
Boston CISO Community
Executive Summit
December 6, 2023 | The Westin Boston Seaport District
December 6, 2023
The Westin Boston Seaport District
Collaborate with your peers
Get together with Boston's top CISOs 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 CISOs today:
The AI Paradox — Balancing the Benefits and Dangers of Innovation
Empowering Resilience — Tools for Combating Stress and Burnout
Data Governance — Landmines, Pitfalls and Solutions
Boston CISO Governing Body
The Governing Body Co-Chairs shape the summit agenda, ensuring that all content is driven By CISOs, For CISOs®.
Governing Body Co-Chairs

Kevin Brown
SAIC
SVP, CISO

Javed Ikbal
Bright Horizons
VP/CISO

Tony Parrillo
Schneider Electric
VP, Enterprise IT Global Head of Security

Bobby Rao
Fresenius Medical Care
Global CISO

Holly Ridgeway
Citizens Financial Group
Chief Security Officer

Ravi Thatavarthy
Rite Aid
Vice President & Chief Information Security Officer

Michael Woodson
Sonesta
Director of Information Security and Privacy
What to Expect
Agenda
7:45am - 8:30am Registration & Breakfast
8:30am - 9:15am Keynote
Stress Management Strategies for Effective Leadership

Oluyinka Ajirotutu
Stress Management & Lifestyle Change Expert
Guest Speaker
According to the American Psychological Association, there are an unprecedented number of employees struggling with stress and mental health concerns that negatively impact their work and home life. The skill of stress management is more important than ever for leaders to motivate and support their teams effectively while sustaining personal wellbeing.
Join this interactive keynote to:
- Understand the critical role leaders play regarding stress management that can improve employee morale, retention and productivity
- Learn key strategies to reduce stress, overcome burnout and develop resilience in the face of challenges
- Develop a comprehensive stress management plan that will result in long-term wellbeing and enhanced quality of life
9:15am - 9:40am Networking Break
9:40am - 10:25am Breakout Session
Elevating Security Through Risk and Compliance
Hosted by Orca Security

Neil Carpenter
Principal Technical Evangelist
Orca Security
The cloud security landscape never stops evolving. Trying to keep pace will only get you so far. You'll need to stay ahead by highlighting risk, compliance, and collaboration strategies.
Join your C-level peers in an interactive discussion and begin:
- Navigating the challenge of prioritization between risk mitigation and compliance
- Evaluating the effectiveness of security tools in complex cloud environments
- Discovering ways to unify security and development teams
9:40am - 10:25am Breakout Session
The Evolving CISO Role – Helping the Security Community & Customers Through Crisis

Patrick Ford
Chief Information Security Officer, Americas
Schneider Electric North America

Tony Parrillo
VP, Enterprise IT Global Head of Security
Schneider Electric

Eric Hussey
CISO
Finastra
When cyber attacks happen to one company or customer it’s not just their problem to solve, the crisis also falls on the shoulders of the whole security community. With the number of attacks on cyber networks growing, it is more important than ever for businesses and customers to work together in predicting, preventing, detecting, and responding to incidents.
Join this session to learn how to:
- Collaborate better in times of crisis
- Unearth roadblocks, legal, contractual & privacy
- Understand insider threats — awareness and prevention
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
A New Vision for Identity Security
Hosted by CyberArk

David Adamczyk
VP, North America
CYBERARK

Dean Lebron
Vice President, Information Technology
Ameresco

Michael Woodson
Director of Information Security and Privacy
Sonesta

Robert Sherman
Chief Information Security Officer & Vice President, Information Technology
American Tower Corp
The number of human and machine identities seeking access to data and critical business systems has grown exponentially, in turn increasing the threat landscape and challenging traditional IAM paradigms. How do security leaders keep a pulse on tools and capabilities to assess their organization’s cybersecurity posture?
Join this boardroom to discuss:
- Managing and securing all identities
- Mitigating risks in multi-cloud and hybrid environments
- Balancing high expectations and avoiding burnout
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
Elevate Security and User Experience with Regulated Identity
Hosted by Okta

Tom Malta
Senior Principal, Industries
Okta

Matthew Wicker
Global Director of Cybersecurity
Regal Rexnord

Robert Sullivan
CISO, VP Technology Shared Services
Agero
Every digital experience starts with customer identity, whether you’re in the public sector, or selling pizza. Digital teams are trying to create the best user experience and conversions while getting the most data from their consumers and end users. Regulated identity makes it possible to improve the overall experience all while keeping the company and its customers secure.
Join this session to learn how to:
- Elevate user experience and protect sensitive customer transactions from fraud
- Make a business case for investing in the next generation of tools that have a demonstrated ROI
- Identify solutions that provide protection, detection, and response for identity-based threats.
10:25am - 11:00am 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.
11:00am - 11:45am Breakout Session
Assessing Risk— Getting Back to the Basics

Joe Burgoyne
Sr. Director, Cyber Security
GE Healthcare

Robyn Ready
Chief Information Security Officer
Ascena Retail Group

Gernette Wright
IT Security Officer
Schneider Electric

Brian McGowan
CISO
SharkNinja

Jeremiah Salamon
Information Security Officer
Choate Law Firm
The myth that companies can buy themselves out of risk is false. It doesn’t matter how much money you throw at a risk program, there is never a 100% guarantee that your company is safe from a breach. Keeping security risk to a minimum is the goal, but how do you contain risk when the playing field is constantly changing? Maybe CISOs need to look at risk management through a new/old lens.
Join this session to learn:
- Why a solid framework and effective prioritization is critical
- What is your risk tolerance and how to calibrate investments around it
- How to use risk to further discussions on future business alignment and investment
11:00am - 11:45am Breakout Session
Rising Together — Empowered CISOs, Empowering Women
Hosted by Wiz

Julie Fitton
CISO
Analog Devices

Sara Hall
CISO
Teladoc Inc

Eric Galis
CISO
Cengage
Companies with greater gender inclusivity are more profitable, more socially responsible, and provide more well-rounded perspectives. So why is it that there are so few women in the C-Suite? Today, CISOs have a great opportunity to change the narrative by becoming a sponsor and advocate for the advancement of women. Come prepared to share ideas and forge new connections that can help empower each other to make an impact in your organizations and communities.
Join this session to learn:
- Why having women in the C-Suite is so impactful?
- What is the difference between mentor and sponsor
- How CISOs play a critical role in advocating for women leaders
11:00am - 11:45am Executive Boardroom
Generative AI – The Key to Fast-Tracking Third-Party Risk Decisions
Hosted by CyberGRX

Caitlin Gruenberg
Director, Risk Solutions Engineer
CyberGRX

Paul Deluca
CISO
Infinera

Kellen Gosselin
VP & Sr. Director, Cybersecurity
Liberty Mutual
Time is critical in third-party risk decisions and security teams face a balancing act in conducting proper vendor due diligence without being perceived as the impediment to the speed of business. Data is critical to these risk conversations and the time has come to combine generative AI and third-party risk to enhance insights from third-party risk assessments and intelligence to accelerate vendor decisions.
Join this session to discuss the potential of generative AI to:
- Revolutionize the speed at which teams extract insights
- Improve efficiency, decision-making and reducing resources required for assessments and discuss a real-world use case
- Address challenges in the third-party risk lifecycle
11:00am - 11:45am Executive Boardroom
Break the Attack Chain — The Importance of Integrated Threat Protection
Hosted by Proofpoint

Aruna Sreeram
Senior Director, Product Management Information Protection
Proofpoint

Robert Guay
Director of Emerging Security Technologies
Johnson & Johnson

Lorna Koppel
Director of Information Security/CISO
Tufts University
Organizations worldwide are being faced with multistage attacks such as BEC, ransomware, and supply chain, that happen with the same basic steps in the same sequence. It’s been a decade since defenders began referring to this as the attack chain, but the attacks continue to successful with the same tactics, from phishing to Active Directory abuse to data exfiltration. So how do we finally turn the tables on adversaries, and take away what they depend across the attack chain?
Join this interactive round table as CISOs discuss:
- Understanding the evolving nature of initial compromises
- The art and science of preventing small compromises from becoming big incidents
- Reducing your team's workload by using the attack chain to prioritize controls
11:45am - 12:30pm Lunch Service
Apply to Participate
Apply to participate in the Boston CISO 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
The Westin Boston Seaport DistrictHotel Parking
Self Parking: $34.50 Daily
Valet Parking: $54 Daily
Community Program Manager
For inquiries related to this community, please reach out to your dedicated contact.