Career Spotlight: Bethany Netzel of CME Group

Tell us about yourself – your name, company, title, and responsibilities?

I’m Bethany Netzel, managing director and chief resilience officer, operational resilience and global security at CME Group, which is a large exchange and clearing house for the markets. I lead the operational resilience program that includes business continuity, system resilience, crisis management, vendor risk management, operational risk and compliance management. I also head up the global security department that has program areas such as corporate investigations, executive protection, background checks, security systems processing, officer management and command center security operations.

I’m also very active in the financial services sector, focusing on security and resilience. I serve on the board of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), where I’ve had the honor of co-writing the TriSector playbook for the communications, electricity and the financial sectors, and participating in G7 planning committees on reconnection, cloud and geopolitical risks. I’m also the board chair for the ChicagoFirst regional coalition, which focuses on resilience and security planning, and I’ve co-led the Reconnection Working Group for the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council.

How did you get into the business resilience industry?

I started in disaster recovery at Progressive Insurance’s technology division. My undergraduate degree was in science – not technology or business – so it was quite a leap to pivot to a role in resilience. When I first interviewed for a role in this area, the hiring manager mentioned he was looking for someone with people skills. He then helped me learn the technical side. That was very refreshing. I’ve had some amazing mentors throughout my career, who continue to teach and expose me to different ways of thinking, as well as leadership styles. For that, I am extremely grateful.

Tell us about some of the challenges you have encountered in your career?

The biggest challenge my team and I face on a regular basis is balancing innovation and strategic growth with the requirements of being secure and resilient. When I started in this industry in the late 90s, it was very much a box checking exercise, but as the risk landscape continues to become more complex, down time and reputational risk are no longer tolerated, resilience has become a key pillar in the journey for government and businesses, so my team and I often use the guiding post of, “What is right for the company, is right for us.” That doesn’t always mean doing the easy thing – a lot of times, it’s the harder thing to do, but it’s necessary.

Have you had any mentors? Describe the effect they have had on your career.

I’ve had two mentors in my career who really stand out. Both have been my managers at different times. They’ve been impactful to me because I appreciated the way they operated, how they treated others, the ethics they had and how they stood up for what they believed in. They had extremely high expectations, but I learned the most from them and I’m grateful to have been on their teams.

What are some lessons learned you still leverage today?

I continue to pick up nuggets along my career journey. I think observing and listening, versus being the person always talking, is very important. It allows you time to read the room and hear what other people are saying. I also believe in understanding your audience and what is important to them when putting forth an idea or providing feedback. I think as you move forward in your career, you must get comfortable with ambiguity. Try not to get paralyzed if there isn’t perfect data and consider what you do know to make a decision. If you need to build-in assumptions, do it so if those assumptions change, you have flexibility in your decision.

I remember during COVID when there were so many unknowns, it was easy to get stuck. But my team, who are amazing, relied on each other to gather the information we could, provide some direction and keep moving forward with a common goal.

Most importantly, I would say be passionate about what you do and be a good person. I think treating others with respect and having a good moral compass is the best way to tackle any challenge and lead by example.

What aspects of working in this industry would you like to see change or evolve?

I would like for the importance of resilience to be understood more broadly. I think the definition and concepts get muddy when there are new risk areas identified. This can often spin up new topical areas and programs without understanding they are within the realm of resilience. In my opinion, if you have different ways of evaluating risks and responding, identifying what is critical, etc., it will not be as effective, and people will make decisions with a narrower view, versus looking at it with a wider lens.

At CME Group, I have the opportunity to speak to our board of directors quarterly about resilience and I believe that should be a topic of conversation in any company. The mission of any resilience program is to safeguard the interests of the company, employees, customers and investors. Resilience programs are identifying the risks which may be coming down the pipeline, which I believe is something all board members should hear.

What types of formal training and certifications have you pursued, and what kinds of learning and networking opportunities are you seeking to continue your professional development?

I don’t ever want to be comfortable. I’m always pushing myself to do new things. I believe if you aren’t uncomfortable every now and again, then you aren’t growing. I’m constantly thrown into situations where I experience new dynamics, a new topic or audience I may not know and sometimes it can be scary. But I always push myself to do it. My daughter says that nervousness is excitement, and you just need to flip your thinking, which I think is great advice.

What gets you excited about your career?

I feel very lucky for the experiences I’ve had, but most of all, the people I work with. My teams at CME Group include amazing people who are well rounded, push themselves, are honest with each other and work tremendously hard. It has taken us some time to achieve this dynamic and we have hired in a specific way to ensure we have the best of all worlds. I appreciate we never have “group think” and we respect each other enough to say when we don’t agree. I love when I see everyone laughing together or just teasing one another. It’s the most amazing group of people.

I’m also excited to be part of the financial services sector work. The people I work with are so passionate, smart and at the best at what they do. Everyone generally has a common goal of how we protect the sector and progress the agenda. It has been amazing to see this in action.

What advice would you give to those embarking on a career in this industry?

At the risk of sounding like a Nike ad, “Just do it!” Jump in with both feet if you are interested in resilience. New best practices and evolving risks are popping up every day, so there isn’t anyone who is an expert in everything and there is always something new to discover or plan around. I think being in the resilience industry is a mindset around understanding risk, balancing priorities and knowing how to move forward. Incidents happen all the time, even though you only hear about ones in the news.