John Kirkwood has spent the past 16 years focusing on the field of Information Protection, Security, Compliance and Risk Management. He is currently Vice President and Global Chief Information Security Officer for Royal Ahold, a Global Fortune 200 company. Ahold is an international group of quality supermarkets based in the United States and Europe. John has established the Global Information Security Officer function and program at Ahold and is the key contact person within Ahold for information protection, security, compliance and risk management issues. John is responsible for providing leadership, establishing the strategic direction, creating policies, providing technical expertise and ensuring tactical coordination. John has been at Ahold for four years.

Prior to joining Ahold, John was Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at American Express, responsible for creating and managing the information security team of more than 175 individuals. John was responsible for creating and implementing strategies and initiatives for information protection and security across the American Express Enterprise John has also held Information Security and Operations positions at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) where he created and held the position of Director of Information Security Strategy and Architecture; Lucent Technologies, Siemens, and Merck. John has a BA in government from Harvard College.