Each dinner begins with opening remarks and a briefing from a featured CISO or cybersecurity leader. This short session sets the stage for the evening, offering timely insights or a leadership perspective to spark thought and guide discussion. Whether focused on emerging threats, organizational change, or strategic priorities, this briefing is designed to frame the conversation and invite deeper peer engagement throughout the night.

Engage directly with your peers during dinner to share strategies, exchange lessons learned, and explore innovative approaches to safeguarding the business in an ever-changing threat landscape. This is your opportunity to step beyond formal presentations and build meaningful connections through candid conversations in a collaborative setting.

After the Golden Age: The New Reality of the CISO Role
At the New York CISO Dinner, Adrian Peters will lead a candid discussion on how expectations for CISOs are shifting and why the traditional CISO playbook is no longer sufficient. As AI, quantum, and automation accelerate, security leaders face mounting pressure to justify budgets, translate risk into business terms, and demonstrate measurable impact.
Drawing on lessons from recent incidents and executive leadership experience, the conversation will examine where misalignment between security and the business is eroding credibility, influence, and, in some cases, tenure. Participants will confront what truly deserves focus in 2026, what must be deprioritized, and how today’s decisions are increasingly shaping not just security outcomes, but CISO careers.

Join your security peers to explore:

• The leadership lessons from 2025 that revealed where CISOs gained or lost organizational trust and authority
• How AI and pre-quantum readiness are raising the bar for executive-level security leadership
• What it takes to secure relevance, budget, and longevity by aligning security strategy, investment, and teams with business outcomes
   

As the dinner concludes, we’ll gather final insights and reflections from our discussions. We will highlight the most impactful ideas shared around the tables, and you will leave with peer-tested strategies and fresh perspectives to take back to your teams, along with new connections to support your ongoing leadership journey.

We will wrap up the evening with continued networking and conversations. Don't miss this additional opportunity to strengthen professional relationships and build new partnerships that will expand your leadership and cybersecurity priorities.