Security leaders know the drill: You’ve got critical threat data, limited resources, and an executive team that needs to understand why it all matters fast. But bridging the gap between operational security and boardroom priorities? That’s where things get tricky.

We recently sat down with Ryan Schonfeld (HiveWatch), Cory Siskind (Base Operations), and Bill Schieder (Labcorp) to talk about what actually works when you’re trying to get executive buy-in for security initiatives.

Billr’s advice is refreshingly simple: Figure out your problem before you go shopping for solutions.

“Look at your company’s 10K report,” he said. “Identify the risks that your security organization can mitigate, and use that as the foundation for building your business cases.”

That 10K isn’t just a compliance document; it’s a cheat sheet for what your leadership already considers material risks. When your security pitch ties directly to those documented concerns, you’re not asking executives to care about something new. You’re showing them you can help with something they’re already worried about.

Security as a Business Facilitator (Not Just a Line Item)

Cory pushed back on the idea that security is purely a cost center. Her take: Security is a business facilitator.

Think about what good threat intelligence actually enables: optimized supply chain routes, smarter due diligence on acquisitions, and better decisions about where to deploy your workforce. That’s not just risk mitigation. That’s a competitive advantage.

Bill added the concept of security as a “revenue preserver,” and shared a story from his time at Flexport. By getting TAPA Level A certifications for their warehouses, they unlocked an entire tier of high-value clients they couldn’t previously pursue. Security investment became revenue growth.

The Data Problem Has Flipped

Bill put it simply: “When I first started in global security in 2008-09, our challenge was getting information. Now we have to decipher between what’s intelligence and what’s noise.”

The answer isn’t more data. It’s the right data, presented in ways executives can act on: visualizations, baselines that let you spot real changes versus normal fluctuation, or trend analysis that tells you whether an incident is a one-off or part of a pattern.

Cory emphasized granularity, as city-wide crime stats don’t tell you much about the specific blocks where your people actually work. “When you take a blanket approach to an entire city or region, you’re missing out on opportunities and failing to properly assess risk at the locations where you actually operate.”

Guard Force: The Obvious Place to Start

Ryan pointed to guard deployment as immediate low-hanging fruit. It’s usually the biggest security expense, but deployment decisions are rarely based on actual risk data. Most organizations default to uniform coverage; every site gets the same, regardless of whether it needs it.

Data changes that. You’re not necessarily spending more. You’re putting resources where they actually matter.

Beyond “Nothing Bad Happened”

The hardest part of security leadership might be proving value when your job is preventing things from happening. The panel offered some concrete alternatives: supply chain disruptions caught early, reduction in false alarms, time saved through automation, and business opportunities unlocked by certifications.

Bill’s vision for AI is practical; not replacing analysts, but giving them leverage. “Can we have AI take all the geospatial analytics data from our locations globally and give me a daily intel report in 10 minutes that would take an analyst half a day to put together?”

Building Executive Trust

Bill was direct about what it takes: “You can’t just come in with buzzwords. You have to have business cases and real-life solutions. It doesn’t take long for leadership to figure out if you have business acumen and can be a viable business partner.”

Fear-mongering doesn’t build lasting credibility. Consistent, quantifiable wins do.

Missed the live session? Watch the full recording here. And if you want to see how HiveWatch helps security teams turn threat intelligence into executive-ready insights, request a demo