Bret Arsenault is Microsoft’s Chief Cybersecurity Advisor, responsible for advancing critical security initiatives and escalating impact across the entire Microsoft ecosystem: company, partners, customers, government agencies, and important communities. As Chief Information Security Officer for 14 years, Bret was responsible for enterprise-wide digital security and resiliency. Bret was charged with protecting Microsoft and its customers from ever-growing cyber-threats, while ensuring compliance with evolving regulations. In this role, he was also responsible for crisis management and overall business continuity and resilience at Microsoft. As part of this, he and his team coordinated the Microsoft Covid-19 response program and the cross-company response to the war in Ukraine.

At Microsoft since 1990, Bret was integrally involved in developing the company’s U.S. Emergency Response Plan, its Worldwide Security Mobilization effort, and the Trustworthy Computing Task Force. Before assuming the role of CISO, he served as Microsoft’s Chief Technology Officer for its Identity and Security Division, during which time he spearheaded the creation of the Microsoft Security Risk Assessment (MSRA) methodology, a highly successful standardized framework used to evaluate security issues and provide critical guidance to consumers.

Bret’s varied business background, from ventures to operations, has informed his unique entrepreneurial outlook. Being at the forefront of an evolving industry led him to architect best practices, quickly adopt new technologies, and gain expertise at building highly successful products and programs that are prescient, have big influence, and incorporate value. His wide-ranging career also formulated his worldview; by touching all facets of business, security can have large-scale impact, engender trust, and create transformation in both the public and private sectors.

Beyond Microsoft, Bret drives industry best practices by sharing his leadership expertise through advisory engagements with Enterprise customers, Fortune 500 boards, and governments worldwide. He has engaged with over 100 public boards on topics ranging from digital transformation and business culture to global threat assessment and the future of AI and currently sits on the advisory boards for Dell, Cranium AI, Rubrik, and the Executive Women’s Forum (EWF). Bret also provides business leaders with an unprecedented look into the technologies and digital landscapes of tomorrow, including the AI platform shift. He is a founding member of Security 50 and the Executive Security Action Forum (ESAF), an association of senior information security and risk executives from governments and Global 1000 companies.