Southern California CISO Community
Executive Summit
June 24, 2026 | The Waterfront Beach Resort
June 24, 2026
The Waterfront Beach Resort
Collaborate with your peers
Get together with Southern California'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:
Strengthening cybersecurity's position as a creator and driver of business value
Fortifying cyber resilience to ensure rapid recovery from attacks and safeguard business continuity
Streamlining access management and controls across both traditional and non-human identities
Southern California 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

Matt Crouse
Solar Turbines
CISO

Trina Ford
iHeartMedia
SVP, CISO

Nemi George
Pacific Dental Services
VP, Information Security Officer

Arthur Lessard
Universal Music Group
SVP & CISO

Diana Lovati
AEG
CISO

David Tyburski
Wynn Resorts
VP, CISO
What to Expect
Agenda
8:00am - 8:30am Registration & Breakfast
8:30am - 9:15am Keynote
What Makes an Effective CISO?
Jeremy Smith
VP, CISO
Avery Dennison
Ash Ahuja
VP, Global Role Lead & Executive Partner, Security & Risk Management
Gartner
A CISO is always busy and always alert but being busy and alert doesn’t equate to truly being effective. A cybersecurity leader must blend technical expertise, strategic vision, and strong communication skills to protect and propel an organization forward.
Join this keynote to explore measurable practices and a clear roadmap to improving your impact by:
- Benchmarking your effectiveness not just as a cybersecurity leader, but a strategic business partner
- Embedding cyber resilience into innovation and future-proofing your organization
- Communicating a strategic vision that fuels growth and stakeholder confidence
9:15am - 9:40am Networking Break
9:40am - 10:25am Breakout Session
Rethinking Security for Agentic AI — From Control to Orchestration
Hosted by Cyera
Eddie Borrero
Executive Advisor, AI & Data Strategy
Cyera
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 Breakout Session
Stop Hurting Yourself — Third-Party Risk in the Real World
Michael Brewer
CISO
Neurocrine Biosciences
Legacy third-party risk programs lean on exhaustive questionnaires that slow the business, obscure real risk, and collapse under the weight of emerging Generative AI governance demands. This talk walks through a scrappy, pragmatic approach to third-party risk and AI oversight that works with business partners instead of against them, enabling security and compliance without a formal TPRM program. It is imperfect by design, but it is readable, actionable, and aligned to how the business actually operates.
Expect key takeaways from this session to include:
- How third-party risk, Generative AI governance, and GRC can be woven together without heavyweight processes
- What a “good enough” TPRM model looks like when speed, clarity, and business enablement matter
- Practical techniques for partnering with the business to stay security- and compliance-aligned without becoming the department of no
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
Unifying Data Visibility — The AI Advantage for CISOs
Hosted by Veeam
Emilee Tellez
Field CTO
Veeam
CISOs are challenged by fragmented data landscapes, shadow IT, and the need for real-time visibility into sensitive information across different data estates including SaaS, cloud, and modern virtualization platforms. Manual discovery and governance processes can’t keep pace with today’s data sprawl, increasing risk and compliance exposure. Leveraging AI-driven data intelligence empowers CISOs to unify visibility, automate governance, and strengthen security posture.
Join this session to explore:
- Automating sensitive data discovery across environments
- Enabling continuous governance with AI insights
- Reducing risk through unified data intelligence
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
AI Security – Turning Agents into Security Allies
Hosted by Microsoft Corporation
Saira Mohammed
Chief Security Advisor
Microsoft Corporation
The dual nature of AI is here - extraordinary innovation paired with complex risks. According to recent reports, more than 29% of employees have turned to unsanctioned AI agents for work tasks and these unsecured agents lack clear visibility into what they can do, what they access, or the blast radius they introduce. CISOs must secure AI agents with the same rigor as human users, ensuring visibility, governance, and robust controls amid rapid change and resource constraints.
Join this boardroom to discuss:
- Enforcing Zero Trust principles for both human and AI identities
- Establishing continuous observability and monitoring of AI agent activity
- Implementing governance frameworks to manage access, actions, and compliance
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
Identity-Aware Resilience — Control, Recovery and Trust
Hosted by Rubrik
Identity is the fastest path to disruption as attackers misuse valid access, expanding impact before traditional controls catch up. Prevention won't hold on its own. Organizations must contain the impact of compromise, limit the blast radius, and recover to a clean, trusted state across identities, data, and critical systems.
Join this session to explore how to:
- Protect the identities that matter most to reduce business impact
- Contain identity-driven incidents quickly before they spread across systems
- Recover to a trusted state without reintroducing risk
11:10am - 11:55am Breakout Session
Breakout Session
Hosted by Cloudflare
Ramy Houssaini
Chief Cyber Solutions Officer
Cloudflare
Details coming soon.
11:10am - 11:55am Executive Boardroom
Agentic SOC — Amplifying Human Potential with AI
Hosted by Google Cloud Security
Vinod D'Souza
Office of the CISO, Head of Manufacturing and Industry
Shoaib Qazi
Chief Information Security & Technology Officer
XPO Logistics
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
Securing the Rise of AI Identities
Hosted by Saviynt
According to the International Data Corporation, the number of AI identities is expected to reach 1.3 billion in just two years. Yet many organizations don’t secure AI identities effectively, granting excessive access and relying on outdated, slow processes.
Join this session to learn how to:
- Identify gaps in agent access visibility, ownership, and governance
- Address the unique challenges of identity security in AI environments
- Build scalable identity foundations to enable innovation and efficiency
11:55am - 12:30pm Lunch Service
Apply to Participate
Apply to participate in the Southern California 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 Waterfront Beach ResortValet Parking ONLY - $17 per day / $38 overnight
A block of rooms has been reserved at the The Waterfront Beach Resort at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling 714-845-8000. Please mention SCES26 to ensure the appropriate room rate.
Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of $429 USD (plus tax) is June 1, 2026.
Community Program Manager
For inquiries related to this community, please reach out to your dedicated contact.
