In-Person

Washington, DC CISO Community

Executive Summit

May 12, 2026 | Washington Marriott Metro Center

May 12, 2026
Washington Marriott Metro Center

Collaborate with your peers

Get together with Washington, DC'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:

Building Cyber Resilience to Safeguard Growth and Continuity

Leading with Innovation to Drive Security and Enterprise Agility

Accelerating Secure Digital Transformation to Unlock AI Potential

Washington, DC 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

Ryan Boulais

Bunge
Global Chief Information Security Officer

Massimo Favro

NVR
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 Washington, DC 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

May 12, 2026

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

8:30am - 9:15am  Gartner Keynote

Empowering People Leaders in the AI Era

Alvaro Mello headshot

Alvaro Mello

VP, Advisory

Gartner

Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping the leadership landscape, pushing people leaders to move beyond conventional models and embrace a new set of competencies. In today’s rapidly evolving environment, success hinges on blending AI-driven insights with emotional intelligence and self-awareness. Developing leaders who are both digitally fluent and deeply attuned to themselves is essential for driving sustainable, long-term growth.

Join Alvaro Mello, VP, Advisory at Gartner, to explore:

  • Cultivating self-awareness for authentic, high-impact leadership
  • Adapting leadership strategies to thrive amid technological disruption
  • Embedding AI fluency into leadership development for future readiness

9:15am - 9:40am  Networking Break

9:40am - 10:25am  Breakout Session

Securing the Rise of AI Identities

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

9:40am - 10:25am  Executive Boardroom

Executive Boardroom Hosted by Cloudflare

Craig Strubhart headshot

Craig Strubhart

Sr. Director, Threat Detection and Response

Cloudflare

 Details coming soon.

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

Breakout Session Presented by Palo Alto Networks

 Details coming soon.

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

Rethinking Security for Agentic AI — From Control to Orchestration

Rob Preta headshot

Rob Preta

Data Security & AI Governance Officer

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 discuss 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

11:10am - 11:55am  Executive Boardroom

Traditional ERP is Dead — What's Next?

James Henderson headshot

James Henderson

Regional CTO, North America East

Rimini Street

Agentic AI is transforming work and prompting leaders to rethink traditional suites and modernization strategies. This boardroom will examine how agentic AI is unbundling ERP responsibilities, reshaping process orchestration and enabling smarter service layers.

Join fellow CIOs to explore:

• The rise of service layers, workflow engines and AI agents

• What’s replacing monolithic ERP models

• Key assumptions to challenge when evaluating vendor roadmaps

11:55am - 12:30pm  Lunch Service

12:30pm - 1:05pm  Keynote

Driving Innovation with Unified Governance and Security

As browser-based and unapproved tools reshape the future of work, CIOs and CISOs must enable innovation while maintaining governance, security, and compliance. The rise of “Shadow AI” demands unified strategies and collaboration to ensure visibility, control, and agility, keeping organizations resilient and adaptable.

Join this session to discuss:

  • Operational, risk, and compliance impacts
  • Unified policies for responsible enablement
  • Collaboration for visibility, control, and agility

1:05pm - 1:30pm  Break

1:30pm - 2:15pm  Breakout Session

Cloud Network Security Meets Zero Trust Architecture

Chris McHenry headshot

Chris McHenry

Chief Product Officer

Aviatrix

As enterprises expand cloud use, CISOs must reduce risk, ensure resilience, and maintain compliance. Zero Trust in the cloud goes beyond identity — it hinges on segmentation, continuous visibility, and policy enforcement across multi-cloud networks. Closing gaps in east-west traffic, containerization, and egress controls is vital for protecting operations and reporting risk effectively.

Join this session to learn how to:

  • Embed zero trust principles into cloud network architecture
  • Eliminate blind spots across multicloud and containerized environments
  • Demonstrate risk reduction and regulatory compliance with confidence

1:30pm - 2:15pm  Executive Boardroom

Strategic Resources Fueling Security and IT Success

Security and IT teams are continually expected to deliver impactful results within fixed budgets and headcount. How can CISOs and CIOs ensure their organizations maintain a resilient security posture and meet strategic objectives by leveraging the resources already at hand?

Join this session to explore:

  • Innovative strategies for maximizing the effectiveness of existing security resources
  • Leadership approaches for motivating teams and strengthening security culture
  • Methods to communicate and demonstrate the business value of security investments

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  Breakout Session

What’s Defining Your Quarter – Peer Exchange

Demetris Charalambous headshot

Demetris Charalambous

CIO

Bank Fund Staff Federal Credit Union

Today’s leaders navigate constant change — and the biggest breakthroughs often come from looking beyond your own sector. This fast‑paced, interactive roundtable starts with focused, same‑industry deep dives, then moves into targeted cross‑industry rotations designed to spark fresh thinking and unlock high‑value insights.

Join this session to:

  • Uncover priorities shaping your industry today
  • Compare how other sectors approach similar challenges
  • Apply new insights to accelerate smarter decisions


3:00pm - 3:45pm  Gartner Boardroom

Navigating the New Realities of Third‑ and Fourth‑Party Risk

Glenn Schoonover headshot

Glenn Schoonover

Executive Partner, Security and Risk Management

Gartner

As organizations accelerate their use of external partners to drive scale and innovation, security leaders are navigating increasing complexity from hidden fourth‑party exposure, AI‑driven ecosystem risks, and rising compliance expectations. Strengthening vendor resilience has become a strategic priority, not a back‑office function.

In this roundtable, leaders will explore:

  • Driving accountability through third‑ and fourth‑party networks
  • Identifying emerging risks across expanding vendor ecosystems
  • Building resilient, transparent partnerships with critical providers

3:00pm - 3:45pm  Executive Boardroom

Optimizing Data for Strategic Impact

Up to 80% of enterprise data remains unorganized—slowing decisions, inflating costs, and increasing risk. Data optimization isn’t just an IT priority; it’s a strategic advantage that drives trusted insights, AI readiness, and enterprise resilience. Are you unlocking the full value of your data—or falling behind?

Join this roundtable to explore how to:

  • Unlock value from untapped enterprise data assets
  • Strengthen decision-making through analytics utilizing clean, optimized data
  • Accelerate AI with trusted data foundations

3:45pm - 4:00pm  Networking Break

4:00pm - 4:35pm  Keynote

Closing Keynote

 Details coming soon.

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

4:45pm - 6:00pm  Governing Body Reception

Governing Body Reception

Finish the day sharing lessons learned with your peers over light fare and drinks at this closing reception hosted by your governing body members.

May 12, 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

Washington Marriott Metro Center
More Information

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Washington Marriott Metro Center at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling 800-393-2510.

Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of $439 USD (plus tax) is April 20, 2026.

Your Community Sponsors

Global Thought Leaders

CIO Thought Leader

CISO Thought Leaders

Key Sponsors

Program Sponsor

Community Program Manager

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

Melissa Tarpley

Community Program Manager

469-872-5998

melissa.tarpley@gartner.com