CIO & CISO Indianapolis Summit Recap

Posted on by
Reply

August 7th, 2018 – The Weston Indianapolis – Indianapolis, IN

While the overall theme of our CIO & CISO Indianapolis Summit Digital Transformation Is a Journey, Not a Destination,” the key takeaways were the significance of talent development as well as staying on top of the different types of digital deception.

Dough Lhotka, Executive Security Architect of IBM kicked off the day with the keynote focusing on the importance of moving from a reactive, fear and compliance based program, to a business focused, risk-based approach to cyber security.

We also want to thank all the speakers:

We also want to thank each of our participants on our lunch panel CIOs/CISOs as the Consummate Communicator.

  • Jeff Ton – Former CIO of Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana
  • Samantha Lofton Moss – Chief Risk & Information Governance Officer at Ice Miller LLP
  • Carl Ceresoli – CTO at Pacers Sports & Entertainment
  • Jeremy TerBush – SVP–Analytics at Wyndham Worldwide (RCI)

We are confident that our attendees created new connections with their peers, uncovered one or more new ideas that will impact their digital transformation efforts and found several new solution providers that can help your achieve your goals. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Digital Disruption Summit Recap

Posted on by
Reply

June 14th, 2018 – Apella by Alexandria – New York City, NY

While the overall theme of our Digital Disruption Summit was “Disrupt or Be Disrupted: The Digital Transformation Journey Has No Parking Lots”, the key takeaways were understanding securities role and the communication in moving forward with digital disruption and transformation.

Neil Gomes, Chief Digital Officer & SVP for Technology Innovation & Consumer Experience at Thomas Jefferson University & Jefferson Health, kicked off the day with the keynote focusing on his organization’s experience with digital disruption including the successes and struggles along the way.

We also want to thank all the speakers:

We also want to thank each of our participants on our lunch panel CIOs/CISOs as the Consummate Consumer as well as our closing panel What’s the Next Stop On the Transformation Journey?

  • Michael Gabriel – CEO Quantum Barometer and Former EVP & CIO at HBO (Moderator)
  • Stefan Ott – Group Head of New Business & Client Facing Technology at Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
  • Armughan Rafat – EVP, CTO at Advertising Specialty Institute
  • Geoff Yearack – President at RCN Technologies
  • Ibrahim Jackson – Regional Director, Head of North America at Leading Edge Forum
  • Imran Haque – Former CDO at CMA CGM

We are confident that our attendees created new connections with their peers, uncovered one or more new ideas that will impact their digital transformation efforts and found several new solution providers that can help your achieve your goals. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

CIO/CISO Seattle Summit Recap

Posted on by
Reply

June 14th, 2018 – Pan Pacific – Seattle, WA

While the overall theme of our Seattle CIO and CISO Summits was “Digital Transformation is a Journey, Not a Destination”, a key takeaway was emphasizing the leadership role in the digital transformation journey through avenues such as communications, risk assessment, economics and costs of ownership.

Luis Carlos Cruz Huertas, Enterprise Technology Innovation Architect at IBM, and Sudharma Thikkavarapu, Head of Application & Data Security at T-Mobile, kicked off the day with sessions focusing on case studies from their digital transformation journey including focuses on security best practices.

We also want to thank all the speakers:

We also want to thank each of our participants on our lunch panel – CIOs/CISOs as the Consummate Consumer

  • Michael Cockrill – Former CIO at the State of Washington (Moderator)
  • Andrew Whitaker – CISO, City of Seattle
  • Sunil Lingayat – Chief of Cyber Strategy & Technology at T-Mobile
  • Slayton Austria – VP & CIO at Valley Medical Center

We are confident that you created new connections with your peers, uncovered one or more new ideas that will impact your digital transformation efforts and found several new solution providers that can help your achieve your goals. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Sales Lessons from the Road – Pt. 4

Posted on by
Reply

Our Director of Sales, Ryland Ferguson, will be on the road working remotely for the next couple months. While on the road, he has shared some of his sales lessons along the way.

——————————————————————————————————————–

Quick update on my travels and such. Since the last update we’ve spent quite a bit of time in northern New Mexico in the high desert – which I highly recommend. Jemez National Forest was our home base for a week or so, a little north of Albuquerque (winner of most awkward spelling of a city name in the U.S.) which is an interesting area because you go from the driest of desert to pine forest in just a short drive up the mountain. From there we visited Bandolier National Monument, where the Anasazi cliff dwellers once called home and much of the original dwellings still remain in some level of preservation. I also survived driving past Los Alamos, which I’m no longer allowed to talk about (Hi there, NSA!) and saw all manner of wildlife from deer, to giant toads, to armadillos and beyond. We also stopped in Santa Fe (important to my childhood due to its prominent featuring in a song from Newsies. What? Oh like you like Newsies, too) and moved along to Northern Arizona, where we saw one of the best preserved meteor craters (over a mile wide) in the world and visited the Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert area.

This is where our sales lesson from the road comes in for today. Petrified wood is pretty astonishing when you see it in person. The area in Arizona where the park is located would have been much different back then, falling in a similar latitude to present day Costa Rica and having a similar ecosystem vs the arid desert of today. Tectonic shifts over time drove the area up both in latitude and elevation, and as the area dried out, much of what was left behind was perfectly preserved. To the unfamiliar, these petrified wood pieces are basically fallen trees that are millions upon millions of years old. When they fell in their previously marshy environment, they were buried in silt and covered from the elements. Over time the porous wood was slowly but surely replaced by the quartz, iron, and other minerals in the soil, changing their very makeup from wood to crystal and stone. As the winds and rain eroded the desert, these newly formed “rocks” emerged as they fell millions of years ago. Some pre-date the dinosaurs and yet remain visible today.

So why are we talking about old trees? I think there’s an apt analogy here about sales that you may already have a sense of in your career. In order to become something other than your average everyday self who is preoccupied with the mundanities of life and become a Super B2B Salesperson, you have to undergo a process of transformation. You have to change yourself at the molecular level (metaphorically) from the average everyday you to a business executive who has absorbed the very DNA of your company. You must believe fundamentally in your ability to help change the way your customers do business and aide them in their journey. Much the way the minerals replaced the wood, your belief in yourself and your product must go down to your very core. It is easy to forget this in the everyday of appointments and CRM systems and even in worrying about bonuses and commissions. Your customers and prospects need you to deliver a great product, but before they’ll even consider it, they need to know you believe in your product. Ask yourself today, are you the usual you on the phone? Or are you the Super B2B Salesperson you? Can the prospect on the other end sense your belief? Can they feel in your DNA how much you believe you can help them? Is the passion evident in your tone, confidence, and conviction?  Today, set aside the family stuff, the errands, the social media and all of the elements of you that can be picked up after close of business. If a prospect or client thinks you’d rather being watching Netflix, it’s because they can hear it in your voice. If you’d rather be watching Netflix, I’m sure you can find a job that lets you do that. This isn’t one of them. If the customer thinks you can help them grow their business and shorten their path to revenue, they can hear that too.

The only hitch? Like everything in B2B Sales you’ve got it harder than the trees did. You don’t have millions of years, you’ve got today. And tomorrow. Let the business sink into your very DNA and go out there and show the B2B world the new you.

Bye, ya’ll!

Ryland

CIO/CISO Detroit Summit Recap

Posted on by
Reply

May 17th, 2018 – Westin Book Cadillac – Detroit, MI

While the overall theme of our Detroit CIO and CISO Summits was “Digital Transformation is a Journey, Not a Destination”, a key takeaway was the really diving into IT and security executives roles with how to manage, handle, and store all the different types of data in a responsible manner.

Raj Singh, Chief Data & Digital Officer at DTE Energy, brought the energy in the morning with his keynote focusing on the role of the CIO (CISO) going beyond just IT and instead having a voice in other areas of the business. He also touched on the changes with data over the years and what that means for those responsible in handling this data.

We also want to thank all the speakers:

We also want to thank each of our panelists on our lunch panel – CIOs/CISOs as the Consummate Consumer

  • Coover Chinoy – Former Global Information Security Officer for General Motors
  • Michael Lindskov – Chief Security Architect at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
  • Viren Shah – CIO at Masco Cabinetry
  • John Gift – Director – Information Security at Dominos

We are confident that you created new connections with your peers, uncovered one or more new ideas that will impact your digital transformation efforts and found several new solution providers that can help your achieve your goals. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Twitter Posts:

CIO/CISO Charlotte Summit Recap

Posted on by
Reply

May 15th. 2018 – Charlotte Marriott – South Park, NC

While the overall theme of our Charlotte CIO and CISO Summits was “Digital Transformation is a Journey, Not a Destination”, a key takeaway was the really diving into what digital transformation means as well as what we need to do and what that means to continue digital transformation.

Paul Cavanaugh, Information Technology Executive, SVP, CIO, Advisory Board Member, CIO Charlotte Leadership Association, kicked off the day with his keynote focused on digital transformation and what it means today. Included in this was his five stages of the transformation journey:

  1. Denial
  2. Old School
  3. Paralysis
  4. Hybrid
  5. All-In

We also want to thank all the speakers:

We also want to thank each of our panelists on our lunch panel – CIOs/CIOs as the Consumate Communicator

  • Paul Cavnaugh – Information Technology Executive: SVP, CIO, Advisory Board Member at CIO Charlotte Leadership Association
  • Kevin McKenzie – CISO at Dollar Tree
  • Joel Lowe – CISO at Sonic Automotive
  • Victor Ventura – Global CIO at Babcock & Wilcox

We are confident that you created new connections with your peers, uncovered one or more new ideas that will impact your digital transformation efforts and found several new solution providers that can help your achieve your goals. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Sales Lessons from the Road – Pt. 3

Posted on by
Reply

Our Director of Sales, Ryland Ferguson, will be on the road working remotely for the next couple months. While on the road, he has shared some of his sales lessons along the way.

——————————————————————————————————————–

Since our last update we’ve made our way through Dallas/Fort Worth for a week that included a rodeo, lots of traffic, some visits with extended family, and horseback riding. Seriously, the traffic though – I’m a big city veteran, but only in Texas can you combine big city volume with half the population going 90 mph. Our next stop, post-Dallas, took us to west Texas and Palo Duro Canyon. If you’re not familiar, it’s the second largest canyon in the U.S. behind some Grand one, located just outside Amarillo. They say it’s hard to photograph a canyon, and that goes double if you don’t know how to photograph to begin with. The first night we were greeted by a thunderstorm with sustained winds of 50 mph and gusts up to 75 mph in the canyon floor where we were camped out. Once the weather cleared, however, the canyon was a delight to explore.

So where’s the lesson hiding this time around? In neither of those places! Surprise. As we left Palo Duro, we found ourselves quickly following I-40 west to New Mexico, which closely parallels the famous Route 66. Route 66 for those of you who may not be familiar was a legendary stretch of highway that ran from Chicago, IL to Santa Monica, CA in a long arc that crossed through the southwest and up into the plains states.  Founded in the late 1920s, the highway inspired a hit song, a television show, and was a treasured piece of Americana as travelers found their way out west. Countless businesses from hotels, motels, gas stations, roadside attractions, and tourist businesses thrived on the traffic the route drew. Starting in the 1960s and continuing into the 1970s and 1980s; however, the interstate highway system gradually replaced the famous road offering a faster route from point A to point B. Today, there is no official Route 66, though parts have been preserved and reclaimed by states. Many of those businesses closed, relocated, or struggled to hang on and survive.

While not as stark a reminder as some of the rapid declines we see in the business world today, it does serve to show how a once mighty cultural institution can be relegated to an afterthought by change and innovation. While this will be nothing new it reminded me of the importance this subject holds for our customers and for ourselves as salespeople. Enterprises are undertaking massive efforts around digital transformation because they have to in order to survive. They can no longer wait and rely upon reputation and market share to secure the next 20 years of success. Change has to come quickly. This is the driving force behind most of the conversations taking the attention of the C-Suite executives we work with every day. The same is true for our solution provider partners. Big or small, today is their best chance to succeed and they have to move quickly to become the partner of choice as these enterprises evolve. Innovation is critical here as well, as old technologies are sometimes less than a decade in before they’re replaced by something better.

And what does this mean for you, salesperson, this Friday morning? Today is all you have. You can’t wait for tomorrow. Our customers need to shorten their path to success and so do their customers. We can help with that. They can’t wait. Neither can you. And if you do wait, someone will come along and eat your lunch by Monday morning. Don’t turn into a roadside attraction that’s not on the right road because you couldn’t see the writing on the wall. Carpe Diem, or the Diem will pass you by at 75 mph on the interstate.

Bye, ya’ll!

Ryland

CIO/CISO Minneapolis Summit Recap

Posted on by
Reply

May 8th, Minneapolis Marriott City Center, Minnesota

While the overall theme of our Minneapolis CIO and CISO Summits was “Digital Transformation is a Journey, Not a Destination”, a key takeaway was the importance of understanding data – what it means and what to do with it.

Jesse Horowitz, EVP, Head of Enterprise Information Security Risk Management at Wells Fargo, kicked off the day with his keynote focused on data and answering the questions:

  • What do we need to do with it?
  • What is personal data?
  • How do we handle data properly?
  • What is the real-world impact of the digitization of that data?

Thanks to all our speakers:

We also want to thank each of our panelists on our lunch panel – CIOs/CISOs as the Consummate Communicator

  • Scott Borg – Director (CEO) and Chief Economist, US Cyber Consequences Unit
  • Vinod Bidarkoppa – SVP Technology, UnitedHealth Group
  • Mark Ruchie – CISO, Entrust Datacard Corporation
  • Tammylynne Jonas – Senior Director – IT, Couche-Tard

We are confident that you created new connections with your peers, uncovered one or more new ideas that will impact your digital transformation efforts and found several new solution providers that can help your achieve your goals. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

CIO/CISO Boston Summit Recap

Posted on by
Reply

April 26th, 2018 – Omni Parker House Boston, MA

While the overall theme of our Boston CIO and CISO Summits was “Digital Transformation is a Journey, Not a Destination”, a key takeaway was the importance of understanding digital transformation in today’s climate.

Matt Griffiths, CIO at Stanley Industrial, kicked off the day with his keynote focused on The 4th Industrial Revolution. After reviewing the previous industries and their revolutions, Griffiths covered the new technologies and the new expectations of Industry 4.0. He concluded with four key takeaways:

  1. The new world will not be built on the foundations of the old one.
  2. Be brutally self-critical of existing IT process and culture.
  3. Bi-Modal IT was a stepping stone to Intrinsic Technology Innovation.
  4. Balancing maintenance and innovation is more critical than ever.

Thanks to all our speakers:

We also want to thank each of our panelists on our lunch panel – CIOs/CISOs as the Consummate Communicator

  • Madge Meyer – Former EVP, Chief Innovation & Technology Follows at State Street Corporation
  • Matt Griffiths – CIO at Stanley Black & Decker Industrial
  • Jin Chum – Head of Cognitive Computing, IT Fellow, Fidelity Investments
  • John Campbell – CIO – Partners Continuing Care, Partners Healthcare System
  • Wendy Cofran, CIO, Natick Visiting Nurse Assocation

We are confident that you created new connections with your peers, uncovered one or more new ideas that will impact your digital transformation efforts and found several new solution providers that can help your achieve your goals. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

CIO/CISO Philadelphia Summit Recap

Posted on by
Reply

April 24, 2018 — Le Meridien Philadelphia, PA

While the overall theme of our Philadelphia CIO and CISO Summits was “Digital Transformation is a Journey, Not a Destination”, a sub theme was the value of the CISO’s input.

CISOs and security executives continually are labeled as the “Chief of No”. They have a reputation from the other teams in their organization as barriers to digital transformation because of security threats. Instead of being “Chief of No”, they want to be “Chief of let’s find a secure solution”. In addition, we discussed how digital transformation requires speed and agility. Speed requires Trust. Trust requires us to engage not only boards and other senior leaders, but also those who will be implementing the key projects that comprise the digital transformation journey. Engaging requires us to be great story tellers of WHY – “Why we need to do what needs to be done.”

Thanks to all our speakers:

We also want to thank each of our panelists on our lunch panel – CIOs/CISOs as the Consummate Consumer

  • Chiranjoy Das – CIO at Simple Tire
  • Mark Eggleston – VP, Chief Information Security & Privacy Officer at Health Partners Plan
  • Steve Hendrie – CISO at The Hershey Company
  • William Bailey – VP Information Security at Police & Fire FCU

We are confident that you created new connections with your peers, uncovered one or more new ideas that will impact your digital transformation efforts and found several new solution providers that can help your achieve your goals. We look forward to seeing you again soon.