McDonald’s Names Tim Youngblood to CISO Job

Tim Youngblood, CISO McDonald’s Corporation

McDonald’s, the worlds largest fast food chain, has named Tim Youngblood as the new Chief Information Security Officer.

Youngblood will report to the Executive Vice President of Operations, Digital and Technology and work closely with the McDonald’s Senior Leadership team and the Board to drive information security strategy and operations for the global hamburger chain. Youngblood’s primary responsibility will be to oversee risk management and brand protection on a global scale for the company. 

Youngblood comes to McDonald’s with over 30 years of experience in the technology field. Previously  he held the position at Kimberly Clark and Dell Computers. He also serves on the Board of Experts of Gilot Capital Partners.

In an interview with the Information Security Media Group Youngblood relates what he believes his primary responsibility to the board of a major company like McDonald’s.

According to Youngblood the board’s job is not to approve your budget or listen to the latest news on malware or computer viruses.

Youngblood believes that CISO’s job is to clearly explain what the security team is doing. A CISO must translate  what those threats mean into business terms and business impact. “What does the risk mean to the business goals? As CISOs we are good at collecting metrics, and that’s all great. But if you can’t translate what that means to the outcome to the business, it doesn’t mean much to the board.”

Youngblood is a HBCU product holding a degree in Computer Information Systems from Florida A&M University and a Masters Degree in Technology Commercialization from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas.