As the inaugural security and risk executive partner at the Forrester Research and Consulting company, David Levine marshals his vast experience in cybersecurity to counsel industry practitioners.

“With security and risk being what they are, and the CISO continuing to gain in importance at companies, Forrester thought it would be a really good fit to bring somebody in to pair with customers who are security practitioners, and the demand is there,” Levine explained.

“Most of my clients are CISOs or high-level security leaders,” he said. “We meet with our clients on a regular cadence to provide guidance and act as a sounding board, in much the same way that I leaned on the CISO community when I was an active CISO. It’s really a way to take that same concept and formalize it in a way that affords consistent interaction.”

The new job has given him an opportunity to learn about different industries and areas that he wouldn’t have been exposed to in detail at Ricoh USA, Inc., the Japanese multinational imaging and electronics company where he forged his long security career.

“In one sense it’s a different ball game because different things guide their efforts,” he said. “But at the end of the day, the job of being a CISO is the job of being a CISO, no matter what job or industry you’re in. The core role and the things that CISOs should be doing to be successful doesn’t change. But it’s been really fun working in a lot of different areas and being exposed to new things.”

One of the many current themes that Forrester continues to dive into is CISO and team burnout.

“The pressures are crazy,” Levine said.

“You’ve got to be in the business, with the business, and moving the business forward. You also have to move your own projects and priorities along all the time, while dealing with issues that pop up, and incidents that may happen. And you have to get it right all the time, because the adversaries never stop. So there’s a lot going on, and I don’t know many CISOs who claim they have enough people and enough money, and that adds pressure, too.”

The accountability issue that emerged from the high-profile Uber data breach case has also entered the industry’s conversation, he said. For all these reasons, Levine definitely expects to see growing numbers of CISOs seek other types of jobs that will keep them connected to security, but without all the day-to-day pressures that weigh on an active Chief Information Security Officer.

“I think you do have people who are going to say, ‘Hey, I love security, but maybe I want to find something that’s a little different,’” he said. “Companies are going to have to figure out burnout. It’s already a problem, but it’s going to continue to be an even bigger problem.”

That’s where leadership comes in, Levine said.

“There are some very fundamental things you can do as a leader that aren’t hard and aren’t complicated but can make a big difference. And it all boils down to one rule: Be the leader you would want.”

Before starting at Forrester late last year, Levine had spent nearly 30 years at Ricoh in various capacities, including a decade as CISO.

“It was tough leaving my team,” he said. “We broke the mold in a lot of ways. First of all, I was a CISO in the same place for 10 years. That’s almost unheard of. What’s more, the tenure in my team at Ricoh was crazy. I had people who were there almost as long as I was, some longer, and a whole lot that still were way above and beyond the average. So it was really hard to leave those folks as we were a pretty tight-knit team.”

“Ultimately part of it just came down to that I had been there so long, and while I was really proud of what we accomplished and built, it was a good time to hand over the reins. And I liked the idea of doing something a little different, and trying to see if I couldn’t capitalize on the things I really enjoyed doing the most. I became really involved in the CISO community over the last several years, enjoyed the consulting aspects of what I was doing along with writing and speaking, and so being able to take that and run with it at Forrester was really appealing.”

Finding himself at a new place after so many years came with some adjustments.

“I kind of had to laugh at myself sometimes because you get so ingrained in doing things a certain way,” Levine said. “I was like, ‘Oh, this is all different.’

“Making that transition from a leader with a team to individual contributor was a bit of an adjustment as well,” he added. “But I am blessed to work with so many amazing and talented people at Forrester that push my thinking and challenge me on a daily basis. “

One of the advantages of his current job is that he doesn’t have to be “on” all the time.

“I don’t miss my phone ringing in the middle of the night or getting that phone call on Thanksgiving or New Year’s or Christmas Eve,” he said.

On a personal note, Levine now has a greater opportunity to pursue a passion he’s developed in recent years – running.

“I started running in 2019 and it’s really turned into something I enjoy. So I try to run a competitive 5k every weekend if I can,” he said.

He’s also served in the Georgia State Defense Force for the past 8 ½ years, and describes himself as a “big, big car guy.”

“I like working on cars and fabricating. I used to do a lot of track days and even raced one season. I stepped away from that not long ago, but I’ll always be a car guy. You can frequently find me wrenching in the garage. I honestly enjoy that aspect as much I do driving.”