Gaétan Houle

Gaétan is a CISO Advisor in Cisco’s Security Organization. As part of his 35 years of experience in all aspects of security, he has held several senior positions in the Canadian Federal Government, including Chief Engineer in Communications Security with the Department of National Defence,

Director Corporate Security with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Consul at the Canadian Embassy in Peru, following the 1996-97 terrorist crisis in Lima.

In the private sector, he has worked as Chief Security Officer for several multinational corporations such as Bombardier Aerospace, Airbus Group (Paris, France) and Bell Canada, where he personally wrote the security plan to protect the telecom infrastructure for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Since 2016, after having worked for four years as the National Cybersecurity Practice Leader for EY Canada, Gaétan has worked as an independent consultant on various complex projects, and has recently joined Cisco Systems as a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Advisor.

Gaétan has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada and an MBA from the Jones International University. He is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario and serves as a Technology Advisory Board member of four companies.