2025 Indianapolis CISO Community Executive Summit

CISOIndianapolis CISO CommunityIndianapolis CISO Programs

Collaborate with your peers

Get together with Indianapolis'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:

Navigating Risks and Opportunities in AI and Cyber

Aligning IT and Security for Business Impact

Leading with Purpose for Resilient and Empowered Organizations

Governing Body Co-Chairs

Jay Bhat

Franciscan Health
Administrative Director of Information Security (Information Security Officer)

Brett Flora

Elwood Staffing
CTO

Leon Ravenna

Openlane
CISO

Nirav Shah

Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc
Chief Digital & Information Officer

Dustin Wilcox

S&P Global
CISO

Terri Zimmerman

Cummins
Global Product Cybersecurity Regulatory Affairs Director

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 Indianapolis 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

October 28, 2025

morning afternoon

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

9:15am - 9:40am Networking Break

9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom

From Static Data to Intelligent Automation

Agentic AI is revolutionizing data strategy, empowering leaders to automate decision making and optimize operations with minimal human intervention. However, success depends on more than just adoption — it requires strategic implementation, governance and risk mitigation to drive real business impact. The question isn’t if, but how you will harness agentic AI to gain a competitive edge.

Join this roundtable discussion as peers explore how to:

Unlock autonomous AI for smarter, faster data-driven decisions
Mitigate risks by mastering AI governance and bias control
Drive real business impact with scalable agentic AI strategies

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 Executive Boardroom

Enhancing Security Through Strategic Collaboration

In today's fast-paced threat landscape, security depends on collaboration between technology and business teams. Tool consolidation is crucial to reduce noise, optimize resources, and ensure robust security. This session explores strategies to bridge security and business gaps, focusing on practical approaches to engage developers and leverage tools, including AI, to proactively address risks before they escalate.

Join this session to:

Explore collaboration methods to boost security
Understand strategies for tool consolidation
Align cyber efforts with business goals

11:10am - 11:55am Executive Boardroom

Navigating Technical Debt in the Microservices Era

Rod Masney

Regional CTO, North America

Rimini Street

Organizations frequently face decisions regarding whether to modernize or replace legacy systems. It is important to assess the current technology portfolio and total cost of ownership to identify capability gaps and barriers to achieving strategic outcomes.

This session will provide information on:

Methods for assessing technology portfolios and architectures, as well as evaluating the costs and benefits of modernization versus re-platforming
Strategies for managing risk and total cost of ownership
Decision-making frameworks and case studies

11:55am - 12:25pm Networking

Rising Together — Women Leaders in Security/Technology Networking Session

Join us for an informal networking break for women in information security/technology leadership and their allies to connect and build relationships with like-minded leaders in Indianapolis who are making an impact in their organizations and communities. Come prepared to share ideas, inspire and be inspired, and forge new connections that can help empower each other to achieve your goals and broaden your perspectives.

This session is aimed at but not limited to women in the CIO and CISO community leading the information security/technology function(s) at their organizations (CISO/CIO/equivalent) and women reporting directly to the CISO/CIO/equivalent. Priority access will be reserved for these groups, with allies welcome as space permits

11:55am - 12:30pm Lunch Service

12:30pm - 1:05pm Keynote

The New Face of Change — Cultivating A Core-Competency Across Leaders

Kevin Smith

Senior Director Analyst

Gartner

Transformative technology and security leaders are agents for change. However, managing change using traditional methods can still be challenging and may not yield the transformative results we desire. In this session, we will reexamine our approach to change, embrace owning our roles in leading change, and strengthen the link between strategy and transformation. With this enhanced approach, today’s CIOs & CISOs can get in front of change, resulting in decreased change resistance and sustained performance.

Join Kevin Smith, Gartner Analyst, to learn:

Strategies to decrease change resistance
Methods to link strategy with transformation
Techniques to sustain performance during change

1:05pm - 1:30pm Break

1:30pm - 2:15pm Executive Boardroom

The Impact of Geopolitical Shifts

Brad Swearingen

Director, Product Security Assurance

Trane Technologies

Terri Zimmerman

Global Product Cybersecurity Regulatory Affairs Director

Cummins

IT and Security Leaders must play a pivotal role in assessing corporate risk and taking action as necessary. The current state of geopolitical uncertainty leaves many variables for enterprise risk, including vendor reliability, supply chain consistency, and cyber threats.

Join this roundtable session to discuss:

Understanding the latest geopolitical tensions and regulations affecting the threat landscape
Evaluating operations in high-risk geographies to strategize resiliency
Planning disaster recovery in the event of a geopolitical disruption

1:30pm - 2:15pm Executive Boardroom

Establishing Cyber Resilience Across the Cloud

Michael Oglesby

AVP, Specialty Sales Engineering

Rubrik

Jay Bhat

Administrative Director of Information Security (Information Security Officer)

Franciscan Health

In an era where users are ubiquitous and digital operations sit in the cloud and beyond, it’s key to move beyond a foundational security approach and focus on achieving cyber resilience. The task at hand involves navigating complexity and upholding visibility and control to ensure uninterrupted operation despite cyber threats.

Join this session to explore:

Enhancing security and cost-effectiveness across diverse cloud environments
Leveraging AI innovations while addressing global regulatory and data privacy standards
Sharing best practices for implementing effective cloud operations across your entire footprint

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.

3:45pm - 4:00pm Networking Break

4:00pm - 4:35pm Keynote

You Speak, They Swarm — The Power of Story in Reaching Your Audience

Arthur Zards

Thought Leader, TED/TEDx Speaker, Coach & Producer

Guest Speaker

Speakers want action, not just applause. But busy executives don’t have time to learn complex communication models or esoteric storytelling processes — they need a simple, effective speaking framework that can help them not only connect with any audience but also elicit real change. Enter the "Swarm Effect."

Join this session with Arthur Zards — a thought leader, TEDster and provocateur — to:

Hone your skills in executive influence
Adopt a more authentic and engaging approach to speaking
Take your next presentation from “understandable” to “compelling"

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

October 28, 2025

morning afternoon

Apply to Participate

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Apply to participate in the Indianapolis 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.

Community Member Criteria

To ensure peer connections and conversations at the highest level, members must meet the following criteria:

- C-level or senior most executive for respective function

- Organization revenue of $500M+

Exceptions are considered.

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Location

Venue & Accommodation

Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre

More Information

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling 888-627-8186. Please mention GCC Indianapolis Executive Summit to ensure the appropriate room rate.

Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of $207 USD (plus tax) is October 6, 2025.

Reserve Room

Your Community Sponsors

CISO Thought Leaders

Key Sponsors

Community Program Manager

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

Sam Flaherty

Senior Community Program Manager

208-871-6409

samantha.flaherty@gartner.com