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Adam Holland leads an esteemed and innovative information security (IS) team working for a tech company, which also happens to sell hamburgers.
Holland is Wendy’s chief information security officer (CISO). The veteran leader positions information security as a key business pillar and works to implement the strategies and tools that will keep his company agile and competitive in the ever-evolving quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry. His flexible internal team offers support and has earned a reputation for performance that rivals the leading standalone digital companies operating today.
When founder Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy’s in downtown Columbus, Ohio, his motto was “Quality Is Our Recipe,” which Wendy’s still lives by today through its use of fresh, high-quality ingredients to prepare made-to-order food. Holland has adopted the same approach with his global IS team.
“We are always pushing forward to find new ways to succeed,” he says. “We have high expectations for what we deliver, just like our crew members do in our global system’s more than seven thousand restaurants.”
Leaders in the QSR industry face a vast number of challenges. Owners, operators, and executives all grapple with rising food costs, shifting consumer preferences, labor shortages, health concerns, litigation threats, and more. This reality, coupled with the increasing pace of digital transformation, makes embracing technology a business imperative.
At Wendy’s, a team of tech professionals use modern capabilities to help mitigate risk and drive cost-saving solutions. “We take what we do seriously,” Holland says. “Every company has a digital footprint, and protecting business operations is how we can maintain the loyalty and trust we’ve built with our customers, communities, franchisees, employees, suppliers, and shareholders.”
Holland has previously held top IS positions in noteworthy pharmaceutical, retail, and food service companies including Walmart and GSK. He meticulously builds mission-focused teams through personalized mentorship. The approach helps employees develop technical expertise as they advance in fulfilling careers by learning to be a leader regardless of title.
The first step in Holland’s playbook involves studying the business. “Leaders across my team must be students of the business and the industry,” he says. Effective IS practitioners need to consider current trends and customer expectations. In doing so, the department can align with the corporate strategy, deploy the right digital tools, and drive positive outcomes.
CISOs are guided by their mandate to protect and enable. For the first fourteen years of his career, Holland lived by a similar motto: to protect and serve. After working as a patrol officer with the Fort Smith, Arkansas, police department, he became a sergeant in the criminal investigations division, where he leveraged computers and technology to investigate online child exploitation and track registered sex offenders.
Holland then spent nearly a decade running teams like e-discovery and forensic services for Walmart before establishing and managing cybersecurity operations for one of GSK’s joint ventures.
The lessons Holland learned as he solved problems across various industries, countries, and cultures help him navigate past the obstacles he now faces in the QSR industry. He also draws on his breadth of experience to keep up with the rate of change.
“What you read before bed has often changed by breakfast. We are extremely active as technologists and security practitioners, and having people from unconventional backgrounds on our team helps,” he says. Deep subject matter experts with niche skills complement those nontraditional associates. This diversity of innovation yields better results and gives each team member an opportunity to consider differing viewpoints.
As a leader, Holland has adopted John C. Maxwell’s “fail fast” mentality with a twist. “Fail fast is great, but maybe ‘fail’ is the wrong word,” he says. “I prefer to take a failure, study it, and turn it into a reason to succeed instead of an excuse for why we can’t or won’t do something.”
This mentality is a fitting approach for a lifelong technologist. Holland can remember dismantling gadgets and repairing his family’s electronics as a child. The interest he discovered at an early age remains his unending passion. “The kid that enjoyed the wires and gadgets is still here having a great time discovering all of the cool things we can do to improve business operations,” he says. Holland’s enduring enthusiasm for technology continues to drive his dedication to improving the experiences of customers and employees alike.
Making an Impact
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush’s invited Wendy’s founder, Dave Thomas, to serve as an official spokesman for a national adoption initiative, as Thomas had been adopted as an infant. Two years later, Thomas launched the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Since its inception, the national nonprofit charity has found permanent homes for more than fourteen thousand children in foster care across North America.
His dedication has permeated Wendy’s employees and partners as well, who are committed to raising funds for the Foundation’s Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program, which matches overlooked children in foster care (such as teens or those with special needs) with permanent families.
This type of community involvement was a factor that attracted Adam Holland to Wendy’s. He has worked with several nonprofits and currently serves on the board of the Children & Family Advocacy Center of Benton County, which aims to empower individuals who have been affected by trauma by giving them a safe place to recover and receive coordinated care and comprehensive services. Holland’s blend of expertise in business, law enforcement, and information security enables him to provide advice and guidance on many topics including the group’s collaboration with local law enforcement agencies.
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Protiviti congratulates Adam Holland on this well-deserved accolade! It’s been our pleasure to partner with Adam and Wendy’s on various Identity & Access Management transformation initiatives over the years. Protiviti is a global consulting firm that delivers deep expertise, objective insights, a tailored approach and unparalleled collaboration (for more information, visit Protiviti.com). We’ve certainly enjoyed collaborating with you, Adam!
