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Michael Piacente

Managing Partner & Cofounder at Hitch Partners

Michael Piacente is the Managing Partner and Cofounder of Hitch Partners, a retained executive search firm that specializes in the security leadership community. Under his leadership, Hitch Partners has completed over 100 searches for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and other security executives across various sectors, including Information Technology and Cloud Infrastructure.12

Before founding Hitch Partners in March 2017, Piacente held several significant roles in executive search and technology companies. He served as the U.S. CEO of The MitchelLake Group and was a Technology Partner at Calibre One. Additionally, he founded the Technology Practice at CVP Executive Search and co-founded OpSource, Inc., which focused on enterprise cloud computing and managed hosting solutions.23

Piacente has a background in IT, having worked in enterprise storage and infrastructure operations prior to his recruiting career. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and is involved in mentoring security executives on various aspects of their careers, including hiring practices and personal branding.12 He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in History from the University of Delaware.2

Highlights

Aug 8 · linkedin

⚫ Hitch at the Hat ⚫ Recap and until next year…

What a fun few days of meetings, panels, podcasts, re-engaging with old friends and meeting many great new friends.

Thank you to Misha Sobolev of Aphinia for a great morning brew podcast session; Sean Martin with ITSPmagazine Podcasts for another fun and entertaining podcast session on Field CISOs, and Jason Cenamor with The CISO Society a fantastic panel podcast session with group of highly talented and successful recruiting partners. Links of the content to come out in the following days/weeks.

A big thanks to the many that sponsored and co-sponsored events that we attended; NightDragon, Team8, YL Ventures, S Ventures, Notable Capital, Cyberstarts, Cyera, Dataminr Aphinia Glilot Capital Partners, Evolution Equity Partners, C-Vision International, SVCI - Silicon Valley CISO Investments, Lucas Moody and Rinki Sethi

A special thanks to Next47 - Albert Cheng, Wikings Marcelo Machado, and Marcia Loggins for partnering with us on another great Happy Hour event Thank you to my team members for making the trip, it was a special time and I apologize for running you ragged with my schedule. 

There were some folks that I unfortunately did not get to meet up with and for that I am sorry. Also to my Tinkerer family, while I did see a number of you individually throughout the week and I truly sorry for missing the late night festivities. See you all soon. Travel safe.

#blackhat #cisos #cybersecurity #technology #riskmanagement #womeincybersecurity #hitchpartners #moderncisosearch

Jun 20 · linkedin

🔷 Guiding your CISO Advisory work 🔷

As the CISO’s scope and positioning continue to expand so will the scrutiny of the role.  As a result we hope to continue providing value in the form of advocacy for the community with new content that will help guide the CISO career trajectory. Our latest piece covers the topic of what to consider when joining a Customer and/or Venture-backed CISO Advisory council. While this activity is widely considered a positive career growth option there are inherent risks that you should be aware of which may cause harm to both your career trajectory and/or your personal brand. Please take a moment to review and consider this information. We intend to continue adding deeper content and examples for the community here. Feedback and thoughts always welcomed. 

#cisos #cios #infosec #womenincyber #advisory #careergrowth #tinkertribe #hitchpartners #moderncisosearch

Related Questions

What inspired Michael Piacente to start Hitch Partners?
How has Michael Piacente's background in IT influenced his approach to executive search?
What are some notable success stories from Hitch Partners under Michael Piacente's leadership?
How does Michael Piacente mentor security executives in hiring and personal branding?
What challenges does Michael Piacente face in the current CISO job market?
Michael Piacente
Michael Piacente, photo 1
Michael Piacente, photo 2
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Experience

Managing Partner & Cofounder at Hitch Partners (March 2017 - Present)
US CEO at The MitchelLake Group (January 2016 - December 2017), Technology Partner at Calibre One (October 2014 - January 2016), Managing Director and Founder Technology Practice at CVP Executive Sear at MTI (1995 - 1999)

Education

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in History from the University of Delaware (1991 - 1995)

Location

San Francisco Bay Area