By bringing together the top 80 Executives in the region, we will discuss the most pressing Technology and Leadership challenges we face in an ever-evolving corporate landscape.
Over the next two and a half days, we will nurture meaningful relationships and tackle the challenges inherent to IT in a smaller, more dynamic setting. You will learn from your peers through various workshops, panels, roundtables and presentations. Our closed-door policy fosters an environment where all discussions are confined within the Forum walls, enabling more genuine and engaged conversations.
Learn about the latest and most innovative technologies that can bridge some of your organizational gaps through qualified one-on-one engagements, scheduled strategically throughout the Forum and selected by you, based on your most pressing needs.
Build new relationships and nurture existing ones, share in your successes and commiserate in the challenges that we all face as IT Leaders.
Join us for the TOLA IT & Security Leaders Forum and leave ready to inspire action within your Organization!
Forum Agenda
Agenda may be subject to change. Click on each day to view full agenda
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM CT
FORUM REGISTRATION & APP DEMONSTRATION
Get familiar with SINC Staff and the event layout. Secure your complimentary Swag Bag and learn how to use the Onsite Application for Peer Engagement and win great prizes!
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM CT
SINC WELCOME NETWORKING RECEPTION
Engage your Peers over canapes and cocktails
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM CT
SINC NETWORKING & ENGAGEMENT DINNER
7:30 AM - 8:25 AM CT
SINC IT LEADERS NETWORKING BREAKFAST
Full breakfast and lots of coffee available!
8:30 AM - 8:35 AM CT
SINC OPENING REMARKS
A Thank You from SINC – setting the tone for a great day!
8:35 AM - 9:25 AM CT
PANEL - Enabling the Institution for the Digital Economy: Key Future Trends
As the digital economy continues to expand, institutions must adapt to remain competitive and relevant. This session will explore the key trends shaping the future of the digital economy and how institutions can effectively enable their digital transformation. Topics will include advancements in digital infrastructure, the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning, the importance of data analytics, and the shift towards digital-first business models. Experts will discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by these trends, providing practical insights on how institutions can leverage technology to enhance efficiency, innovation, and customer engagement. Attendees will gain a comprehensive understanding of the strategic steps necessary to thrive in the digital economy.
Moderator: Rob Strickland, Interim CIO, Infovista
Panelists:
Marlon Shears, Chief Information Officer, IDEA Public Schools
George Kanyotu, AVP Global Infrastructure Services, General Motors Financial
Chakrapani Maturi, Vice President, Technology Services, AIG
9:35 AM - 10:05 AM CT
PRESENTATION - Navigating the Evolution of Cybersecurity: AI's Role in Securing Your Infrastructure from Past to Future
In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, staying ahead of threats is imperative. As we reflect on the past, embrace the present, and prepare for the future, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into security infrastructure has emerged as a disruptive technology in safeguarding digital assets. Join us at this exclusive event led by Trend Micro as we delve into the dynamic journey of AI’s impact on cybersecurity. From historical insights to current advancements and future projections, discover how AI is reshaping the defense mechanisms against cyber threats, fortifying your infrastructure, and empowering organizations to navigate the digital frontier with confidence.
Presented by: Trend Micro
10:15 AM - 10:45 AM CT
WORKSHOP - A New Paradigm for Managing Third-Party Risk
In the past 12 months, 87% of F1000 businesses were affected by significant cyber incidents as a result of a third-party. And yet, most rely on ‘snapshot in time’ questionnaires. While necessary, snapshots are insufficient by themselves, and must be augmented with continuous monitoring in support of ongoing security operations. This requires a different approach, that includes external threat detection capabilities by using AI across Public Data.
- The Public Data opportunity: collect, process, alert across multiple languages / modalities
- Real-time external threat detection on a rapidly evolving threat landscape
- The most advanced AI techniques for automating the collection, processing, delivery, and initial analysis of millions of public data sources
Presented by: Dataminr
10:45 AM - 11:00 AM CT
SINC NETWORKING & REFRESHMENT BREAK
Circle back with your Peers on the content so far while grabbing a coffee or tea and a snack
11:05 AM - 11:45 AM CT
PRESENTATION - From Basic Defense to Orchestrated Resilience: Maturing Ransomware Recovery for Measurable Business Outcomes
Ransomware continues to evolve, with threat actors leveraging increasingly sophisticated tactics to disrupt operations and maximize impact. This presentation explores how organizations can mature their ransomware recovery capabilities, transitioning from basic protection to a predictable, orchestrated recovery and incident response. Drawing on current threat actor trends, we will outline a strategic roadmap to enhance resilience, reduce operational disruption, and accelerate recovery times. Attendees will gain insights into actionable steps and metrics that deliver measurable business outcomes, ensuring continuity and confidence in the face of evolving cyber threats.
Speaker: Aaron Murphy, Field CTO, Veeam Software
Presented by: Veeam Software
11:55 AM - 12:25 PM CT
WORKSHOP - Empowering Organizations to Safely Implement Changes and Efficiently Mitigate Risks
We understand that there is a need for a new approach that transforms how IT and Security teams identify and execute changes safely – at scale, with confidence, and in real-time.
In this session you’ll learn how Tanium’s Autonomous Endpoint Management (AEM) platform can help streamline and secure your IT operations. Tanium’s next evolution of converged endpoint management platform leverages real-time AI derived recommendations to drive faster, better decision making that will improve an organizations security posture and accelerates risk mitigation by proactively managing vulnerabilities and incidents.
Join us as we dig deeper into the next evolution of endpoint management and security solutions. Learn how organizations can:
- Take advantage of Confidence Scores to predict the impact of endpoint changes in real time.
- Scale and extend the value of precious expertise by capturing and designing dynamic, reusable automations that span IT and security operations use cases.
- Minimize disruptions by rolling out endpoint changes in a way that matches the rhythm of the business.
Speaker: Mo Patel, RVP, Technical Account Management, Tanium
Presented by: Tanium
12:25 PM - 1:15 PM CT
SINC NETWORKING LUNCH
Open seating, Buffet-style lunch. Serving food for all tastes, palates, and preferences. Vegan, vegetarian, halal options available
1:30 PM - 2:20 PM CT
PANEL - The CIO's Role in the Future of Work
As organizations adapt to technological advancements, remote collaboration tools, and changing workforce dynamics, the CIO emerges as a key strategist, orchestrating digital transformation initiatives and ensuring seamless integration of technology into the fabric of the modern workplace. This Panel will discuss how CIOs can drive innovation, enhance cybersecurity measures, and foster a flexible and inclusive work environment to meet the challenges and opportunities presented by the future of work.
Moderator: Ross Tucker, CIO, Texas United Corporation
Panelists:
Jeff Green, Chief Information Officer, Strike
Dan Durkin, Managing Director of Technology, YES Prep Public School
Cynthia Dixon, Sr. IT Director, PepsiCo Inc
Scott Shultz, SVP, Infrastructure & TechOps, Exeter Finance
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM CT
PRESENTATION - Using AI to Enhance Customer and Employee Journeys
In today’s dynamic business environment, companies face the imperative of delivering instant answers and assistance to customers engaging with digital channels. This informative discussion addresses the vital elements needed to produce tangible results to meet this demand. While AI tools and smart agents can minimize human intervention, professionals across sales, marketing, and customer service must navigate customer interactions and team collaboration in new ways. In this chat we will address the challenges to be aware of in the strategic deployment of these technologies and steps to take to ensure they deliver expected value.
Presented by: RingCentral
3:10 PM - 3:40 PM CT
WORKSHOP - Building Resilient SaaS Security: Actionable Strategies to Emerging Threats
As organizations increasingly rely on SaaS applications, the risks associated with misconfigurations and emerging threats continue to rise. This session will explore how advanced SaaS security solutions provide the visibility, detection capabilities, and response tools needed to identify vulnerabilities, secure configurations, and mitigate threats in real-time. Discover tactical solutions to strengthen your SaaS security posture, protect critical data, and reduce risk in your cloud environment.
Speaker: Allan Jes Kristensen, Chief Customer Officer, AppOmni
Presented by: AppOmni
3:40 PM - 3:55 PM CT
SINC NETWORKING & REFRESHMENT BREAK
Circle back with your Peers on the content so far while grabbing a coffee and a snack
4:00 PM - 4:30 PM CT
WORKSHOP - Unlock Next-level AIOps, ITSM and FinOps with Next Generation AI
The hype around generative AI is only the beginning. This game-changing technology is poised to disrupt high-tech industries. But with new AI tools popping up every day, choosing the wrong one can have profound effects on a company’s security, customer satisfaction, and productivity.
As a trusted partner, OpenText is pioneering the era of new possibilities where generative AI complements human creativity to become tomorrow’s solutions across AIOps, ITSM and FinOps.
In our talk, we will cover how OpenText AI and automation:
- Improve reliability of IT services with Observability and AIOps
- Improve the user experience with a GenAI virtual agent
- Reduce cloud costs and carbon with FinOps and GreenOps
Presented by: OpenText
4:35 PM - 5:05 PM CT
WORKSHOP - Hiring and Retaining top IT & Security Talent
While the pool of talented cybersecurity professionals is increasing daily, there is still a shortage of cybersecurity professionals to go around. This sessions will dicuss how your organization can stand out from the crowd and attract the best. The session will cover the following topics: – How being an active CISO and Thought Leader is the best marketing for new talent – Creative ways to compete and assets that are important outside of salary – Increase training and access to non-cybersecurity experts that are already excelling at your company and how to determine that talent you already have in house.
Speaker: Heather Phelps Director IT & Information Security, Ribbon Communications
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM CT
SINC NETWORKING RECEPTION
Engage your Peers over canapés and cocktails
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM CT
SINC NETWORKING & ENGAGEMENT DINNER
8:00 AM - 8:50 AM CT
SINC IT LEADERS NETWORKING BREAKFAST
Full Breakfast and lots of coffee available!
9:00 AM - 9:50 AM CT
CISO PANEL - The Rapidly Evolving Threat Landscape
Aggressive attacks on Enterprise computer networks are continuing with increased frequency and threatening economic and national security. Actions like vulnerability reduction and passive defenses on their own simply are not cutting it and there needs to be a functional shift in the way we mitigate this substantial threat. Companies can seek to protect their most sensitive data by implementing an environment of actionable intelligence and detection to bring the fight to the adversaries and ensure a proactive approach to securing data. This session will discuss best practices in managing the constant evolution in the security environment.
Moderator: Ray Texter, CISO, Texas United Corporation
Panelists:
Billy Sainz, CISO, Citizens Medical Center
Wei Dong, VP, CISO, Michaels Stores
Damian Mobley, CTO, Immunotec Research Inc
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM CT
WORKSHOP - Transforming DevSecOps: Innovation in AI-Powered Observability and Security
In this session, explore cutting-edge strategies for modernizing infrastructure and applications. In this discussion, we delve into the intersection of AI-powered observability security, emphasizing how organizations can enhance their operations, ensure data protection, and comply with regulations. We will discuss the transformative potential of AI, including Generative AI, in boosting overall productivity.
Speaker: Asad Ali, VP, Center of Excellence, Dynatrace
Presented by: Dynatrace
10:30 AM - 10:45 AM CT
SINC NETWORKING & REFRESHMENT BREAK
Circle back with your Peers on the content so far while grabbing a coffee and a snack
10:50 AM - 11:20 AM CT
WORKSHOP - From On-Prem to the Cloud: Protect Your Apps and APIs
The result of digital transformation: It’s easier to do business with your customers and partners. But with new architectures, web apps and APIs now deployed from on-prem servers to the cloud, it is harder than ever to get a holistic view of all of these potentially vulnerable assets – never mind defend them.
What are your biggest challenges today in defending these diverse assets? What are the known gaps in your current defenses? What are you seeking in the future to defend your apps and APIs?
Topics covered will include:
- How are adversaries preying upon unprotected web apps and APIs?
- How are traditional web application firewalls deployed, and what are they missing?
- What does the future look like with unified web app and API security solutions?
Speaker: Ad Ghauri, Director Enterprise Architecture, Former Baker Hughes
11:30 AM - 12:00 PM CT
WORKSHOP - Maximizing Value Vs Minimizing Cost - Building a more Valuable IT Department
To meet the speed and agility demands of digital business, CIOs are transforming their IT departments and shifting a growing share of IT work from projects to products. At the same time, growth in business-led IT has expanded the span of employees across the enterprise who are responsible for technology initiatives.
This session will explore a cost management model and discuss how evolving IT cost management efforts to focus on value over pure cost will reduce (and even eliminate) reactive calls to cut IT costs. This session will provide a model and tactics to elevate the maturity of IT to focus on value over costs, while still meeting the business directives.
Speaker: Dan Durkin, Managing Director of Technology, YES Prep Public School
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT
SINC NETWORKING LUNCH
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platinum
Trend Micro
TrendMicro, a global cybersecurity leader, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fueled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend’s AI-powered cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organizations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. As a leader in enterprise cybersecurity, Trend’s platform delivers a powerful range of advanced threat defense techniques optimized for environments like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, and central visibility for better, faster detection and response. With 7,000 employees across 70 countries, Trend enables organizations to simplify and secure their connected world.
Learn More
platinum
Veeam Software
Veeam® is the leader in backup, recovery and data management solutions that deliver Modern Data Protection. They provide a single platform for cloud, virtual, physical, SaaS and Kubernetes environments. Their customers are confident their apps and data are protected and always available with the most simple, flexible, reliable and powerful platform in the industry.
Learn More
platinum
RingCentral
RingCentral is a global leader in AI-powered trusted business communications, contact center, revenue intelligence, video and hybrid event solutions. RingCentral empowers businesses with conversation intelligence and unlocks rich customer and employee interactions to provide insights and improved business outcomes. With decades of expertise in reliable and secure cloud communications, RingCentral has earned the trust of hundreds of thousands of customers and millions of users worldwide.
Learn MoreCentral Executive Advisory Council

Lucy Mariappa
2023 CIO of the Year

Radhika Murudeshwar
Director Enterprise Architecture - Clinical
UnitedHealth Group

Ross Tucker
CIO
Texas United Management Corporation

Dana Prochaska
Executive Security Advisor / vCISO
Freelance

Jeff Baker
CIO
NB Business Solutions

Rusty Kennington
CIO
Henry Company

Sudhakar Virupakshi
CIO
Buckeye Partners

Robert Pace
CISO
Invitation Homes

Shivani Agarwal
Head of IT
McLane Company

Tod Huber
CTO
Milwaukee County

Bhadresh Patel
Chief Technology Officer