Thomas Rhomberg is a natural scientist by training holding a diploma in Molecular Biology and a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Basel. After his academic research with multiple publications in peer-reviewed journals, he started his career in security & risk management in 2007, working for the Canton of Zurich, Directorate of Civil Engineering.
In his first role he specialized in the domain of emergency preparedness and critical infrastructure protection. Initially, he contributed to projects like “Nicht-polizeiliche Gefahrenabwehr UEFA Euro 2008, Host City Zürich” or multiple times to “ABC Abwehrkonzept World Economic Forum” and was one of the co-authors of the very first pandemic preparedness plan of the Canton of Zurich. During this time, he was also appointed a member of the “Fachstab KFO” collaborating with different “Blaulichtorganisationen” and leading an interdisciplinary project organisation “Gefährdungs- und Risikoanalyse Kanton Zürich – Technische Betriebe”.
In 2012, Thomas joined SIX, operator of the Swiss Financial Market Infrastructure, as Physical Security Officer and soon became also Corporate Business Continuity Manager. In 2014, he was promoted to Head Physical Security & BCM with extended responsibilities also in the Group Crisis Management team with various roles including Chief of Staff ad interim of the Group Crisis Management team of SIX.
In 2015, together with the then newly appointed CISO of SIX, he developed the first cybersecurity strategy and build up a group-wide cybersecurity program for SIX which he would run for 3 years. Thomas was then appointed Head of Department in IT Infrastructure & Operations in 2018 overseeing IT Security & Compliance Management, SOC Services, Network Security Services and Platform Security Services in a Line of Defense 1 role, with teams in Switzerland and Poland.
In 2021, Thomas joined Hilti, a renowned market leader in fastening & fire protection and power tools in the construction industry. As Chief Cyber Security Officer he is overseeing all cyber security activities globally including cybersecurity of the fast-growing software business. In this role, Thomas is owning the IT & cyber risk management process (incl. IT, OT, product/IoT security risks), the cybersecurity strategy and cybersecurity program. On the operational side, Thomas’ responsibilities encompass also cyber defense and zero trust enforcement (IAM, PAM, etc.) with engineering and security services delivery teams in Switzerland and Malaysia.
In 2024, Thomas overtook the responsibility of Head IT Governance in addition to his existing role.
Thomas is Senior Vice President, member of the senior management team of Hilti and member of the management committee of Global IT.
Thomas holds a MAS in Business Administration (2011) and a CAS in Systems Technology (2014) from University of Applied Sciences Zürich (ZHAW). Thomas is also active in the academics as part-time lecturer part-time in Cybersecurity at the ZHAW (2019-2024) and at the Hochschule St. Gallen (since 2025).

  • Opening Panel: Tech Horizon