Salesforce has named cybersecurity veteran Brad Arkin as the company’s new Chief Trust Officer. With over 20 years of security leadership experience, Arkin has set his sights on closing the AI-fuelled “trust gap” with customers, partners, and the extended Salesforce ecosystem.
Arkin has enjoyed an accomplished career in cybersecurity, having worked with tech heavyweights like Cisco and @stake, and serving 12 years at Adobe as the organization’s top security leader. As Salesforce looks to expand its services and capabilities, Arkin’s expertise will be invaluable as the company navigates the dynamic digital landscape.
Who Is Brad Arkin?
Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of speaking with Brad about his new responsibilities, from the path that led him to Salesforce, to his specific plans for the role.
Brad’s storied career in the cybersecurity realm first came to life during his time at university.
“During my freshman year, I started reading a book called Applied Cryptography. Since then, I’ve been into cryptography, secret codes, computer security, and programming language security.
“A lot of people with job titles like mine might come through law enforcement, investigations, military, the intelligence community, or maybe networking. I’m a little bit different – I came from the software security side. The through line for my entire career is how to work with groups of code writers to drive good outcomes and how to help them think about, not just the lines of code, but how they come together. What are the right types of meetings and processes to run?”
From three-person projects to large-scale initiatives involving hundreds of members, Brad has worked with teams of all sizes throughout his career. But the real driving force for Brad is those large-scale setups – and it doesn’t get much bigger than Salesforce.
“I want more people, more size, more scale. I’m sure there are other jobs that are equally purposeful, but they may not have that same scale. At Salesforce, you’ve got a zillion nodes running in production, and you’ve got thousands of code writers all collaborating in different ways.
“The number of customers we have is through the roof and it’s just growing all the time. The ways that our customers rely on us to solve their problems for their customers are multiplying and expanding.
“So you take the purpose and then you give me the scale, which I really get a kick out of. Knowing that the choices we make here are going to span across tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of nodes in production. And getting the code just right actually really matters, not just for one customer, but for so many people all over the world. That’s really fun for me.”
What Does This Role Mean?
In the somewhat polarizing generative AI landscape, many consumers are finding it difficult to fully trust and embrace AI due to its potential for unethical use and its inevitable security risks. This is what has led to the widely discussed trust gap. However, with its ever-growing capabilities, Arkin appreciates how vital it is to reassure the ecosystem by raising the standards for data security, privacy, and performance.
“The thing I’m most excited about is that Salesforce customers care so much about getting the right outcomes when it comes to security – which means that this role at Salesforce really matters.
“Trust is our number one value; every meeting starts with trust. Every meeting starts with what we can do to make sure we’re driving the right outcomes that will build that trusting relationship we have between us and our customers.”
“It feels kind of like the pinnacle of my career to be able to do this job. The purpose we feel every day coming to the office is incredibly motivating.”
In Salesforce’s most recent State of the Connected Customer Report, statistics show that the number of consumers and business buyers open to using AI to enhance their day-to-day experiences has dropped from 69% to 56% in the last two years. However, when asked to rank their top five sentiments towards AI, “curiosity” was the unanimous verdict.
This begs the question: can we get these curious-but-cautious users to trust AI, and can we convince them of its ability to improve the overall customer experience?
“AI is a big label that covers an enormous variety of different things you could do with different types of technology.
“It always comes back to understanding our customers – what are their problems? What do they want to do, and how can we best help them achieve that in a way that’s going to drive the right outcomes? In my narrow experience of personal experimentation with Large Language Models and other types of AI technology, there are certain things that are overwhelmingly compelling.
“It’s so new that people are saying: is it a search engine? Is it a helper to a human? Is it a replacement for a human? Nobody knows exactly how to put this technology to work; we’re all experimenting. I think people are right to be anxious because creativity will take you to places where technology is not ready to go today.
“It’s not going to be a three-month solution. We can’t just address AI costs and solve problems. I think there’s going to be a multi-year journey with our customers to understand the potential; where are they most excited to go first, and how will we make sure we build out the trust aspect so that we’re going to get the right outcomes.”
What Are the Priorities?
Despite being relatively new to the role, Brad has a clear outline of what’s required to make an impact as Chief Trust Officer at Salesforce. His most important task will be collaborating with customers to understand their individual priorities and security concerns.
“Trust is our #1 value and it’s in my title. It’s only fitting that my main priority would be to build a trusted relationship with our customers. In order to do my job to the best ability, I need to understand what keeps our customers up at night and how Salesforce can help address those concerns to make them successful.
“It’s not just about doing good work – it’s also about the transparency of that work. Our customers should know and understand what we’re doing to protect their data, including when we’re successful and when we fail.”
His next focus will be to gain insight into the diverse personalities and work styles around him. By fostering a cohesive team dynamic, Brad aims to ensure that everyone is working towards a common goal and continuing to deliver on that core value of trust to customers.
“I’m not the first Chief Trust Officer in Salesforce – there’s a long lineage. There’s a substantial team and the footprint and processes that exist already. When I’m settling in, [I’ll ask] ‘why do you do it like that? Wouldn’t it be more fun like this?’ I’m still learning, so that’s a top priority – figuring out the people.”
And his other main priority? The key business processes that keep Salesforce ticking day to day:
“One of the aspects that drew me to Salesforce is the understanding that security and trust are built into everything the company does. I don’t have to convince anyone why I or my team need to be there – they are already excited to have us in the room: ‘I want to get Brad’s team in here. I think if we get Brad’s team, they’re [going to] help us figure this out faster.’ Together, we make sure we’re driving good security outcomes as an organization for employees, which in turn, protects our customers.”
Summary
With a dedication to synergistic teamwork and stakeholder satisfaction, Brad Arkin is in a good position to succeed as Salesforce’s Chief Trust Officer as he continues to prioritize an efficient and trustworthy Salesforce experience.
While the rapidly changing intricacies of AI and LLMs may take some time to embed, clear communication based on honesty and transparency is key to minimizing the AI trust gap – all while making the most of AI’s seemingly infinite capabilities.