Michael Hudson, US Army

At Sungrow Americas, I lead cybersecurity and product security strategy across North America, partnering globally to ensure scalability, resilience, and regulatory alignment across distributed operations. In prior capacity, I also led enterprise IT strategy and platform modernization, driving tighter alignment between infrastructure, security, and business operations.

​

My focus is on building defensible architectures, modernizing security operations, formalizing secure SDLC and supply chain governance, and embedding Zero Trust principles across enterprise environments.

​

I work directly with executive leadership to translate cyber risk into business impact, secure strategic investment, and strengthen governance. The objective is simple: ensure security enables growth, protects critical assets, and supports long-term operational resilience.

At IBM, I partnered with Fortune 500 organizations to design and mature enterprise cybersecurity programs, including SOC modernization, Zero Trust architecture, and large-scale security transformation initiatives. I worked closely with CISOs, CIOs, and executive leadership to align security strategy with business risk, regulatory requirements, and digital transformation objectives.

​

I advised clients on security operations optimization, threat detection and response capabilities, and governance alignment across frameworks such as ISO, NIST, and SOC 2. My role focused on translating complex technical capabilities into business-aligned security strategies that improved resilience, operational efficiency, and executive visibility into cyber risk.

As the senior-most security leader reporting directly to the CEO, I led enterprise-wide IT and cybersecurity strategy, overseeing regulatory compliance, IT risk management, and vendor security governance. I modernized security operations, strengthened infrastructure resilience, and embedded security controls into core business processes, achieving 95% alignment with ISO 27001, SOC 2, and GDPR requirements.

​

Beyond compliance, I rationalized IT and security spend, reduced enterprise risk exposure, and formalized DevSecOps practices — repositioning security from a reactive control function to a strategic business enabler.

At LG&E-KU, I led SOC modernization initiatives, SIEM optimization, and incident response automation within a critical infrastructure environment. My focus was risk-based security operations, strengthening detection, response, and resilience across enterprise and operational systems.

​

I developed advanced incident response playbooks, enhanced threat intelligence integration, and improved real-time risk visibility, reducing response times and improving continuity across a highly regulated energy landscape.

At Toyota Financial Services, I designed and standardized global security architectures supporting 40+ affiliates across 50+ countries, aligning regional operations under a unified security framework. My work focused on harmonizing security controls, regulatory alignment, and enterprise IT strategy across diverse international environments.

​

I led MSSP selection and 24/7 SOC onboarding initiatives, enabling centralized monitoring, improved threat response, and reduced enterprise risk exposure. Through tool rationalization and framework standardization under the OneToyota model, I contributed to a 15% reduction in cybersecurity costs while increasing global security maturity and operational consistency.

While serving in the U.S. Army, I supported the security and operation of classified and unclassified networks for rapid deployment units, maintaining mission-critical communications and encrypted data transmissions in high-tempo environments. I was responsible for operational continuity, access control, and network integrity, ensuring sustained availability under austere and high-risk conditions.

​

This experience built a foundation in disciplined risk management, operational resilience, and secure systems execution -- principles that continue to shape my approach to enterprise cybersecurity leadership.

In this role, I supported enterprise data center operations, maintaining high availability across critical infrastructure environments. I led rack-and-stack deployments, hardware installations, and infrastructure optimization initiatives to improve system reliability and operational efficiency.

​

I also contributed to disaster recovery and backup strategy implementation, strengthening business continuity and reducing downtime risk across core systems.