Leading Women in Tech Podcast 281: The Trust Crisis: How Cybersecurity Became Every Leader's Job with Karen Kaukol, CMO of Entrust
In today's episode, we're going deep into one of the most urgent leadership topics of 2025: cybersecurity, AI risk, and the new era of digital trust.
This is no longer a technical issue — it's a leadership issue.
I'm joined by Karen Kaukol, Chief Marketing Officer at Entrust, a global leader in identity, security, and trust. Karen brings decades of experience across global payments, financial services, and technology, including senior leadership roles at First Data and Graebel Relocation.
Karen has a unique superpower: she translates complex cybersecurity and AI challenges into clear, actionable insight for business leaders.
Together, we explore:
⏹ How AI is reshaping cybersecurity — fast
⏹ Why trust is now the #1 competitive advantage for every company
⏹ What leaders (not just CISOs) must understand about AI agents inside their systems
⏹ The new expectations boards have around cybersecurity risk
⏹ Why high performers need to adopt AI tools, not avoid them
⏹ How marketing and communications are being transformed by AI
⏹ How to build a culture of trust, resilience, and cross-functional alignment
⏹ What it really means to lead through a cybersecurity crisis
If you're a senior leader or aspiring executive — especially a woman in tech — this episode will help you build literacy in AI governance, cybersecurity strategy, digital trust, and leadership communication in an environment where the stakes have never been higher.
About Karen KaukolKaren Kaukol is the Chief Marketing Officer at Entrust, leading global marketing, brand, and strategy across a company at the forefront of identity, trust, and security innovation. She previously served as CMO at Graebel Relocation and spent 17 years at First Data (now Fiserv) in senior global marketing leadership roles. She holds an MBA from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor's degree from Indiana University.
Connect with Karen and Entrust:
⏹ https://www.entrust.com/
⏹ https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenkaukol/
This episode was sponsored by our guest, Karen Kaukol. Thank you Karen for helping to bring Leading Women in Tech to this community!