CIO & CISO Think Tank

The Future of IT & Cybersecurity

Date

October 20, 2026

Location

Denver, CO

Community

CIO / CISO

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Company is Required

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Agenda

October 20, 2026
All times Central Time
8:30 AM-9:00 AM
Registration
9:00 AM-9:30 AM
Morning Networking
9:30 AM-9:40 AM
Opening Remarks
9:40 AM-10:05 AM
Vision Voices Keynote
Surviving the Agentic AI Wild West: Security, Trust & Control in an Autonomous Future

As organizations race to deploy AI copilots, autonomous agents, and machine-driven decision-making, executives face a new reality: innovation is moving faster than governance. Agentic AI introduces unprecedented opportunities for productivity and transformation, but it also creates new attack surfaces, accountability challenges, and operational risks. This keynote explores how CIOs and CISOs can navigate an increasingly autonomous digital landscape while maintaining security, compliance, and trust. Join us as we examine the next 24 months of AI evolution and discuss what leadership must do today to prepare for tomorrow’s AI-powered enterprise.

10:10 AM-10:55 AM
Keynote Panel
The Autonomous Enterprise: How Much Decision-Making Should We Hand to AI?

As AI evolves from assistant to decision-maker, organizations are confronting a fundamental leadership question: where should humans remain in the loop? From autonomous workflows and intelligent agents to AI-driven business operations, enterprises are rapidly redefining how decisions are made. This executive discussion explores the opportunities, risks, and ethical implications of increasing AI autonomy. Panelists will debate how much control organizations should relinquish, where accountability ultimately resides, and how leaders can balance innovation, trust, and oversight in the age of autonomous enterprises.

Panelists
Norman Paulsen (filler)

Speaker

Norman Paulsen

VP of Software Engineering

Accion Group

Norman Paulsen is VP of Software Engineering at Accion Group, bringing 20 years of experience across digital transformation, artificial intelligence, software development, organizational design, eCommerce, and digital marketing. A published LLM researcher, public speaker, and data-driven leader, Norman combines hands-on Generative AI expertise—spanning Vectorization, RAG, Agentic workflows, and Speech-to-Speech—with proven success scaling lean startups and leading large engineering teams to amplify output by roughly 10x. His strategic focus on long-term growth and operational efficiency has driven company-wide transformations, including reducing IT OpEx spend by 32% and AWS costs by 85% while delivering high-performing, customer-centric solutions.
Soumava Dey (filler)

Speaker

Soumava "Sam" Dey

Assc Director Data & Analytics

CMI Media Group

Soumava "Sam" Dey is Associate Director of Data Analytics & AI at CMI Media Group, driving healthcare marketing transformation by deploying AI-driven analytics to power data-informed decisions and measurably improve patient outcomes across the pharmaceutical sector. With over a decade of data leadership spanning actuarial risk intelligence at Corebridge Financial and AIG to wealth management and healthcare AI, he specializes in translating emerging technologies - with a current focus on agentic AI frameworks and context engineering - into enterprise-ready strategies. A thought leader, educator, and advisor, Sam expands AI adoption as creator of DataScienceWithSam, co-founder of AsembleAI Media Inc., Flatiron School instructor, OncoNexus AI advisor, and organizer within Colorado's Denver AI community.
10:55 AM-11:15 AM
Networking Break
11:15 AM-11:30 AM
Fireside Chat
The Human Firewall: Burnout, Cognitive Overload & Cyber Resilience

Cybersecurity leaders are expected to defend against relentless threats while managing increasingly complex environments and shrinking talent pools. The result is often fatigue, burnout, and heightened organizational risk. This candid conversation examines the human side of cybersecurity, exploring how mental wellness, workforce resilience, and leadership culture directly impact security outcomes. Learn how leading organizations are addressing burnout, reducing human error, improving retention, and building teams that can sustain performance in an always-on threat landscape.

11:35 AM-11:50 AM
Disruptor
Fact, Fiction, or FUD: AI Agents Edition

AI agents are either about to transform your business, compromise everything you run, or both, depending on which vendor you asked last.

This talk is a game show. We take the five claims you've heard most this year about AI agents, autonomous attackers, agents as insider threats, and the rest, and judge each one live: fact, fiction, or FUD. The verdicts come from what practitioners are actually experiencing: real deployment states, real incidents, and real controls, drawn from ten months of conversations with teams running real agents today.

You'll leave able to separate the shift that's genuinely underway from the noise around it, with a shorter list of things worth your attention. You've got your intuitions; we'll bring the scorecard.

Together with:

Backplanes
11:55 AM-12:30 PM
Panel
Cloud Security Reckoning: Are We Finally Getting Cloud Right?

More than a decade into cloud transformation, many organizations continue to struggle with visibility, identity management, shared responsibility, and increasingly complex multi-cloud environments. As AI workloads expand and infrastructure becomes more distributed, security leaders face growing pressure to balance agility with protection. This discussion explores the lessons learned from cloud adoption and examines what resilient, secure, and scalable cloud architecture should look like for the next generation of digital enterprises.

12:30 PM-1:30 PM
Lunch
1:30 PM-1:45 PM
Disruptor
The Rise of Machine Identity: Securing the Non-Human Workforce

Machine identities now outnumber human users by a staggering margin, yet many organizations still lack visibility into how they are created, managed, and secured. From AI agents and APIs to service accounts and automated workloads, the non-human workforce is becoming essential to business operations. This session explores why machine identity has emerged as one of cybersecurity’s fastest-growing challenges and what leaders must do to ensure these invisible identities do not become tomorrow’s biggest attack vector.

1:50 PM-2:35 PM
Panel
The Talent Reset: Who Builds, Secures, and Governs AI?

GenAI is reshaping how software is built, tested, and deployed, forcing organizations to rethink traditional roles across engineering and security. At the same time, talent shortages persist, and the definition of “technical expertise” is shifting.

This conversation examines how leaders are restructuring teams, redefining skill sets, and making strategic decisions about where human expertise remains critical in an AI-augmented workforce.

2:35 PM-2:55 PM
Afternoon Networking
3:35 PM-4:10 PM
Panel
The Cost of Trust: Balancing Customer Experience, Privacy & Security

In a digital-first economy, trust has become one of an organization’s most valuable assets—and one of its most difficult to maintain. Customers expect seamless experiences, regulators demand stronger protections, and security teams are tasked with safeguarding both. How can organizations balance convenience, privacy, and protection without compromising innovation? Join this executive discussion as leaders examine the evolving relationship between trust, brand reputation, customer loyalty, and business growth in an increasingly connected world.

4:15 PM-4:30 PM
Closing Remarks & Raffle Giveaway
4:30 PM-5:30 PM
Cocktail Reception

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