Executive Dinner

By day, he is a Fractional CISO and Cybersecurity Advisor for multiple companies building, running, and optimizing cybersecurity programs. By night, he champions cyber safety and ethics education throughout society via the 501(c)3 nonprofit Savvy Cyber Kids he founded. Ben has presented at the World Economic Forum, NACD directorship training, RSA Conference, TEDxSaintThomas, TEDxKids@Vilnius, GISEC Global, InfoSec World, SecureWorld, IEEE, ACM, CSO50, CIO/CISO Summits, and many other events. In addition to his numerous publications, Ben has been featured in the New York Times, Wired, Bloomberg, BBC, Kiplinger, Good Morning America, Good Day Atlanta, CNN HLN, Fox News, RogersTV, among others.

Accomplished CISO with proven track record of implementing Cyber Security programs and strategy, a US Navy Veteran with expertise in Information Risk, Governance, and IT enterprise operations and enterprise architecture in the public and private sectors. Transformational leader that excels at developing and implementing strategic, technical, and operational security/infrastructure architectures that are aligned with business goals and objectives using a risk based methodology. Established history of innovation, utilizing technology and processes effectively to minimize operational risk, cost, and increase operational efficiency to meet business goals by building a strategy that becomes a business differentiator

Sallie Fulsom Wright, BS, MA, CISSP, has 30+ years of experience in information technology executive leadership serving in the capacity of CIO, Associate Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Assistant Vice President and Deputy CIO, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Information Security and Chief Information Security Officer. She has worked for 4 tier-1 Research institutes including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Oklahoma State University and Georgia State University. She has worked for a total of 9 institutions of higher education and has taught computer science courses for many of them. Currently, she is teaching Cyber Security Classes for Emory University’s partnership with the Georgia Women in Technology Program. Sallie is currently a CIO & Executive Counselor for Info Tech Research Group working with CIOs, CISOs and other Executives to move their organizations to the next level of excellence. Prior to joining Info Tech, she spent 3 years as the CIO for Fulton County Government in Atlanta, Georgia focusing on digital transformation, modernization, strategic planning, and organizational redesign. Ms. Wright was selected in 2018 as a top finalist in the InspireCIO Georgia CIO of the Year Award. In 2014 she was a top five finalist for the Technology Association of Georgia’s (TAG) Diversity Leadership Awards. She was also a top five finalist for 2013 and 2014 TAG Excellence in Leadership Award. In August 2015, she was inducted into the PinkTech Hall of Fame. She is a speaker and moderator at local, regional, and national technology conferences. She serves as a mentor to students in the Georgia State University Robinson School of Business MBA program and other programs. She serves on the Georgia Public Defense Foundation Board, the Inspiredu Board, the Atlanta Technology Professionals Board, the SIM Atlanta Board, the Vendorship Board, the Georgia Prosecutors Foundation and served for 10 years on the Technology Association of Georgia’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Board. Ms. Wright built information security organizations for Oklahoma State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and UAB. She worked for the Renaissance Computing Institute in the role of Director of Research Engagement where she participated in the development of multi-disciplinary grants for UNC Chapel Hill, Duke University, and North Carolina State University. She has led many enterprise projects for UAB including PCI Compliance and Web Presence. In addition, she co-founded the Southeast Region Higher Education Security Consortium. She was a founding member of the EDUCAUSE Higher Education Information Security Council for 10 years and served on the Southeast University Research Association (SURA), SANS Advisory Board and the CISO Executive Board. She is also a Certified Executive Coach.