Jim serves as the EY Americas Cybersecurity Leader. In this role, he works with clients to develop innovative cybersecurity solutions to mitigate the evolving threat landscape. Amid a fast-changing cyber and regulatory environment, Jim and his team are focused on helping clients build greater resilience through a proactive approach that puts cyber at the core of the business.

Jim started his career in the early 1990’s with a global oilfield services and geophysical data acquisition company, where he acquired a wide range of field experience in systems engineering while working in remote locations and offshore. Based in Houston, Jim’s extensive experience of cybersecurity includes deep knowledge of many of the industries deemed critical to our national infrastructure. These include but are not limited to energy, power and utilities, chemicals, manufacturing and transportation.

“By supporting EY clients to mitigate cyber threats to critical infrastructure assets, I’m helping build a better working world — one where organizations can bring their goods and services to market in a safe and sustainable manner.”

Alfred Lindseth

Principal of CI5O Advisory Services, LLC

LinkedIn Profile: Al Lindseth | LinkedIn

Bio:

Industry Expertise: Al has worked in the energy industry for nearly 30 years and led the technology and business risk management functions at Plains All American, a Fortune 100 midstream company, for 22 years.  Prior to Plains, he was a risk management professional for PwC.  Plains suffered a $170MM rogue trading loss which made headlines in 2000 and Al was brought in to fix the issue.  He then went to work permanently for the company, focused on a number of board-level challenges inclusive of technology to solve so it could resume growth, e.g. fixing the Accounting function and creating a crisis management group after 9/11.  In 2003 he was promoted to be one of three SVPs at that time, acting in the dual roles of Risk and Information Officer.    

His was not your typical CRO/CIO role.  Plains’ success and rapid growth was largely attributable to its sound and asset-based risk management strategies, which occurred during the energy trading scandals, making Al a collaborative thought leader in the Houston community.  This carried over into his technology role.  As part of those responsibilities, Al owned the cybersecurity program at Plains.  Plains did not have a material breach during his tenure, a key metric in his annual IT and quarterly cyber Board reports.  He has spent a great deal of time collaborating with public and private entities to improve our collective cyber defenses, including leading the cyber team of a National Petroleum Council Study for the Department of Energy (2019) and serving on the Board of the Oil and Gas ISAC.  In his last years at Plains, Al led the company through increasing transformation, focused also on many of the non-technology aspects where many challenges existed - culture, people, process, business model changes, etc.

Al left PAA in April 2022 to start his own advisory firm CI5O Advisory Services where he is advising in the fields of risk management, technology, transformation and cybersecurity.  He is an active speaker on these topics, including helping Boards and CIOs/CISOs to connect and work together more effectively.  Al has devoted himself to the community in Houston, receiving many professional awards and recognition for his contributions.  He and his wife Stacey are active supporters and chairs of many Houston charities, particularly women and children’s causes.  

Recognition: