Chief Trust Officers

Demand is growing for CTOs to help companies build strong and authentic relationships—especially in the wake of many trust-breaking actions by businesses in recent years. Many Fortune 500 companies have realized that customer trust is one of the main differentiators when customers make purchasing decisions between two businesses that have products and services that are of equal quality and price. With that said, it’s important to remember that this is a small field, and only large businesses are apt to employ CTOs—although they may hire lower-level workers who perform similar tasks. The best opportunities will go to CTOs who have considerable experience and success at high-profile companies and who have a wide range of professional expertise.

Digital trust will be an increasing area of focus for CTOs. In January 2024, the tech association ISACA surveyed more than 5,800 digital trust professionals for its 2024 State of Digital Trust report. Eighty-two percent of respondents believed that digital trust would be an even more important issue in the next five years. Respondents also believed that high levels of digital trust could lead to the following benefits: positive organizational reputation (cited by 71 percent of respondents), more reliable data for decision making (60 percent), fewer privacy breaches (60 percent), fewer cybersecurity incidents (59 percent), and stronger customer loyalty (56 percent). CTOs who have a deep understanding of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), cryptocurrency, blockchain, and AI image generators—and both their potential negative and positive effects on customer trust—will have especially strong job opportunities.