Jess Vachon
HOST & CREATOR OF RIPPLE & ROOT
Kuyō · Ordained Buddhist Minister · Information Security Executive
I've spent my career doing two things most people keep in separate rooms: protecting organizations from threats they cannot always see, and sitting quietly with truths I cannot always explain.
Ripple & Root is where those two rooms finally open into each other.
My Buddhist name — Kuyō
The vast open sky of an unobstructed mind, and the warmth of the sun that illuminates without condition. It is a given name, one I live into, not one I arrived at.
"The most consequential changemakers are those who have done both — the hard external work of showing up for others, and the harder internal work of knowing why."
THE INNER WORK
Buddhism didn't arrive
gently.
It came the way most real things do, through struggle, through loss, through the kind of stillness that follows when everything else has gotten loud. What began as a search for grounding became a practice, and what became a practice became a calling.
I am an ordained Buddhist Minister through the Bright Dawn Center of Oneness Buddhism in Coarsegold, California, one of the few centers in the United States that trains and ordains lay ministers in the Zen-rooted tradition of engaged Buddhism.
The Mahāyāna principle I return to most is the bodhisattva ideal: the commitment to pursue wisdom and compassionate action for the benefit of all beings, not just oneself. It is the invisible thread running through every conversation on this show.
Keeping systems
and people — safe.
My professional life has been spent at the intersection of risk, trust, and human behavior which, as it turns out, is also a pretty good description of what Buddhism asks of you.
As a Global CISO, I've built and led InfoSec teams worldwide, navigated high-stakes governance, and championed the kind of vigilance that keeps organizations standing when everything gets uncertain. I started in network engineering and spent decades working my way into executive cybersecurity leadership the long way, which I'd recommend.
The Marines taught me that preparation is a form of love. The work has only confirmed it.
THE OUTER WORK
Leadership and awakening
are not separate paths.
I created Ripple & Root because I kept meeting people — in boardrooms, in communities, in quiet corners of conferences — whose stories deserved more than a keynote slot or a LinkedIn post.
People who had done the outer work and the inner work. Who led not from ego but from something steadier. Who set ripples in motion they will never fully see reach shore.
This show is my invitation to sit with those people. To ask the questions that don't get asked when the slides are up. To find the root beneath the ripple — and to share it with everyone who needs permission to lead differently.
WHY THIS SHOW
BACKGROUND & ROLES
Recognition · 2026
Champions in Security Award - Leadership
Presented at RSAC 2026 · Recognizing leaders whose influence extends beyond their organizations into the broader security community
Come on the show
Is your story a ripple worth sharing?
Ripple & Root is looking for guests who have done the outer work and the inner work — leaders whose lives demonstrate that how you lead matters as much as what you accomplish. If that sounds like you, I'd love to have a conversation.
🌿
Who we look for
Changemakers across sectors - executives, educators, healers, advocates — who serve something larger than themselves
🎙️
What to expect
A long-form, unhurried conversation. Questions that go deeper than your résumé. A genuinely curious host.
💧
The format
Recorded remotely or in person. 60–90 minutes. Full episode released with show notes, transcript, and social assets.