Mike was appointed Takeda’s first Chief Digital Trust Officer in April 2022, since joining as Chief Information Security Officer in August 2018. Mike is accountable to ensure Takeda meets its critically important security and trust responsibilities, as deeply embedded and as consistently as possible, in a rapidly disruptive landscape of data, digital and technology innovation across healthcare. Data and digital aspirations across life sciences present new challenges across privacy, security, ethical, and reputational risk areas. Digital Trust capabilities, platforms, and services will be expanded to reflect this critical shift in business strategy. Data, digital and cloud centricity underscores all parts of the biopharmaceutical value chain; Mike and his team are evolving to ensure the focus of protection extends to enabling and assuring Trust and Resiliency. As healthcare continues to extend data and digital products to providers, patients, donors, and other external stakeholders, the \”users\” will number in the tens of millions. Trust and reputation will be directly linked to these digital engagements. 

Prior to joining Takeda, Mike was CISO at Allergan plc and before that, VP, Information Security Assurance at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).  He has led due diligence and integration efforts for more than 50 acquisition and divesture transactions throughout his career, including four major acquisitions and one significant divestiture each valued at more than $40 billion. 

Mike was enshrined into the CSO Hall of Fame in 2021, recognized within HMG Strategy’s 2020 Global Technology Executives That Matter and 2019’s 100 Technology Executives to Watch and was awarded Information Security Executive of the Year within the Northeast region and Healthcare industry in 2020 and 2015.  He is a regular speaker, author, and expert panelist on digital trust, information risk, healthcare resiliency and cybersecurity.  Mike passionately advocates cross-industry sharing and collaboration and has served on the Board of Directors for the Health Information Security & Analysis Center (H-ISAC) since 2017.  Mike is a venture capital Board Advisor for Cyberstarts, and sits on the executive advisory boards for Okta, Armis and Palo Alto. 

Mike holds an MBA from St. Joseph’s University and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.  Mike splits his time between his home office in Cambridge, MA USA, and offices in Zurich and Tokyo. 

Mike Towers

Founder and Principal

Digital Trust Group LLC