
Seattle CIO Community
Executive Summit
December 5, 2024 | Grand Hyatt Seattle
December 5, 2024
Grand Hyatt Seattle
Collaborate with your peers
Get together with Seattle's top CIOs to tackle shared business challenges and critical priorities facing your role today. Participate in this one-day, local program with peer-driven topics and interactive discussions with your true C-level peers.
Join your peers to discuss the most critical issues impacting CIOs today:
Making data-driven decisions to improve business outcomes and allow for innovation
Ensuring resiliency and mitigating risk is top of mind within cybersecurity strategies
Strengthening influence and partnerships across the organization to enhance operational efficiency
Seattle CIO Governing Body
The Governing Body Co-Chairs shape the summit agenda, ensuring that all content is driven By CIOs, For CIOs®.
Governing Body Co-Chairs

Brian Abrahamson
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Chief Digital Officer & Associate Laboratory Director

Charu Jain
Alaska Airlines
Senior Vice President Merchandising & Innovation

Laurent Rotival
Cambia Health Solutions
EVP & CIO
What to Expect
Agenda
7:45am - 8:30am Registration & Breakfast
8:30am - 9:15am Keynote
PepsiCo's Secure Innovation Strategy — Empowering Talent and Driving Growth
Hosted by Tanium

Andrew Kirkland
Global CISO, SVP Information Security
PepsiCo
In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, integrating security at the earliest stages of innovation is no longer optional — it's essential. Andy Kirkland, Global CISO at PepsiCo, will discuss how his team transforms security from a late-stage checkbox into a core component of the business process. By empowering team members to act as brokers of innovation, PepsiCo not only ensures seamless collaboration between security and business units but also fosters a culture of continuous improvement and professional growth.
In this keynote, you’ll hear:
- How to embed security into the business case from the start
- Strategies for leveraging and upskilling existing talent to champion security
- The benefits of early security engagement in innovation processes
9:15am - 9:40am Networking Break
9:40am - 10:25am Breakout Session
Modern Workforce, Modern Security Strategy
Hosted by Google Chrome

Nasko Oskov
Software Engineer/Manager, Chrome Security
In the age of remote and hybrid work, employees now spend the majority of their time in the browser or in virtual meetings. The workforce is more mobile and distributed than ever before. At the same time, we are seeing an increase in cyber attacks and a higher average cost of data breaches. We must think more about protecting users right where they interface with web threats, the browser, without disrupting productivity.
Join this conversation with your peers to discuss:
- The browser's role in a business's security strategy
- Zero trust architecture
- Managing resources for cybersecurity in a time of economic uncertainty
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
Governing Generative AI in your Organization
Hosted by Elastic

Mandy Andress
CISO
Elastic

Brian Talbert
Managing Director, CISO
Alaska Airlines
Generative AI is being utilized by companies and employees alike–sometimes without permission. The normalization of this emerging technology has expanded the attack surface and left many security leaders feeling anxious and uncertain. Is generative AI worth the risk, and how should it be governed in an organization?
Join this interactive roundtable to explore:
- What to expect from the threat landscape as generative AI becomes increasingly normalized
- What adopting generative AI does to your attack surface, and if you should even allow it
- How to implement governance rules that your organization will follow
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
Applications Overload ― Strategies to Simplify, Optimize, and Mitigate
Hosted by IBM

Jennifer Fitzgerald
Director, Product Management, IT Automation
IBM

Viggo Forde
CIO and Director of IT
Snohomish County

Laurent Rotival
EVP & CIO
Cambia Health Solutions
Business today runs on an ever-growing landscape of enterprise technology across multiple cloud environments. The average enterprise uses 1,000 applications, multiple clouds, and thousands of physical assets. As generative AI improves developer productivity by almost 40%, an explosion of new applications will be created with AI embedded in the next few years. All this complexity creates operational inefficiency and exposure to vulnerabilities.
Join this session to learn about:
- Creating visibility across disparate systems to resolve the right issues at the right time
- Simplifying ecosystems to improve efficiencies and optimize costs
- Mitigate security vulnerabilities in your applications
10:25am - 11:05am Networking Break
10:30am - 10:55am Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Connect with like-minded peers in a one-on-one setting through Evanta’s Peer-to-Peer Meetings. You will be matched with peers in your community based on your shared interests and priorities.
11:05am - 11:50am Breakout Session
Navigating and Responding to the Evolving Threat Landscape — Phishing, Exploits and Credential Theft
Hosted by Google Workspace

Andy Wen
Sr. Director Product Management Workspace
Google Cloud
The threat landscape is rapidly evolving from state-sponsored adversaries to commercially-driven ransomware groups. With emerging trends in phishing, exploits and credential theft posing significant risks, organizations must stay vigilant to protect their data, especially if legacy technology is still being utilized.
Join this session to learn more about:
- The attacks patterns that adversaries typically leverage
- How decades-long architecture flaws make it hard to effectively defend
- Why it's important to adopt platforms with security in mind
11:05am - 11:50am Breakout Session
Navigating AI Implementation for Strategic Business Outcomes
Hosted by Dropbox

David Stafford
VP, Customer Experience & Success
Dropbox
As CIOs increasingly invest in AI, understanding how to leverage the technology for business growth while also mitigating risk is top of mind. In this interactive session we’ll explore key strategies and lessons learned from Dropbox’s own journey in building enterprise AI capabilities, offering insights for CIOs on how to adopt AI effectively.
Join your peers to discuss:
- Identifying useful applications for AI that align with organizational needs
- AI adoption strategies that balance immediate and long-term goals
- Proactive measures to ensure effective data access governance and protect sensitive information
11:50am - 12:35pm Lunch Service
Apply to Participate
Apply to participate in the Seattle CIO Community Executive Summit.
Gartner facilitates exclusive, C-level communities by personally qualifying and understanding the priorities, challenges and interests of each member.
Our selective approach maintains the high quality of the network and ensures top-level discussions with peers from the world’s leading organizations.
Each application will be reviewed, and once your participation is confirmed, you will have access to year-round community programs.
Location
Venue & Accommodation
Grand Hyatt SeattleValet
$68 – Overnight Guests
Hourly Guests
0 – 1 Hours = $18
1 – 2 Hours = $22
2 – 3 Hours = $25
3 – 4 Hours = $30
4 – 5 Hours = $35
5 – 6 Hours = $40
6 – 8 Hours = $58
8+ Hours = $68
Parking Spaces Available to Public: 7th and Pike Garage under Grand Hyatt. This is a public garage, not owned or operated by Hyatt
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Grand Hyatt Seattle at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling 402-935-5352. Please mention Evanta CIO and CISO Executive Summit to ensure the appropriate room rate.
Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of $189 USD (plus tax) is November 12, 2024.
Community Program Manager
For inquiries related to this community, please reach out to your dedicated contact.