Chris Bollerud is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at AppZen, a fintech company specializing in AI-powered back-office financial automation. With a background in software engineering and over 25 years in the tech space, Chris began his journey in computer science at HP before transitioning into startups and eventually joining AppZen when it was a small 20-person team. Over the past seven years, he's helped scale the company to serve a third of the Fortune 500, moving from Director of Engineering to CISO. A unique blend of deep technical expertise and strategic leadership, Chris also holds an MBA, which he credits for sharpening his ability to align technical decisions with business objectives. At AppZen, he's leading efforts to integrate AI not just into products, but into the company’s culture and security posture.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- How AppZen uses AI to audit 100% of expense reports and prevent fraud
- The shift from traditional audit methods to machine learning-driven automation
- Chris Bollerud’s journey from software engineer to CISO
- Why matching business understanding with technical architecture is crucial
- How AppZen flags vendor fraud and email compromises before damage is done
- The importance of prompt engineering and AI literacy for future professionals
- Why generic generative AI models are often a poor fit for business use
- How security leaders can strategically apply AI for phishing defense and fraud detection
In this episode…
Chris Bollerud shares how AppZen tackles fraud in expense and invoice processes using AI-driven automation. From scanning 100% of expense reports to matching invoices against purchase orders and flagging anomalous vendor behavior, AppZen is transforming how financial compliance is handled in enterprises of all sizes. Chris explains how AI helps detect changes in payment behavior, suspicious email domains, and social engineering attempts that often slip past human review. His approach focuses on preemptively halting threats and alerting finance teams with high-confidence insights.
Chris also opens up about his unique transition from engineering to security leadership. Initially hired to lead AppZen’s engineering function, he later took on the CISO role as the company scaled. His technical roots, paired with his MBA, gave him a lens to merge architectural best practices with a business-first mindset. He emphasizes that security leadership isn't about being a "cop," but about enabling business growth through risk mitigation and strategic focus.
The conversation dives deep into AI’s role in cybersecurity and product development. Chris differentiates between generative AI and traditional machine learning, advocating for focused, lightweight models trained on specific business cases to achieve accuracy and cost-efficiency. He warns against relying solely on large generic models, citing both security risks and high operational costs. Finally, Chris points to the future, envisioning AI-powered personal safety tools for vulnerable populations, and expressing optimism about the potential for startups to drive meaningful security innovation.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Matthew Connor on LinkedIn
CyberLynx
Chris Bollerud on LinkedIn
AppZen Website
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