Jim Rutt is the Chief Information Officer/CISO at the Dana Foundation. His responsibilities include providing strategic planning for information security and technology management and overseeing all back office technology operations necessary to support the Foundation. Jim is an early adopter of cutting edge cloud security solutions, having led Dana through a complete cloud transformation seven years ago. Jim has frequently spoken at peer organizations on corporate cybersecurity strategy and risk management, and also advises early stage technology companies on their business strategy to the financial and healthcare sector.

Jim is a graduate of Stetson University, where he received a B.B.A. degree. He has 26 years of technology experience (spanning financial, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors) and has been at Dana for fourteen years. Jim has presented at multiple CIO and leadership conferences and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal (among other publications) for his view on security and governance. Jim is the former President and Chairman of the Board of the Technology Affinity Group (TAG) and is Vice President and Board Director for the New York Metro Chapter of the Cloud Security Alliance, as well as a founding advisory board member of BWG Strategy LLC, a Work-Bench Venture Capital Mentor/Advisor, a venture partner at 645 Ventures, and advisor to numerous venture capital firms and tech startup companies.

Jason Shockey is the SVP, Chief Information Security Officer at Cenlar FSB. Shockey has 22 years of experience in IT and global cybersecurity operations specializing in governance, risk management, compliance, IT operations, architecture, software engineering, and incident response. Before joining Cenlar, Jason was the CISO for Cyberpoint International.

In addition to his work in the private sector, Shockey has an extensive background in leading cybersecurity efforts for the U.S. Marine Corps and partnering with the intelligence community. He directed and guided cybersecurity operations, infrastructure development, and software engineering for Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command at Ft. Meade, MD. He led national level operations for the Cyber National Mission Force at Ft. Meade, MD, and served as a special liaison to the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force. He was selected by the Commander of U.S. Cyber Command to lead high performance teams consisting of world class cyber experts, scientists, engineers and national level defensive cyber professionals to characterize risk associated with unattributed, global emerging cyber threats.

Henry is a seasoned CISO with over 20 years of expertise in information technology and cybersecurity. He had spearheaded teams at Fortune 500 companies in both the financial and pharmaceutical sectors. Known for his exceptional communication skills, Henry is a regular speaker at industry cybersecurity conferences. Currently, he serves as the CISO for Bank of Communications in New York and San Francisco, where he drives the company’s cybersecurity strategy and risk management efforts.

Patricia Voight is the CISO and Head of 1st Line Technology Risk Management at Webster Bank. Previously, she was a Managing Director at Ernst & Young LLP in the Financial Services (FS) Risk Consulting sector, and the FS Technology Risk Integrated Cybersecurity Leader for the Americas. Patricia has extensive experience serving large global, medium-size regional, and startup clients with a focus on financial, operational, and technology risk management; cybersecurity and digital transformation; organizational and technology strategies; risk remediation; process, risk, and control (PRC) frameworks; and meeting regulatory expectations. She works directly with board members and C-Suite leaders to help each organization accelerate its company’s mission and protect its purpose. She has held numerous strategic executive roles in the industry across all Three Lines of Defense.

Larissa is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Unframe, bringing over a decade of experience in driving strategic growth and partnerships in the tech sector. Previously, she held senior roles at Noname Security and Nutanix, where she led global marketing efforts and generated significant business growth. Larissa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and a Master’s degree in International Marketing, having studied at top institutions across the USA, UK, France, and Australia.

Prior to joining Zscaler, Sam served as Chief Product Officer and Chief Security Officer at Cybereason. He is a Fellow at the National Security Institute, on the Board of Trustees of the Cybersecurity Coalition, on the Board of Directors for both Rampart AI and of CyberTrust MA and is an adjunct professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology and Nichols College. Previously, Sam held leadership roles over the last 30+ years at RSA, EMC (where he was a Distinguished Engineer), Computer Associates, McAfee, Arbor/NetScout, Danaher and MicroStrategy. Sam also led RSA Labs at MIT, received the 2015 Pillar of CERIAS award at Purdue and has over 17 current patents, is a frequent contributor in the media, maintains a column on Forbes.com and was awarded the 30th Anniversary “Visionary Award” by SC Media.

Ryan Elmore is a seasoned AI and Data Science leader with over 25 years of experience specializing in data science, AI innovation, and GenAI delivery. As an SVP of Data and AI at Equal Experts, Ryan drives AI-first strategies and thought leadership, advising CxO suites on emerging technologies, AI use cases, MLOps, and data infrastructures underpinned by hands-on experience leading AI Lab teams across diverse industries. Ryan is also an AI adjunct professor, a former board member advising Private Equity firms on AI strategy, and an ex-host of a popular podcast series, “This Is AI.”

Bala Kasiviswanathan, a Mechanical Engineer, started his career at Microsoft. With an insatiable curiosity, he played a key role in building foundational projects in India. Inspired by the dynamic nature of product development, Bala embarked on journey across APAC, driving innovative initiatives along the way. He joined Apigee as a product leader, and his contributions were instrumental in the company’s growth, leading to a remarkable IPO and eventual acquisition by Google. At Google, Bala continued to make waves, spearheading the expansion of API management products and revolutionizing the Google Cloud landscape.

Next came the role of Chief Product Officer for project Tidal at X (formerly Google X), where he immersed himself in ground-breaking research. With a focus on advanced computer vision and AI, Bala tackled complex ocean problems, aiming to make a positive impact on humanity.

Currently, as Simmplr’s Chief Product and Customer Experience Officer, Bala brings his expertise to drive AI-based innovations across their product portfolio. With a genuine dedication to enhancing employee experiences, he aims to deliver outstanding solutions that empower organizations.

Kartik has been with Okta for almost 3 years, but has 15+ total years of IT experience with products and technologies such as BPM, CRM, Business Rules, AI powered decisioning, Security, Analytics, SAAS and Database.

Billtrust is a fintech accounts receivable saas provider that is used by thousands of businesses to enable demonstrable improvements in their financial operations and with their customers. As of Dec, 2022, Billtrust is a portfolio company of EQT, a leading private equity firm. As Chief Technology Officer, Joe Eng is responsible for Billtrust’s product strategy and delivery of the AR saas offering to the marketplace, while ensuring the company continues to offer a best-in-class user experience and exceed its customers’ expectations. Most recently, Joe served as Chief Information Officer for Travelclick where he drove technology innovation for the hotel solutions provider. Previously, Joe was CIO at JetBlue Airways where he led technology for the airline, including its successful customer reservation system transition. Prior to JetBlue, Joe was CIO for SWIFT, the mission critical financial services industry messaging provider. He has also held leadership positions in the telecommunications industry at Ameritech and Bellcore. Joe attended Rutgers University and New York University where he received his bachelors and masters degrees in computer science.

Jamie Knobles leads the Solutions Consulting team for Immersive Labs in North America. Initially entering the industry as a network engineer delivering managed services to data center customers, Jamie recognized the importance of adapting organizational defenses to counter cyber threats in today’s fast-evolving digital landscape, and now focuses on helping organizations build and maintain cyber resilience across the entire workforce.

Natalie is a Partner at JMAN Group, responsible for helping to shape and drive JMAN’s global delivery model and develop innovative solutions for clients to enable them to maximize the potential of data and AI in this rapidly evolving field. She brings more than 15 years’ experience in leading private, public and third sector organizations through significant periods of innovation and change, and joined JMAN after five years leading a data and AI consultancy. She is particularly passionate about the people elements of transformation, and how to help business leaders navigate the data and AI landscape and maximize its potential, as such she’s also a regular speaker for Vistage, delivering training to C-suite leaders in understanding how to create value from data and AI for their business, and has co-founded an AI accelerator programme for data leaders. She is also a non-executive of recruitment company, Generative. A recognized leader in the data field, Natalie’s been named in the Tech Women Celebration 50, the Twenty in Data and Tech 2023, and the Data IQ 100 multiple times. She takes an active role in the data community, chairing a cross-industry Data Ethics Advisory Board, chairing Women in Data’s Women’s Health work and as a member of the Mayor’s Data for London Advisory Board. Natalie’s career as a problem solver has seen her on both client and consultancy side and as part of the team rapidly scaling organizations including the London 2012 Olympics.

Stephen Gatchell is the Sr. Director of Data Advisory at BigID, where he focuses on assisting customers and partners with Data and AI strategies. He also plays a key role in developing thought leadership and influencing product development at BigID.

Stephen’s contributions extend beyond his company role; he is active in industry standard councils, supports innovation organizations aimed at entrepreneurs, and is involved in academia through guest lectures and curriculum contributions.

Previously, he has formulated data strategies for major companies like EMC, Dell, and Bose, secured a patent in Hierarchical Value-based Governance Architecture, and received multiple awards in governance.

Nirmal Ranganathan is the VP and Distinguished Architect at Rackspace and is responsible for AI Engineering technology strategy, and roadmap for Rackspace’s FAIR solutions portfolio.  Nirmal leads FAIR (Foundry for Generative AI by Rackspace), a practice dedicated to accelerating the secure, responsible, and sustainable adoption of generative AI solutions across industries.  Nirmal has worked with data over the past 2 decades, solving distributed systems challenges dealing with large volumes of data, being a customer advocate and helping customers solve their data challenges.

As Vice President of Information Technology, Carol Dann is a seasoned technologist who truly understands how business strategy and tactics drive purposeful technology solutions. Along with her technology role, Carol is a member of the NHL Innovation Team, working with NHL’s largest partners to introduce state of the art in-game technology. She is instrumental in driving digital transformation on a wide variety of projects of varying scope, including the team selection software for the NHL Draft. Previously, Carol was responsible for mobile operations, which included launching the first-ever global mobile platform for the delivery of all NHL content to mobile devices. Prior to joining the NHL in 2000, Carol served as a Consulting Manager at Binary Tree, Inc. where she managed, designed, and built cutting-edge solutions for clients and organizations including the National Hockey League, Ogilvy & Mather and BNP Paribas Bank. She also worked as a Senior Manager in Direct Marketing at American Express from 1993-98. Carol holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rochester. She is a founding member and has served as the Co-President of the NHL Women Employee Resource Group.

Michael Williamson is a distinguished IT leader with over two decades of experience orchestrating digital transformation in complex, global environments. Renowned for his strategic vision and hands-on approach, Michael has led transformative initiatives that have redefined how organizations operate, driving significant improvements in efficiency, innovation, and resilience. His expertise in aligning technology with business strategy has empowered teams to navigate change seamlessly, delivering measurable outcomes that resonate across the enterprise. Combining deep technical knowledge with a nuanced understanding of organizational dynamics, Michael is a thought leader in the IT space, dedicated to helping organizations thrive in today’s rapidly evolving landscape.