member, Ransomware Taskforce at Institute for Security and Technology (IST)
3-2022 - 1-2025
Deputy Chair at Cyber Safety Review Board, CISA
2-2021
Strategic Advisor at Silverado Policy Accelerator
4-2020 - 4-2020
Co Author at Building Secure and Reliable Systems

Education

2006 - 2009
Extracurricular from San José State University
1994 - 1999
Biology from Humboldt State University

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 26 Location : Mountain View, California, United States Job Level : Senior Designation : Review Board at BlackHat
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Insights For Selling To Heather

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Focus on immediate action-items rather than the larger goals
  • Build rapport, it will come handy to handle hard questions later
  • Be prepared for a lot of questions, answer them objectively

DONT's

  • Don’t try to rush them into a decision, provide all necessary information first
  • Avoid making offhand commitments
  • Don’t rely excessively on your relationship with them to win the deal

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Heather is

  • Proven value, strong testimonials are important to them, relationships will have some weightage.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Heather

  • They are practical yet friendly, don’t expect a clear no very often.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Heather move?

  • They like to analyze well and then make their decisions.
  • Can Heather take some risk or not?

  • They evaluate their decisions systematically and are less likely to take risks.

You And Heather

Personality Compatibility


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