Chief Trust Officer role rises as tech firms prioritise trust

Forrester has published a report examining the rise and impact of the Chief Trust Officer (CTrO) role within organisations, focusing on responsibilities and the expanding remit across security and compliance functions.

The report, titled "The Emergence of the Chief Trust Officer," identifies a growing trend within technology and B2B software companies to appoint a CTrO as part of their C-suite leadership. This role has become more prominent over the past decade due to increasing concerns from clients, partners, and regulators regarding product security, privacy, and overall organisational trustworthiness.

Origins of the CTrO

The research highlights that technology companies were the first to create the CTrO position, largely as a response to high-profile issues within the sector including bias, privacy abuses, and harassment. These incidents, the report says, have eroded trust in technology firms, prompting a need for a dedicated executive to steer trust-related initiatives.

According to Forrester, "Tech companies created the CTrO role out of necessity. Due to missteps around bias, privacy abuses, and harassment, high-tech firms have struggled to garner trust, making them the first to adopt the CTrO role."

Business impact

The report describes how trust concerns have moved beyond reputational risk and are now affecting business outcomes. In B2B software, in particular, questions over cybersecurity and data protection practices can delay or even derail potential contracts. By establishing a CTrO and a corresponding team, organisations aim to remove such obstacles and smoothen commercial progression.

Forrester highlights, "Trust became a revenue problem for B2B software companies. When a business partner's cybersecurity posture was questioned, contracts would stall. CTrOs and their teams now step in to remove these obstacles and move deals forward."

CTrO background and internal structure

The report finds that a significant number of CTrOs have backgrounds as Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs). Specifically, of the 16 CTrOs identified in the study, 11 previously held the CISO position, suggesting a natural career progression from leading information security to overseeing the wider arena of organisational trust.

Forrester notes, "Most CTrOs are former CISOs. Of the 16 CTrOs identified by Forrester, 11 were former chief information security officers (CISOs). This move elevates them from under the IT organisation to a true C-level role with CEO visibility."

The CTrO typically oversees an integrated team that merges several previously separate departments. These include enterprise information security, product security, compliance, and privacy. This combination is designed to provide a holistic approach to trust-related matters, centralising expertise and accountability within a single function.

According to the report, "The trust organisation combines several key departments. The team led by the CTrO often includes enterprise information security, product security, compliance, and privacy, which may have previously resided in other organisational silos."

Support from senior leadership

Forrester suggests that the effectiveness of a CTrO is closely tied to support from the highest levels of the organisation, particularly from the CEO. The report stresses that without direct executive backing, the CTrO risks becoming another ceremonial title with limited influence, especially when trust initiatives might conflict with other business objectives.

As the report explains, "CTrOs require direct CEO support to be effective. To avoid becoming mere title inflation, CTrOs need explicit backing from the CEO to ensure that trust initiatives are prioritised across the entire organisation, even when they conflict with other leaders' objectives."

Expert commentary

Jeff Pollard, VP principal analyst: "Security was something employees were forced to compel; trust is something they want to create. When security leaders shift to a trust-based framework, the entire organisation embraces the chance to work with them. The CISO role has its roots in tech but is now widespread. We believe the CTrO role will follow a similar path, becoming essential for complex organisations that need a single leader to accept accountability for building and maintaining trust with customers, employees, and partners."

Forrester's research concludes that the CTrO position is expected to extend beyond the technology sector and could become more common across industries where trust and transparency are increasingly valued as part of operational success.