Southeast IT & Security Leaders Forum 2025

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: Brian Benn, Chief Information Officer, Clark Atlanta University

Panelists:

Shilpi Ganguly, SVP, IT & Cybersecurity, The Weather Channel

Amir St. Clair, Associate VP, Enterprise Risk Management

Brett Hinson, VP of IT and CIO, Lipscomb University

Randy Temple, CIO, Freedom Mortgage

The growing complexity of cloud-native architectures has led to an ever-expanding attack surface for bad actors to exploit vulnerabilities. The dynamic nature of these environments and the accelerated rate of change with DevOps practices has it increasingly difficult for traditional approaches to secure these applications and environments.

In this session we’ll explore:

• The importance of a unified observability and security strategy to improve an organization’s risk posture
• Leveraging observability data to investigate vulnerabilities and attacks more accurately and rapidly
• Developing best practices for IT and security teams to minimize risk

Speaker: Wayne Segar, Global Field CTO, Dynatrace

Presented by: Dynatrace

This session will explore foundational and advanced strategies to safeguard data across diverse environments, including hybrid and multi-cloud settings. Topics will cover approaches to data security, compliance, threat detection, disaster recovery, and innovative techniques to mitigate risks such as ransomware and misconfigurations. Attendees will gain actionable insights into building resilient systems to protect critical information assets and ensure operational continuity in today’s dynamic landscape.

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The relentless growth of cyber threats and the increasing complexity of modern IT environments have stretched security teams to their breaking point. Autonomous solutions promise much-needed relief, but CISOs are rightly cautious. This session cuts through the hype, providing a pragmatic roadmap for incorporating autonomous capabilities into your security operations.

We’ll explore the spectrum of autonomy, from basic automation (Level 4) to true AI-driven decision-making (Level 5), clarifying what’s possible today and what lies on the horizon. Discover the compelling reasons driving the need for autonomous alert triage and response and understand the critical role of the “virtual analyst” in this evolution.

This session will equip you with the knowledge to:

• Demystify “autonomous” and its varying levels.
• Grasp the urgency for autonomous solutions in modern security operations.
• Conceptualize the “virtual analyst” and its potential impact.
• Learn key criteria for evaluating virtual analyst solutions.
• Understand the challenges in building and deploying virtual analysts.
• Define the evolving role of human analysts in an autonomous future.

Join us to explore a realistic path toward autonomous security operations and prepare your organization for a more secure tomorrow.

Presented by: AirMDR

Get Advice for Speeding Up Velocity in 2025

DevOps pipelines thrive on speed. Yet too many organizations are still held back by slow, manual, and poor-quality test data. Data challenges like this create delays in DevOps pipelines. It’s time to eliminate DevOps delays, and that’s where data automation can help.

What You’ll Learn:

• Common data challenges in DevOps and CI/CD pipelines.
• Actionable strategies to help you shift left and improve quality.
• How to automate compliant data for DevOps.

Speaker: Aaron Jensen, Senior Solutions Engineer, Delphix by Perforce

Presented by: Perforce

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.

Presentation: RingCentral

Open seating, Buffet-style lunch. Serving food for all tastes, palates, and preferences. Vegan, vegetarian, halal options available

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: Brian Benn, Chief Information Officer, Clark Atlanta University

Panelists:

Steve Collins, CIO, United Veterinary Care

Erich Gazaui, CIO, Papa

Charles Cooper, CIO, Meharry Medical

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: Jay Klauser, Director of Solutions Engineering, AppOmni

Presented by: AppOmni

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This session provides a comprehensive exploration of the challenges and opportunities that arise with the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various industries. We’ll examine the intricacies of managing risks associated with AI technologies, highlighting the potential pitfalls and benefits they bring. By examining real-world examples and case studies, we’ll shed light on the complexities and ethical considerations involved in harnessing AI’s power while mitigating potential risks.

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: Edward Morando, VP, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Services, Convey Health Solution

As organizations increasingly adopt web-based applications and remote work models, traditional security measures are proving insufficient to safeguard against modern threats. This session explores the transformative role of secure enterprise browsers in elevating web access from a potential vulnerability to a robust security advantage. Attendees will learn how innovative browser technologies can provide enhanced data protection, mitigate insider threats, and seamlessly integrate with existing security frameworks, ensuring both productivity and resilience in today’s dynamic digital landscape.

Speaker: Larry Helms, Vice President of Sales, Seraphic

Presented by: Seraphic

Everyone’s journey to being data-driven is unique. It’s like making an apple pie. It’s easy to get the ingredients, but you need to know how to put together the right recipe for a great apple pie. In this interactive discussion I will share insights and lessons learned in leading data modernization initiatives and in sharing the journey with customers. Data literacy, culture, governance, quality, technology stack modernization and architecture are all ingredients in driving towards the right data driven recipe. The discussion will include tips and tricks for reducing friction points and how to build the right recipe for your organization.

In today’s hyper-connected world, the role of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) has never been more critical—or more complex. Once seen as purely technical guardians of an organization’s digital assets, CISOs now sit at the intersection of technology, business strategy, and risk management. Success in this dynamic role hinges on one vital element: collaboration.

Speaker: Michael Marsilio, CISO, Paradies Lagardere

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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: Brian Benn, Chief Information Officer, Clark Atlanta University

Who loves a good audit? Well, you should! Think of them as a helpful nudge to fix what’s weak, make sure you’re playing by the rules, and get your systems running smoother than ever. You’ll see how these check-ups are less of a headache and more like a secret weapon for keeping your tech game strong and secure.

Speaker: Rob Strickland, Interim CIO, Infovista