CIO & CISO Think Tank

Tolgay Kizilelma is a business-driven IT leader with three decades of experience. He currently serves as the Director of the MS in Cybersecurity Program at Dominican University of California, Barowsky School of Business where he also teaches as an Associate Professor of Cybersecurity. As an adjunct faculty at Saint Mary’s College of California, he has been teaching various data analytics courses as part of the MSBA and Professional MBA graduate programs since 2017. As an advocate of lifelong learning, Tolgay has many industry certifications, a B.S. degree in computer engineering, an MBA, and a Ph.D. focusing on information security. He also volunteers for various non-profit organizations as a board member, and frequently participates at cybersecurity conferences as a speaker and a panelist. His contribution to the cybersecurity community was recognized with the 2022 C100 Award – Top 100 CISOs by CISOs Connect.

Dennis Barnes, is a highly accomplished Information Security Officer with over 20 years of experience in IT leadership. Known for his expertise in driving enterprise IT security protection, Dennis has a proven track record of steering enterprise-wide security strategies and programs to enhance organizational security posture. He excels in translating complex technical terms into easily understandable language and is a strategic advisor to business leaders. Dennis has a history of influencing leadership buy-in on cutting-edge strategies and initiatives, and he is seasoned in solving technical security challenges, including mitigating cyber attacks. Throughout his career, Dennis has managed teams of up to 200 people and budgets of up to $75M. Holding certifications including Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Project Management Professional (PMP), and ITIL, Dennis has a wide range of expertise in compliance frameworks such as ISO 27001, NERC CIP, NIST, PCI, HIPAA, and FIPs 140-2. In his most recent role as VP of Infrastructure and Security at San Francisco Fire Credit Union, Dennis oversees the management of IT infrastructure and security for the credit union, ensuring robust protection. Prior to this, as the Chief Information Security Officer at Cooper Compliance, Dennis deployed advanced security technologies and conducted security assessments to enhance customer environments and ensure compliance with NERC CIP regulations. He led the development of security policies and procedures, implemented user awareness training programs, and established key vendor relationships to drive security investments efficiently. With a strong commitment to excellence and a wealth of experience in information security leadership, Dennis continues to drive innovation and advance cybersecurity practices in the industry.

I am an experienced executive IT leader, with over two decades of experience in the healthcare IT sector, with a keen focus on strategic, operational, and growth initiatives. My journey showcases consistent growth, moving from hands-on technical roles to leading Information Technology divisions. I have had the privilege of constructing and directing highly efficient teams to execute projects and initiatives of varying scales. This has included tasks as diverse as implementing Electronic Medical Record systems to launching new hospitals and clinics. My accomplishments as a healthcare technology leader include the successful implementation of tech solutions that enhance operational efficiency and curtail costs. I am recognized by customers, peers, and team members as a kind, compassionate, and inspiring leader who cultivates consensus and delivers outstanding results across all domains of a healthcare system.

Rob Zelinka is the Chief Information Officer for Jack Henry & Associates. Mr. Zelinka is a member of Jack Henry and Associates’ senior leadership team and is responsible for technology strategy, operations, processes, and leading a team of technology professionals at one of Forbes best places to work. He is responsible for overseeing all aspects of cloud operations, maintaining internal systems, data management strategy, and analytics across the reach of the company and for supporting the growth of Jack Henry and Associates’ business by partnering with the company's business units on technology and analytics-related revenue generating programs. During his 30 years in the Information Technology arena, Mr. Zelinka has served in a variety of leadership positions responsible for the delivery of information technology services to support business needs across the corporate enterprise. In his prior role as Director, Enterprise Infrastructure and Operations for TechnipFMC, a multi-billion-dollar company serving the energy sector, Mr. Zelinka led a global transformation of the IT operation which included the rationalization of human capital, technology, and applications supporting the creation of a globalized technology function. Previously, he was the former Head of Information Technology and Security for PROS, a data analytics software company located in Houston, TX. He managed the delivery of global technology refresh initiatives, digital transformation, and day-to-day operations for the company’s technology and external facing cloud operations teams. Rob is a member of the Society for Information Management (SIM) and holds several industry recognized certifications and accreditations.

Mr. Zalewski currently provides CISO, security consulting and security advisory services. These include: • International cybersecurity advisor and trainer. • Executive advisory board member for security startups, providing guidance on security market direction and product requirements. • CISO advisory board member for venture capital firms internationally. • vCISO for companies requiring temporary or part-time CISO expertise. Services also include guidance and solutions to address incident response, security program design, security assessment, security due-diligence, vendor/supplier due-diligence, security architecture review, board reporting and other key security leadership requirements. Operational experience in Healthcare, Utilities and International Retail verticals. Key Strengths: •Organizational Management •Strategic Planning & Execution •Enterprise Security Architecture/Strategy •Executive and BOD Security Governance/Reporting •Cybersecurity Incident Response •Security Risk & Compliance Management Additionally, I co-hosts the CISOSeries Defense-in-Depth Podcasts and am a frequent speaker and panel moderator at industry events.

Harold Byun is Chief Product Officer at AppOmni. He has more than 25 years of experience in the security industry as both a practitioner and product leader. Prior to joining AppOmni, he held product leadership roles at ServiceNow, Skyhigh Networks, MobileIron, and Symantec. His career includes work in a number of security domains across security orchestration and automated response (SOAR), cloud access security broker (CASB), governance risk and compliance (GRC), data loss prevention (DLP), encryption and data access monitoring. Harold also holds several data security related patents.

Manisha Gupta is a product leader at Google Cloud with deep expertise in enterprise technologies and business. She has over 22 years of \ industry experience in networking and network security technologies across diverse roles. Prior to Google Cloud, she held various product leadership and engineering roles at Palo Alto Networks, and Cisco Systems Inc.

Ali Bidabadi leads Global Cloud Architects team at Fortinet where he focuses on creating multi-cloud security reference architecture and providing cloud migration roadmap to customers . He has more than 15 years of experience designing and building Cybersecurity, SDN and NFV products in public/private clouds and data centers. ​ Prior to Fortinet, Ali was a technical Product Manager at Juniper and a Principal Software Architect at Cisco where he designed and implemented an NFV-based orchestration platform for Cisco’s Mobility Core Business (MCBU). He was a founding member of Intel Security Controller team (ISC) and led the L4-7 integration of Intel advanced Security products with VMware NSX, Cisco ACI, and OpenStack/ODL platforms

Arun is an accomplished Enterprise Architecture and Digital Transformation executive with over 20 years of experience as an Enterprise Architect, Design Thinker, Futurist, and Solution Engineer. As a people leader, Arun’s core values of empathy, integrity, equality, trust, and continuous learning form the foundation for his leadership philosophy and approach. Arun joined Salesforce ohana in 2016, since then has played a key role in elevating Salesforce's digital transformation motion to the office of customer CxOs. Arun is the founding member of Salesforce Enterprise Architecture, illuminate, and Dreamforce illuminate track. Prior to Salesforce, Arun worked for two early-stage startups - MongoDB and MuleSoft in various Engineering, Sales, and Marketing roles.

Founded in 1969, Sephora operates as a cosmetics and beauty stores. The Company offers foundation sets, moisturizer, face powder, blush, contour, eyeliner, nail polish, lipstick, face brushes, makeup remover, face wash, toners, eye cream, face masks, perfume, body lotion, hand cream, sunscreen, and other related products. The company is headquartered in Paris, France.

For 15 years, I found myself defined by my accomplishments on the track. I’m proud of these achievements -- three-time Olympian, World Champion, World Record Holder, and 2-time World Bronze medalist -- but they do not fully define me. I have also excelled academically, graduating Magna Cum Laude from Duke before going on to earn my Master’s degree. A lifelong advocate in women’s sports, I was selected by the US Department of State to serve as a Sport's Envoy to Morocco. I have also worked with Nike and USATF to update maternity policies to make Track & Field more equitable. My long career in professional sports, including becoming a mother in 2018 and navigating a return to top form, offers a unique perspective into the full range of the athlete experience. As I move on from competition, my mission now is to find ways to share that insight with other dreamers and high achievers.

Kevin Fleet is Vice President of Technical Sales Strategy and Operations at Informatica. In this role, Kevin has global responsibility the development, rollout, and scale of strategic go-to-market offerings. He also has responsibility for global technical operations, program and change management, and analytics services in support of Informatica’s Technical Sales Organization. Prior to joining Technical Sales, Kevin was Vice President, Strategic Growth Initiatives, in Informatica’s Corporate Strategy team. Combining his extensive data management knowledge with direct customer and business insight, Kevin successfully brought to market new and innovative products designed to access new markets and fuel growth across Informatica’s product platform. Kevin has also held leadership positions within Informatica’s Professional Services business. He most recently led Advisory Services, which focuses on ensuring Informatica’s most strategic customers quickly realize value from their transformational data initiatives. Through delivery of strategic business consulting services including data strategy development, data maturity assessments, capability roadmaps, and program delivery models, Kevin and his team engaged with hundreds of clients across numerous industries to accelerate their digital transformation journeys. Prior to joining Informatica in 2011, Kevin was Executive Director of Global Data Management at Pfizer. In this role, Kevin was the global leader for data management and de facto Chief Data Officer, with responsibility for developing and delivering shared technology solutions and support services for data warehousing, data integration, master data, and analytics. Kevin also established and chaired the Pfizer Data Governance Council and was responsible for driving an aligned data strategy across the Pfizer organization. Kevin’s career spans over 25 years working in both business and technical capacities across various industries including Manufacturing, Technology Services, Life Sciences, Financial Services and Healthcare. He has a broad and deep technology background, ranging from ERP implementation to application development and analytics solution delivery. Kevin actively participates as a thought leader in the data management industry, speaking at industry events and conferences, and has authored a number of publications including “Cloud Data Management: Lessons From the Field”, “Five Imperatives for the Chief Data Officer”, and “The Data Strategy Playbook: A CIO’s Practical Guide to Driving Change”. Kevin holds a BA in Economics from the University of California, San Diego.