About - Yass Partners

who are we?

Experienced partner in designing programs, crafting messaging, establishing governance and building manager and leadership competency.

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values

We appreciate your trust in us.
Our team and how we engage is grounded in strong principles and clear values.

Integrity & Trust

At the end of the day, doing the right thing matters most.

Systematic thinkers

Absent certainty, having a structure provides guardrails, we share our frameworks.

Curious observers

Every situation is different and a puzzle to be understood.

Collaborative innovators

Doing hard things together is more fun.

Judgement-free

We've been there too and learned different hard lessons, we know better than to judge.

Clear communicators

We know we need to adjust our language for our audience and we do.

People centric

You sparkle. We adapt to the authentic you and seek to have it shine.

Security & Risk bias

Innovation succeeds when we are prepared. We prioritize appropriately.

Integrity & Trust

At the end of the day, doing the right thing matters most.

Systematic thinkers

Absent certainty, having a structure provides guardrails, we share our frameworks.

Curious observers

Every situation is different and a puzzle to be understood.

Collaborative innovators

Doing hard things together is more fun.

Judgement-free

We've been there too and learned different hard lessons, we know better than to judge.

Clear communicators

We know we need to adjust our language for our audience and we do.

People centric

You sparkle. We adapt to the authentic you and seek to have it shine.

Security & Risk bias

Innovation succeeds when we are prepared. We prioritize appropriately.

Our experience enables us to adapt our engagement for each project. We align on vision and leverage our libary of frameworks to structure and accelerate execution.

Schedule a meeting

yael nagler

founder

Skilled in enterprise risk and cybersecurity domains. Distinguished at amplifying executives and navigating crises.

Why Yass Partners
I like puzzles and I love learning about different people. I founded Yass so that companies get more out of their cybersecurity programs and for CISOs to contribute more effectively to their company. Security is hard enough, navigating and aligning it to the corporation shouldn’t get in the way.

yael nagler

founder

Skilled in enterprise risk and cybersecurity domains. Distinguished at amplifying executives and navigating crises.

yael nagler

Cornell

How to do business and how to have business friends (because they're also classmates).

Priceline

You don't need to have traditional experience to get it right.

SAP Ariba

How to scale and design a platform with process.

Athur Andersen

Remember, Enron?

JP Morgan

But first, Bear Stearns in 2008

BlackRock

10 years of hyper scale, Procurement,
Finance, InfoSec, Risk.

Yass Partners

Health, Tech, Finance, Media. IPO,
Divestiture, M&A. All Security.

partners

Yass Partners are a roster of distinguished security experts.
They are experienced, innovative technical and business leaders across a diverse range of industries and companies.

We feel honored that they share in our mission of elevating the industry.
At times, our work product is stronger when we work together. Always, it’s more fun.

"the guru of tech risk”

A career technologist and CIO responsible for infrastructure, operations, cyber, risk, digital transformations and cloud migrations, Steve is equally in the weeds and leads from the front.

Measuring and managing the things that matter, consistently.

Steve

"the briefing queen”

Her threat intel background, legal degrees, and experience in both public and private sector leadership distinguishes Rhea in analyzing risk scenarios and preparedness with execs.

National Security, practically applied and accessibly communicated.

Rhea

"the veteran”

A career of getting it done. Clarke is the program and project manager we all wish we had. He is technically deep and capable, analytical predisposed and detail oriented.

Veteran of both the US Military and the Wall St banks.

Clarke

"the professor”

Actually a professor and also a practitioner. Chris has been tracking and contributing to the research and framework development of Yass Partners since 2019.

Asking the questions that enable us to uncover the key point.

Chris

"the muscle"

Experienced in scaling startups. Charlie is unflappable, forward-moving with a smile. She exemplifies the Yass energy. As the Chief of Staff, she is the magic behind the scenes.

Templates and processes just make sense.

Charlie

"the seen it - done it"

He’s either built it, operated it or fixed it. Dave is experience coupled with the humility of continuous learning.

Studying the new and aligning it with the proven.

Dave

"the what if we..."

The more complicated and interconnected the challenge, the more exciting and creative the approach. Experience leading, managing and mentoring leaders, Rich understands it’s always about the people.

Solving the puzzle and elevating the person.

Rich

"the guru of tech risk”

A career technologist and CIO responsible for infrastructure, operations, cyber, risk, digital transformations and cloud migrations, Steve is equally in the weeds and leads from the front.

Measuring and managing the things that matter, consistently.

Steve

"the briefing queen”

Her threat intel background, legal degrees, and experience in both public and private sector leadership distinguishes Rhea in analyzing risk scenarios and preparedness with execs.

National Security, practically applied and accessibly communicated.

Rhea

"the veteran”

A career of getting it done. Clarke is the program and project manager we all wish we had. He is technically deep and capable, analytical predisposed and detail oriented.

Veteran of both the US Military and the Wall St banks.

Clarke

"the professor”

Actually a professor and also a practitioner. Chris has been tracking and contributing to the research and framework development of Yass Partners since 2019.

Asking the questions that enable us to uncover the key point.

Chris

"the muscle"

Experienced in scaling startups. Charlie is unflappable, forward-moving with a smile. She exemplifies the Yass energy. As the Chief of Staff, she is the magic behind the scenes.

Templates and processes just make sense.

Charlie

"the seen it - done it"

He’s either built it, operated it or fixed it. Dave is experience coupled with the humility of continuous learning.

Studying the new and aligning it with the proven.

Dave

"the what if we..."

Solving the puzzle and elevating the person.

Rich

We share an excitement for working together and solving meaty problems.
(We also know our limits)

Ask us, we’ll tell you if it’s in our community.

Curious? contact us!

case studies

What is a common project? Glad you asked!

case studies

What is a common project? Glad you asked!

Accelerating onboarding impact: CISO with a plan

context: Experienced CISO, hired to run a newly organized tech risk function.

what: Articulated the CISO’s strategic roadmap tailored to the audience needs including cross-company, executive buy in, and board oversight. Prioritized the program and initiative list for the team to accelerate traction.

Increasing CISO executive engagement

context: CISO, 18 months in, had put the program in place technically and operationally.

what: Organized the cybersecurity messaging for the purpose of elevated governance, better executive partnership and improved risk management.

Security program maturity: to IPO

context: Bio Tech, 4 months before going public.

what: Ensure that the security program is scoped in a way that will satisfy the regulatory and press-scrutiny that follows a public offering.

Security program maturity: governance & metrics

context: Technical CISO, elevating the risk discussion with data and context.

what: Design a technology risk management governance committee and level of engagement that previously didn’t exist. Define a security metrics strategy, template and cadence.

CISO advisory: performance coach

context: Experienced, well known CISO wants a performance partner who will challenge everything- for the purpose of maturity and growth.

what: Bi-weekly sessions for 6 months, nothing is off the table. Identified opportunities to get more out of the current team. Discussed communications with business partners and identified patterns for success. Updated a personal “about me” document and updated social media presence.

"I always walk away feeling like I learned something, and that I know what I need to do."

Steve

CISO @ MGM Studios (Formerly)

"Goal achievement is a given when you work with Yass. You will achieve. What is more important is what you and your team become while you’re doing it. Their ability to help define and develop are unparalleled."

"Goal achievement is a given when you work with Yass. You will achieve. What is more important is what you and your team become while you’re doing it. Their ability to help define and develop are unparalleled."

Taylor

CISO @ Healthcare & Health Tech

"Yael helps you understand what is expected as a CISO and how to operate in "corporate." She then helps you figure out which of your skills to do more or less of to succeed."

Nico

CISO @ Lyft

"Yass Partners helped us prepare our security program strategy, governance, messaging and structure prior to our company IPO. They taught us how to do it for ourselves and gave us the tools to be successful. They understand where we are, where we're going and who we'll want to be."

"Yass Partners helped us prepare our security program strategy, governance, messaging and structure prior to our company IPO. They taught us how to do it for ourselves and gave us the tools to be successful. They understand where we are, where we're going and who we'll want to be."

Ben

CTO @ BioTech

"The Yass team just fits in with the team."

Aaron

CIO @ Walker and Dunlop