In-Person

Boston CISO Community

Executive Summit

June 10, 2026 | Boston Marriott Burlington

June 10, 2026
Boston Marriott Burlington

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:

Steering GenAI Advancements Through Practical Governance

Enhancing Access Management Across Conventional & Automated Identities

Continuously Evaluating & Enhancing Security Solutions to Address Evolving Risks

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

Julie Fitton

Analog Devices
CISO

Javed Ikbal

Bright Horizons
VP/CISO

Jasvinder Khera

John Hancock
AVP & CISO

Brian McGowan

SharkNinja
CISO

What to Expect

Interactive Sessions

Hear from CISO practitioners and thought leaders on how they're solving critical challenges impacting your role today in Keynote sessions, and join smaller, interactive discussions with your peers in Breakout and Boardroom sessions.

Community Networking

Make new connections and catch up with old friends in casual conversations during dedicated time for networking designed to better acquaint you with your Boston CISO community.

Peer-to-Peer Meetings

Connect with like-minded peers in a private, one-on-one setting through Peer-to-Peer Meetings. You will be matched with peers in your community based on your shared interests and priorities.

Agenda

June 10, 2026

8:00am - 8:30am  Registration & Breakfast

8:30am - 9:15am  Keynote

Resilient by Design — Strengthening Security as AI Transforms the Enterprise

Paul Deluca headshot

Paul Deluca

CISO

Nokia

CISOs face a dual AI mandate: enabling the business to scale AI capabilities while securing the organization against new AI‑driven risks. Externally, they must support massive data demands and embed intelligence to help teams operationalize AI effectively. Internally, rapid generative AI adoption requires strong governance, secure tooling, and focus on high‑value use cases. As attackers increasingly weaponize AI, CISOs must leverage AI strategically to keep pace, drive ROI, and strengthen resilience.

Join this keynote to learn how to:

  • Balance rapid AI adoption with the governance needed to manage organizational risk
  • Build secure, high‑performance foundations for large‑scale AI data demands
  • Strengthen security by applying AI to match the speed of evolving threats


9:15am - 9:40am  Networking Break

9:40am - 10:25am  Breakout Session

Rethinking Security for Agentic AI — From Control to Orchestration

As AI agents start acting across business environments, data becomes the true control surface. These agents require broad access to data, identities, and business processes, creating new risk patterns as sensitive data and outbound actions converge at machine speed. This is a control shift. CISOs must modernize their data approach to adopt agentic AI confidently while maintaining oversight.

Join this session to explore how to:

  • Detect emerging risk behaviors in autonomous AI
  • Build a data-centric and intent-aware security model
  • Establish the CISO as the orchestrator of scalable AI and business growth enabler

9:40am - 10:25am  Executive Boardroom

Ransomware Recovery — Beyond Backup Basics

Fred Hobbs headshot

Fred Hobbs

Global Director Cybersecurity

Hyster-Yale

Ransomware attacks are escalating in frequency and impact, exposing gaps in traditional backup and recovery strategies. CISOs must move beyond conventional approaches to ensure rapid, reliable restoration and minimize business disruption. Proactive ransomware recovery planning is critical for safeguarding operations and reputation.

Join this session to explore:

  • Designing ransomware-resilient backup architectures
  • Accelerating recovery to reduce downtime
  • Testing and validating recovery processes regularly

9:40am - 10:25am  Executive Boardroom

Proving ROI — AI Risk Reduction Strategies

Brian McGowan headshot

Brian McGowan

CISO

SharkNinja

Mick Leach headshot

Mick Leach

Field CISO

Abnormal AI

CISOs have moved beyond AI experimentation. Now, executives ask: Are 2025’s investments actually reducing risk? The challenge is how to operationalize AI against evolving threats — and prove its value.

Join this session to discuss:

  • Strategies for reducing high-risk incidents and fraud
  • Embedding AI into core security operations to reduce risk
  • Demonstrating risk reduction with actionable metrics

10:25am - 11:10am  Networking Break

10:35am - 11:00am  Peer-to-Peer Meetings

Peer-to-Peer Meetings

Connect with like-minded peers in a one-on-one setting through Peer-to-Peer Meetings. You will be matched with peers in your community based on your shared interests and priorities.

11:10am - 11:55am  Breakout Session

Securing the Agentic Workforce

As AI agents move from passive tools to active workforce members, CISOs face new governance and security challenges. The risks of rapid, autonomous action are real—but so are the opportunities for transformation. This session offers a practical, forward-looking approach to securely unlocking the value of agents.

Join this session to explore:

  • Reining in shadow agents
  • Protecting agents from malicious context
  • Protecting your business from rogue agents

11:10am - 11:55am  Executive Boardroom

Agentic SOC — Amplifying Human Potential with AI

Ryan Roobian headshot

Ryan Roobian

Global Principal Solutions Architect

Google Cloud Security

Joe Topale headshot

Joe Topale

VP & CISO, infrastructure

Intact Financial Corporation

Security Operations Centers face mounting pressure from talent shortages and escalating threats, but agentic AI offers a transformative solution by amplifying human capabilities and automating critical tasks. By embedding intelligent agents into SOC workflows, organizations can rapidly upskill teams, accelerate response, and bridge the talent gap. Join this session to explore actionable strategies for leveraging AI-driven agents to future-proof your SOC.

Join this boardroom to explore:

  • How agentic AI fills the talent gap in SOCs
  • Strategies for upskilling teams alongside agent-driven automation
  • Preparing your SOC for the coming AI transformation

11:10am - 11:55am  Executive Boardroom

Executive Boardroom Hosted by Cloudflare

 Details coming soon.

11:10am - 11:55am  Breakout Session

Identity-Aware Resilience for Business Continuity

Kavitha Mariappan headshot

Kavitha Mariappan

EVP & Chief Transformation Officer

Rubrik

As identity compromise becomes the fastest path to operational disruption, CISOs must shift from blocking every attack to limiting its impact. Compromised users, machines, and services now dictate incident severity. Building identity aware resilience requires coordinated action across security, identity, IT operations, and recovery teams to contain incident spread, restore trusted state, and maintain continuity.

In this session to explore how to:

  • Detect and contain identity driven incidents
  • Prioritize accounts, systems, and data for rapid recovery
  • Strengthen cross functional collaboration with continuity metrics

11:55am - 12:30pm  Lunch Service

12:30pm - 1:05pm  Keynote

Empowering Innovation While Strengthening Security and Control

Michael Leland headshot

Michael Leland

VP, Field CTO

Island

As browser-based and unapproved applications reshape the future of work, CISOs face growing security and compliance risks, including data leakage and policy gaps. Proactively addressing these threats with effective safeguards protects enterprise data, supports innovation, and ensures resilience in an evolving workplace.

Join this session to discuss:

  • Risks from unmanaged and shadow tools
  • Policies to safeguard sensitive data
  • Maintaining compliance and robust security controls

1:05pm - 1:30pm  Break

1:30pm - 2:15pm  Breakout Session

Breakout Session Hosted by Ping

Details coming soon.

1:30pm - 2:15pm  Breakout Session

Leadership Playbook for Identity Governance

Gianni D'Aprile headshot

Gianni D'Aprile

VP IT Security and Compliance

BJ's Wholesale Club

Robyn Ready headshot

Robyn Ready

CISO

KnitWell Group

Modern IAM strategies demand navigating a growing web of vendors, access lifecycles, and role structures—all while maintaining security and efficiency. Zero Trust further raises the bar, requiring organizations to adopt end‑to‑end identity governance that spans the workplace, workforce, and application workloads.

Join this session to:

  • Break down practical methods for deploying IAM aligned to Zero Trust principles
  • Improve role architecture, entitlement controls, and automated lifecycle workflows
  • Tackle entitlement quality and drift in constantly shifting operational environments


1:30pm - 2:15pm  Executive Boardroom

The AI Mandate — Secure Innovation. Optimize Defense

Subrata Baguli headshot

Subrata Baguli

Head of Cybersecurity

Massachusetts State Lottery Commission

Mark Thurmond headshot

Mark Thurmond

Co-Chief Executive Officer

Tenable

AI is driving rapid business innovation while equally empowering threat actors, creating a dual mandate for today’s CISOs: securely enabling AI adoption and leveraging AI to enhance their own defensive capabilities. Securing this expanding AI attack surface requires strong visibility, holistic governance, and continuous policy enforcement. At the same time, effective defense at AI speed relies on GenAI for sharper insights and agentic AI to automate operations and outpace adversaries.

Join your peers to tackle critical questions on how:

  • AI adoption must be both empowered and governed to prevent new business and security risks
  • Visibility, governance, and continuous policy enforcement form the foundation of AI risk management
  • Combining GenAI insights with agentic AI automation is essential to operate—and defend—at machine speed

1:30pm - 2:15pm  Executive Boardroom

Combating AI with AI — Defending at the Speed of the Attacker

Andrew Sentell headshot

Andrew Sentell

Sr. Director, Information Security Operations

Fastly

Adversaries aren't just faster; they are more cunning and utilize AI to craft evasive payloads and automate discovery, bypassing traditional signature-based defenses. The challenge is operationalizing AI more effectively by utilizing the latest advances in defensive automation to remain competitive.

Join this session to explore:

  • Where today’s risks truly live and how attack techniques are rapidly evolving
  • How AI is being operationalized on the defensive side, from AI-assisted detection to response
  • What is working, where the gaps are, and how organizations stay competitive in an AI-driven threat environment


2:15pm - 3:00pm  Networking Break

2:25pm - 2:50pm  Peer-to-Peer Meetings

Peer-to-Peer Meetings

Connect with like-minded peers in a one-on-one setting through Peer-to-Peer Meetings. You will be matched with peers in your community based on your shared interests and priorities.

3:00pm - 3:45pm  Executive Boardroom

From Noise to Knowledge — Using AI to Strengthen Cyber Risk and Compliance

Robert Sullivan headshot

Robert Sullivan

CISO, VP Technology Shared Services

Agero

Dean Lebron headshot

Dean Lebron

CIO

Ameresco

Erin Hamm headshot

Erin Hamm

Field Chief Data Officer

DataBee, a Comcast Company

Security and compliance leaders are under mounting pressure to deliver defensible, audit-ready decisions in real time—across expanding attack surfaces, tightening regulatory mandates, and increasingly complex control environments. With AI on the scene, it is now more critical for boards to understand not just the threats, but their potential business impact. Using context-aware AI to strengthen AI governance, improve threat detection, and generate defensible documentation for regulatory compliance helps teams stay compliant and measure security posture accurately.

In this session, you will learn: 

  • Practical steps for implementing better data strategies for continuous risk
  • What it means to strengthen AI governance with explainable, traceable decision logic & accelerate root cause analysis
  • Ways to improve risk management by translating technical terms into simple KPIs and dashboards the board can understand


3:00pm - 3:45pm  Executive Boardroom

Executive Boardroom Hosted by HITRUST

Ryan Patrick headshot

Ryan Patrick

EVP of TPRM Customer Solutions

HITRUST

 Details coming soon.

3:00pm - 3:45pm  Executive Boardroom

From Pushback to Progress—Advancing OT Security

As CISOs face mounting cyber threats to critical operations, the unique realities of securing operational technology (OT) environments are more apparent than ever. Unlike IT, OT security is complicated by legacy systems, strict uptime requirements, and the overriding goal of physical safety. Not to mention the fact that many OT leaders are skeptical of IT-driven solutions, knowing that industrial sites often have specialized configurations that can make standardization difficult and ineffective.

This roundtable brings CISOs together to tackle:

  • Overcoming cultural resistance and building trust with OT teams
  • Tailoring security practices to specialized, high-stakes OT environments
  • Making a strong case for consistent OT security investment amid tight budgets

3:45pm - 4:00pm  Networking Break

4:00pm - 4:35pm  Keynote

The Performance Paradox — Navigating Peak Performance with Mental Health in Mind

Kara Hardin headshot

Kara Hardin

Registered Psychotherapist & Founder of The Practice Lab

Guest Speaker

In high-achieving environments, the drive to succeed often comes at a quiet cost: exhaustion, disconnection, and a sense that no matter how much we accomplish, it’s never quite enough. When productivity becomes the only measure of worth, rest feels impossible—and burnout starts to look like the norm. But it doesn’t have to be.

In this keynote Kara Hardin, former lawyer, and mental health educator explores why our current approach to performance is backfiring—and what we can do instead. Through research, relatable stories, and practical tools, we’ll unpack:

  • How common ideas about time, efficiency, and productivity are quietly harming individual and collective well-being
  • Why mental health isn’t the reward for high performance—it’s the foundation
  • What leaders can do (for themselves and their teams) to build a healthier, more sustainable relationship with work

Show less... 


4:35pm - 4:45pm  Closing Comments and Prize Drawing

June 10, 2026

We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming in-person gathering

Gartner cares about the health and safety of our community. If you are feeling unwell, please refrain from attending the conference. At this time, Gartner does not have any health-related requirements in place for attendance. Should this change, we will follow up with updated guidance.

Location

Venue & Accommodation

Boston Marriott Burlington
More Information

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Boston Marriott Burlington at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling 1-888-236-2427. Please mention Boston Executive Summit to ensure the appropriate room rate.

Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of $245 USD (plus tax) is May 18, 2026.

Your Community Sponsors

Global Thought Leaders

CISO Thought Leaders

Key Sponsors

Program Sponsors

Community Program Manager

For inquiries related to this community, please reach out to your dedicated contact.

Christopher Cresci

Senior Community Program Manager

2816369329

christopher.cresci@gartner.com