Not Ashamed: How CISO Chris Thomas Leads with Bold, Uncompromising Faith

There is a quiet pressure in corporate America to keep faith private — to compartmentalize belief, tuck it away before walking into the boardroom, and save it for Sunday mornings. Chris Thomas, Chief Information Security Officer at Forest River Inc., has never accepted that arrangement.

For Chris, faith is not a weekend practice. It is the operating system behind every leadership decision, every career move, and every interaction with the teams he serves. And increasingly, it is something he refuses to keep quiet about — even on LinkedIn, where the world is watching.

A Faith That Took Root Early

Chris grew up in a home where faith was foundational. His family transitioned from a Catholic upbringing to a non-denominational Protestant church around his fifth-grade year, and the seeds planted in those early years eventually broke through the surface on a summer day in 1985.

"June 1st of 1985 is when I gave my life to Christ at summer camp," Chris recalls. "That's when I was baptized. That's when I realized personally how much I needed God in my life."

Like most honest accounts of a faith journey, his was not a straight line. There were stumbles. There were seasons of distance. But the pull back to Christ was persistent. In 2003, Thomas rededicated his life and was baptized again — not out of obligation, but out of conviction. It was a declaration that his walk with God was not behind him. It was just beginning in earnest.

From Chaplain's Assistant to Cybersecurity Leader

After high school, Chris pursued two passions simultaneously: ministry and military service. As a chaplain's assistant, he found a way to honor both. For a decade, he helped facilitate worship services across multiple faith traditions in the field — Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, and others — setting up sacred space in the middle of demanding circumstances.

That experience shaped something in him that no cybersecurity certification ever could: a genuine respect for people, a capacity for listening, and an instinct for serving others before serving himself. By 2008, Chris had a name for what he was becoming. "I realized early on that I was a servant leader," he says, "and I've really just tried to keep Christ at the center of everything that I do in my leadership roles."

Today, as CISO at Forest River — one of the nation's largest RV and recreational vehicle manufacturers — Chris oversees information security across a sprawling operation that produces everything from Class A motorhomes to pontoon boats to school buses. The stakes are high. The decisions are complex. And his approach to all of it begins the same way every morning: in prayer.

Faith as a Daily Practice, Not a Sunday Habit

Ask Chris how he sustains his faith in the middle of a demanding executive role, and he does not point to retreats or milestone moments. He points to rhythm.

"I try to pray every morning — that's the first thing I try to do," he explains. "Before I go into meetings, I'll typically ask God to make sure I say the right words, with the right temperament, and that I listen to people more than I speak."

That last phrase is worth sitting with. In a field like cybersecurity, where authority and decisiveness are prized, Chris has built his leadership philosophy around the discipline of listening first. He credits that directly to his faith — and to the patience God has cultivated in him over decades of walking with Christ.

He keeps both a digital Bible and a hard copy with him at all times. Not as a symbol, but as a source. "No matter where I'm at, I always have some type of Bible with me," he says simply.

Letting God Open the Right Doors

Every major career transition Thomas has made — and there have been several — has been filtered through prayer. Ambition, he will tell you, is not the enemy of faith. Misdirected ambition is.

"I've always been very ambitious in my career, but I always wanted to make sure that I didn't go where God didn't want me to go," he says. "So I've always made sure that I've prayed before I moved."

That conviction was tested and confirmed when Chris took a position at Andrews University, a faith-based institution. Before that, he had worked at secular universities where openly expressing his beliefs sometimes felt unwelcome — where faith, if it surfaced at all, could become a liability rather than an asset.

Andrews changed that. For the first time in a professional setting, Chris experienced what it felt like to lead without concealment. "When I got to Andrews University, that was a big change in how I felt about professing my faith outwardly — not just in my day to day, but also on social media and things like that."

That season unlocked something. And he has not looked back.

Romans 1:16 and the Courage to Be Known

If there is a verse that anchors Thomas's public boldness, it is Romans 1:16 — the apostle Paul's declaration that he is not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.

Chris lives that verse out loud. On LinkedIn, in leadership conversations, and in the way he carries himself with vendors and colleagues, his faith is not a background detail. It is a defining characteristic that people notice.

"I always encourage people not to be ashamed of their faith, not to hide behind it, but to profess their faith in anything that they do. It doesn't have to be a big, boisterous thing. Just — hey, Christ is my Lord and Savior — something short and simple, so that you're letting people know you're not following the world. You're following Christ."

The response he receives on social media tells him that this kind of quiet, consistent boldness matters more than people might expect. "I get a lot of comments on LinkedIn from people saying they're amazed or happy to see somebody sharing their faith when there's so much negativity out there," he shares.

He is not performing. He is not preaching. He is simply refusing to be invisible about the most important thing in his life.

A Legacy That Outlasts the Title

For all his professional accomplishments, Chris measures success by something that does not appear on any organizational chart. His children grew up in a home where Christ was central. Now they are raising their own children the same way.

"We raised our children the same way," he says, "and today they're raising their children to believe in Christ as well. That's always definitely something I believe is a positive achievement."

That is the kind of return on investment that no quarterly report can capture. It is the fruit of a life lived with integrity — in the office, in the home, and in the quiet moments before the meetings begin.

The Invitation to Step Out

For Christian professionals still weighing whether to let their faith be visible at work, Chris Thomas offers not a strategy but a posture. You do not need a platform. You do not need a title. You need the willingness to stop hiding.

Be the person in the room whose integrity is unquestioned. Pray before the meeting. Listen more than you speak. And when the moment comes, let people know — simply, honestly — who you follow.

The world has enough voices chasing influence. What it needs are leaders bold enough to point toward something greater than themselves.