DARE #6 - Benjamin Leroux - CMO @Advens

Sometimes you meet people who lift you up. Who make you believe there’s another way to do things. Who sweep you along with their energy.

“DARE.” is a series for optimists—for those with the courage and creativity to keep reinventing our companies and our everyday lives.

Dive into the world, strategy, and methods of the people who move the needle.

Big personalities. Grounded conversations.

Defend to move forward

A curious engineer turned strategist, Benjamin has turned security into a value driver, not a brake.

From tinkering with networks at Télécom Sud Paris to shaping the vision at Advens, his path has been guided by curiosity, clarity, and impact.

For him, cybersecurity isn’t just technical work—it’s a mission to protect and a catalyst for progress. He champions an optimistic, committed, real-world cyber approach—where teaching and meaning matter more than fear and constraints.

Benjamin embodies a simple conviction: securing is what makes innovation possible.

Benjamin, let’s start at the beginning. What drew you to cybersecurity?

My route was pretty standard: prep classes, then engineering school at Télécom Sud Paris. But what really hooked me was tinkering. It started with LAN parties with friends where we spent more time configuring the network than playing because nothing ever worked!

I ended up joining the school’s geek association that ran the dorm network. We managed everything ourselves: Linux servers, Internet access, the rise of peer-to-peer… We even had to rein in students downloading weird stuff. I learned almost more there than in class because we were facing brutally hands-on problems.

Those experiences made me realize I loved computing—but I didn’t want to be a developer. I coded, and I built websites on the side to pay the bills, but I was more drawn to admin and systems.

And I liked that security spans so many disciplines. It felt like you had to touch a bit of everything to make sure the machines didn’t take over—like in Terminator 2.

“Terminator 2” as a career trigger—that’s original!

It’s true though! 😂

I look at the internet and computing through a very human lens. The potential and benefits are huge—but so are the risks. The Skynet character really stuck with me. What happens the day the robots take control? That thought never left.

That’s what fascinates me about this field. It goes far beyond tech. It’s incredibly cross-cutting and deep. It touches every layer of the system.

So in 2004, Télécom Sud Paris (formerly the National Institute of Telecommunications) launched a pioneering Systems and Network Security track. The program was designed by someone from Cisco who brought us very concrete, business-minded topics. We heard from lots of CISOs and folks from what would become ANSSI. Practitioners telling us what life is really like in networks, IT, and cyber.

I made it my specialty and did my final internship at Sycomore, an EADS Telecom IT services unit. My topic was already IAM—digital identities.

All that, and you ended up joining the one company you didn’t want to join…

Harsh! There are worse places than Accenture…

I’m kidding. But to me they were the stereotype of the suit-and-tie firm doing SAP.

So what changed your mind?

They had a global technology practice that made me dream. “You’ll work on massive systems infrastructure, megaprojects…” It went to my head. And they had a dedicated security team that was one of the few truly international groups.

I’ll admit the rigor of the recruitment process—the bar they set—reminded me of prep school. As a good student, I found that appealing.

My first big project was putting tax returns online. Back then you needed an electronic signature, and I worked on the whole “proof management” side.

These projects were heavy on crypto: PKI, certificates… They built everything: a signature module end-to-end designed for the general public, a PKI infrastructure issuing millions of certificates during the two-month filing window, and so on.

It was technical because the filing period is short, so you have to handle a massive data surge in just a couple of months. We lived through the platform build-out. At that stage I was focused on performance testing. Only later did I move into broader cyber topics—still in the public sector. As a playground, it was huge.

That must have been exhilarating—playing at that scale!

It was! And I wasn’t old. I wasn’t even 30 and I was presenting analyses to the finance, defense, and interior ministries.

Some contacts went by “Paul Dupont” and used Yahoo addresses—because they really worked for the intelligence services.

I loved that chapter—the stakes were high, and it plunged me head-first into the world of cyber.

So why change companies?

I wanted a smaller, less political environment. And I wanted a company 100% focused on security, whereas Accenture wasn’t all-in on cyber.

So I joined a vendor whose electronic-signature component we’d used on the tax project. It was called Dictao before becoming Idemia.

The company handled transactions, digitization, IDs, e-passports, electronic signatures, and more.

It was small at the time, founded by Jacques Pampin—one of the big French entrepreneurs in certificates back then.

They quickly put me on a major security project for the Ministry of Justice—specifically the prison administration. It was fascinating to visit prisons and figure out how to secure their operations.

I did that for a while but, having just had a child, I needed to slow down. I was also itching to try being a CISO—to sit on the other side of the table and actually run things, not just consult.

So I joined Société Générale’s ALD subsidiary as CISO to secure their car and fleet leasing business. It was a great year, but then I met Alexandre, the founder of Advens.

Love at first sight?

Pretty much. We were completely aligned on our vision for cyber.

Our thesis was that cyber should create value, not be a source of friction—quite a novel stance at the time.

It was a leap into the unknown because Advens was small then—just a few dozen people split between a tiny Paris office and one in Lille.

But the fit was good, and the Northerner in me was happy to go back to Lille. I joined as a GRC consultant and later co-led the GRC practice.

So consulting has been your throughline?

It has! According to Alexandre, my superpower is explaining complicated things simply.

So client advisory—walking them through what happened, presenting conclusions—was exactly what they needed.

You’re right though: after swearing I’d never consult again, I dove back in.

This time at a company where I immediately had a blast, on every level.

How so?

First, the engagements moved much faster than at Accenture. Things rolled quickly and I got exposure to many more use cases.

Second, it was strategically fascinating. I have a strong bent for macro vision—almost more than operational detail.

That created a really strong intellectual connection with Alex. We spent tons of time discussing those topics. Keep in mind, he already had a vision in 2000 for where he wanted to take security. You had to love projecting into the future to keep up!

In the end, his aversion to public speaking pushed me toward marketing.

Since I wasn’t particularly opposed to it, I often became the one to carry the company’s messages and vision within the cyber ecosystem. We were already very active, especially in what became CESIN.

Long story short, I was an engineer who’d only ever done security consulting—and I ended up as Marketing Director.

Did the lack of marketing background hold you back?

Maybe in the sense that marketing is a craft I had to learn on the job, with limited resources. The learning curve was steep at first. But my cyber expertise was a huge asset for content creation.

We poured ourselves into events, webinars, roundtables, reports, and more—where my convictions and domain knowledge really helped. We positioned ourselves on topics nobody was discussing at the time. I’m thinking of the study on CISO stress with CESIN—it was a first back then.

Overall, we tried to be a catalyst for thinking in the ecosystem—not to sell, but to contribute sincerely.

It was incredibly beneficial for Advens and its image. It helped us broadcast our values of humility and technical excellence. As a “small provincial firm,” we tended to talk little and deliver a lot.

We had—and still have—an obsession: surprise people with the substance of our content. The market feedback has been positive so far, which is gratifying.

An ecosystem play—interesting. I imagine it also keeps you current?

Absolutely. Through monitoring and mentoring new projects, I constantly rub up against new ideas right as they emerge.

It’s essential—especially in cyber, where everything converges: technology, geopolitics, regulation, you name it. We have to continuously digest massive waves of change because we’re responsible for securing the whole chain.

It’s tough—these are deep, complex topics, so fatigue can set in. We saw it with the cloud: the sector was wary. People feared losing access to data if it wasn’t in their own data centers… but we had to adapt.

It’s the same battle with AI today. Missing the train is not an option. You have to keep engaging with new solutions.

Your enthusiasm after 20+ years is impressive. Never turned cynical?

Sometimes it is a bit demoralizing. What other industry spends its time buying add-on fixes?

Imagine applying cyber’s dynamic to cars: you buy a car but aren’t sure the brakes work or the seatbelt will hold. So on top of your car you buy an extra airbag from SentinelOne, another seatbelt from McAfee!

I prefer to see the constant challenge as a gift. We’re always learning the specifics: the regulatory shifts, new uses, org models…

All that means that after more than 20 years, I’m still having fun. Beyond the tech, these evolutions reflect much deeper technological and societal issues.

Of course, you have to make peace with being a defender. We’re like goalkeepers—if you concede, that’s it. There’s something a bit thankless about it.

Where does your optimism come from?

Beyond the intellectual richness, I find a lot of meaning in what we do. It may sound lofty, but there’s a real protective dimension—like firefighters, in a way.

And we’re not talking about airy concepts detached from reality. We’re talking about tech the entire planet uses daily—the phones in our pockets, the laptops we type on all day, my kids’ game consoles, and more.

We’re here to make sure we can all benefit from the value technology creates.

Because ultimately that’s what technology is for: opening doors and discovering new things. It helps us shed the boring and make room for the interesting.

I still remember the arrival of the internet at my high school—the first time I could chat with someone on the other side of the planet. It was wild. From northern France I was talking to a Quebecer about a band we liked. A window on the world had just opened.

And it never ends—every technological leap arrives with its own promises. So yes, there are darker sides, but also an endless stream of benefits for humanity—benefits I’m lucky to defend every day.

Inspiring. It sounds like you’re thinking about legacy, too…

Definitely. As I said, our generation had the extraordinary luck to witness the birth of the internet.

It unleashed an explosion of creativity unlike anything before. I recommend the Radio France podcast L’Histoire de la French Touch, which looks back at how computing enabled a wave of French icons and artists—Daft Punk included—and the revolution of producing music from home.

But it went much further: blogs, the first websites, online gaming… Everyone could carve out their little corner of the internet—it was incredible.

So yes, we were lucky, and I want to pass that on to the next generations.

Values seem important to you. Do Advens’ values feel like a fit?

Tailor-made!

Seriously, I’m proud to be part of the adventure for several reasons.

First, we’re a hardworking company. We get things done. We go to bat for our clients, and it pays off. We’ve been growing at over 25% a year for several years now—naturally gratifying.

Second, we’re courageous and we back our teams—and often they back the company in return. Advens is 60% employee-owned—not everyone, but between 50 and 70 people, including about ten early employees. The other 40% is held by two funds. I think it’s a bold and, above all, virtuous model.

Finally, there’s the company’s social project. All shareholders—even employee-owners like me—commit to donating part of their future gains to the Advens for People & Planet endowment fund.

That means the company’s economic performance directly benefits society.

Listening to you, everything sounds rosy. What still challenges you?

Beyond drugs and alcohol, you mean?

That would explain the optimism…

I’m kidding. A big one for me was learning to gauge my work capacity—not to overcommit. If you’re positive by nature and love what you do, you want to say yes to everything. But you risk burning out and letting your team down.

You also have to assess your ability to move projects forward when you’re not the sole owner—that’s very different. Everyone has their priorities. Not every team will be equally invested at the same moment. I had to learn to navigate that.

And I used to be a bit “pure.” I’d pursue a project for the beauty of it—for its interest and for the good of the sector—and lose sight of ROI.

Coming from outside marketing, those reflexes weren’t ingrained. I had to hone them, though I haven’t had many projects crash and burn… In the end, it works: awareness grows, business grows. With experience, you learn to trust yourself.

Any rituals or productivity hacks?

Not really, except I’m strict about time—how you manage it and how not to block teams.

Whatever I’m doing, if a teammate messages me, I try to reply immediately so they can move forward. Sometimes I’ll ask for time to think, but I try not to break momentum.

I also believe in investing time in teaching colleagues. It takes a bit longer, but if you explain the why and the how, you gain speed and impact later.

Thanks for all the actionable insights. Two final questions. A proud moment in your career?

I’m especially proud of the CISO stress study we mentioned. It had real impact and helped people finally put a finger on the problems.

I’m also attached to the evening we host around FIC. It started from a simple observation: lots of people arrived in Lille the night before and spent the evening alone at their hotels. I said, “Instead of being bored in your room, come have a beer at Advens.” It became an institution!

Today it gathers more than 120 people every year and has its regulars. People enjoy it, so they spread the word. It began with something simple: welcoming people we know and like.

Love that. And lastly, what advice would you give your ten-years-ago self?

Not to boast, but to soothe: trust yourself.

I’m driven by values and instinct. I’ve had doubts, but overall I’ve followed my gut and I’m happy with the path.

I love what I do—and as long as that’s true, I can trust myself.

Thank you, Benjamin.