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Rinki Sethi

Vice President & Chief Information Security Officer, BILL Holdings, Inc.

Search every verified Rinki Sethi interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Rinki Sethi, currently Chief Security and Strategy Officer at Upwind Security, has recently discussed the evolving role of security leadership in podcast appearances. In a September 2026 episode of the Practical Security Show, she argued that communication, rather than technical expertise, is central to senior security roles. She stated that the job of a CISO is primarily about translating security concepts for different audiences, such as engineers, executives, board members, and regulators, and that effective communication is essential for managing risk and leading during crises. She also reflected on how the perception of security incidents has shifted from being hidden to requiring transparency due to regulations. In an August 2026 interview on Random Access Memories, Sethi, who has nearly 25 years in cybersecurity and previously held CISO roles at companies including Twitter and Bill Holdings, expressed concerns about the future of the profession. She questioned how the next generation of CISOs will develop foundational skills as entry-level security tasks become automated. She also emphasized the importance of networking and community building for career advancement, noting she has never applied for a job but has relied on her professional network. Additionally, she discussed the need for a "builder mindset" to leverage AI and agents effectively, and explained her motivation for founding Lockstep, saying she wanted to create a community that centers practitioners rather than vendors.

Recent appearances

Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“I really wanted to find ways to give back in meaningful ways and I just felt like the way that VCs and vendors were taking from others like I didn't get why we're not the VIPs in the ecosystem when we're making everyone else rich and we're fueling the whole ecosystem and yet like we go to these things and it's vendor pitch after vendor pitch and steak dinner after steak dinner and I'm like this is not what we need to”

“It's it's insane, right? Um like I don't know what you were doing when that news came out. I mean you're kind of like oh this is cool. like they were able to build something like this overnight and then you see the market crash and you're like it only makes you laugh, right? Cuz you're like what are the what why are all these people that don't understand cyber security selling off their cyber security shares because ”

“We pulled together our own money and started making angel investments. We did about 30 angel investments and ... decided to raise a small fund while we remain practitioners.”

“If they can't clearly articulate who owns the problem, who signs the check, and who gets blamed if it goes wrong, they don't understand yet enterprise buying.”

“My strong opinion is CIOs are not the right place for security to report to because there's a conflict of interest — CIOs are focused on enablement and availability, and sometimes that conflicts with security.”

“Twitter's morphed — it started as one thing and now it's morphed to serve the public conversation. Anything from a security perspective that could interrupt that or give people false information — that's what keeps me up at night.”

Other executives at BILL Holdings, Inc.

  • Rene Lacerte, Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chairperson of the Board

The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →