Leslie Sakal is a Managing Director at BD Emerson focused on cybersecurity, enterprise risk management, and regulatory compliance. She brings over a decade of experience advising organizations across technology, financial services, education, and other regulated industries on implementing organization-wide goals and programs that align with their broader business objectives.
Leslie works with executives to set the strategy behind complex compliance programs and to keep that work anchored in business value. Her strength is translating risk into language that drives decisions at the leadership level, helping clients understand not just what a framework requires but why it matters to their business. She advises across SOC 1/2, ISO 27001, ISO 42001, CMMC, FedRAMP, NIST, and GDPR, along with enterprise privacy, data protection, and AI governance.
Earlier in her career, Leslie held growth and strategy leadership roles where she built go-to-market infrastructure, scaled revenue operations, and developed strategic partnerships in the cybersecurity and technology sectors. Prior to that, she spent nearly a decade in education, partnering with school districts to roll out district-wide initiatives. Her background in education shapes how she approaches conversations and engagements, leading with a genuine understanding of client goals and a focus on simplifying complexity and educating stakeholders so teams feel confident in the work.
