Clayton Peddy

Clayton Peddy is the Chief Information Security Officer of ABBYY, a company that builds AI-powered document processing for the intelligent enterprise. ABBYY describes itself as a company that transforms enterprise processes and data with purpose-built AI solutions built on more than 35 years of industry experience.

Career path

He joined ABBYY in 2024 after more than two decades in cybersecurity, software development, architecture consulting, and digital transformation, having held security leadership roles at OutSystems and Citrix. Peddy has served as a Computer Science Industry Board Member at California State University, Chico. He is a published author and speaker in the cybersecurity and technology space.

Remit at ABBYY

As CISO, Peddy leads information security across ABBYY's products and global operations. He drives secure development lifecycle frameworks and the ABBYY Trust Center, the company's public resource on transparency, confidentiality, privacy, and ethical AI. Peddy speaks on the security, privacy, and compliance questions enterprises face as they adopt AI, and explains to customers how their data is collected, used, and stored.

Public talks and published work

Peddy has published pieces including What will define the next generation of cyber-resilience? in Intelligent CISO, Why 'buy vs build' Is the wrong question for AI strategy in ChannelPro, and commentary on AI hype and added value on the MIT Blog. In an ABBYY blog feature published August 5, 2026, Peddy described AI security work as improvisational rather than governed by an existing set of rules. Peddy said, "A lot of it is improv." He has traced his interest in security to a student experiment in which he found he could alter a library catalogue, an episode he credits with starting his habit of testing how systems can be challenged or misused. Peddy has said that combining engineering expertise with a broader view of security requires strong processes, clear communication, and helping people understand why security matters. He has also described AI as a way to remove repetitive work so that security professionals can concentrate on higher-value problems, provided teams keep learning about new capabilities, compliance requirements, and threats.