CIO & CISO Think Tank

Sugato Bose is the Senior Director and Chief Enterprise Architect at Medline Industries, where he leads technology strategy and modernization across a global, highly regulated landscape. With over 25 years of experience across Life Sciences, Supply Chain, and CPG, Sugato is an expert at balancing high-stakes transformation with operational resilience. He currently oversees a multi-billion dollar platform scope, including SAP S/4HANA, Manhattan-class WMS, and Azure-based cloud data platforms. Accountable for the architectural risk posture of Tier 1–5 platforms, Sugato has delivered up to $90M in value through standards-driven portfolio rationalization. He is a pioneer in embedding practical AI and agentic workflows into enterprise execution, ensuring that innovation translates into measurable business outcomes. A leader of globally distributed teams, Sugato’s core philosophy is that architecture must create clarity, turning complex strategies into scalable, high-performance platforms.

Erik Hart oversees global information security for Cushman & Wakefield, one of the world’s largest commercial real estate services firms. A recognized thought leader with more than 20 years of experience in providing information security services to various industries and organizations, he also serves in an advisory role for numerous companies and organizations in the information security field, including Mimecast, CrowdStrike, InfraGard Chicago Members Alliance and Western Illinois University. Before joining Cushman & Wakefield in 2018, he served as CISO and Director of IT Risk Management for Zebra Technologies, a provider of mobile, logistics and point-of-sale technology and systems to retail, health care, transportation, manufacturing and other industries. Erik earned his Bachelors from Western Illinois University and Masters from Western Governors University.

Jeff Wolniakowski is a CIO, Digital Platform Architect, and leadership expert who transforms IT from a cost center to a strategic asset through comprehensive digital transformation and technology roadmap development. A leader of nine enterprise transformations and a framework innovator, he specializes in business and IT strategy alignment across healthcare, pharma, and human capital management. His hands-on implementation of AI strategy, cloud transformation, and cybersecurity leadership has delivered 32% revenue growth and generated over $100M in new revenue streams. As a Managing Partner with active board governance experience, he bridges the gap between technical capabilities and business needs, building high-performing teams that deliver measurable ROI in 90 days. His approach combines innovation management with P&L expertise, ensuring organizations stay ahead of market disruption while driving measurable business results through people and technology.

Vijay Jakka is a transformative thought leader and advisory consultant specializing in data, digital, AI, and analytics for global enterprises. Currently leading Global Data Governance at MetLife, Vijay excels at aligning business strategy with a value-driven data vision, effectively evolving organizations from being business-informed to truly data-driven. With deep expertise in Enterprise Architecture and Digital Transformation, he bridges the gap between offensive data enablement and defensive risk management. His technical proficiency spans the entire data lifecycle—from architecting sophisticated data lakes and warehouses to implementing ethical AI governance and active metadata intelligence. Vijay is a strategic partner to executive leadership, known for identifying growth opportunities, reducing technology debt, and optimizing business efficiency through automation. Whether navigating complex regulatory compliance or securing connected IoT ecosystems, he consistently delivers seamless, customer-centric digital solutions and holistic organizational optimization.

Grant Ecker is the Founder and Chairman of the Chief Architect Network, and most recently the Vice President Chief Enterprise Architect at Danaher where he partnered closely with the architects across the company to lead strategy development, establish technology standards and to identify opportunities for modernization and transformation.  Prior to Danaher, Grant was the VP, Global Head of Architecture at Walgreens Boots Alliance, and he held a similar role at Medtronic. Earlier in Grant’s career he held architecture and management roles with expanding responsibility at Lowe’s and General Mills.  Grant is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, he received an MBA from University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, and his BS in Computer Science from Washington University in St. Louis.  Grant is a board member of the Women in Architecture initiative and he holds various board advisory roles out of Chicago, Illinois. Please connect with Grant at

George Wang is a multi-faceted Chief Marketing Officer at Peterson Technology Partners, recognized as a "Super Connector" in the Chicago tech ecosystem. A 2020 Chicago CIO of the Year nominee, George brings over 30 years of rare, balanced experience across CIO, COO, and CMO roles. From launching Motorola’s first digital cellular handset to architecting the State of Illinois’ 45-year technical modernization, his career is defined by "industry firsts." George has successfully led teams of up to 175, fostering a culture of trust and accountability across seven different verticals, including Healthcare, Finance, and Government. An expert in Agile DevOps, Blockchain, and Cybersecurity risk quantification, he leverages his deep technical roots and Lean Six Sigma expertise to help leaders execute with elite talent. A dedicated mentor and "pay-it-forward" advocate, George excels at bridging the gap between business innovation and technical excellence.

Russ Felker is the Chief Technology Officer at MegaCorp Logistics, bringing over 30 years of experience as a CTO, founder, and strategic technology advisor. A versatile leader with a career spanning municipal government, healthcare, and the beauty industry, Russ specializes in leveraging technology to solve complex business problems. His core mission centers on utilizing innovative digital solutions to simultaneously enhance the customer experience and drive significant operational cost savings. Based in the Greater Chicago area, Russ is a passionate advocate for technology-led change and organizational evolution. Throughout his three-decade tenure, he has built a reputation for creating resilient technology frameworks that align with long-term business goals. Whether navigating the high-stakes logistics sector or advising startups, Russ remains dedicated to the transformative power of technology as a tool for both efficiency and human-centric service.

Innovative executive that has experience making sound business decisions and can think rationally in difficult situations. Visualizes the big picture and provides proper context and perspective tailored for the target audience. Clearly articulates the mission, standards, and priorities to achieve strategic and tactical objectives.

Lee has 20 years of experience in Cyber and Information Security. In his current role, he serves as the Global Head of Information Security Governance at Zurich Insurance group, a leading multi-line insurer that serves its customers in global and local markets. With about 55,000 employees, it provides a wide range of property and casualty, life insurance products and services in more than 215 countries and territories. Prior to Zurich Lee worked in various IT, Security, Governance, and Leadership roles including penetration testing, security consultant, network/domain administrator, and Director of Threat Analysis and Network Forensics for the US Navy’s enterprise environment. Lee has a significant amount of experience in Governance Risk and Compliance and works to maintain a current level of understanding on emerging threats as well as strategies to prepare, defend, and respond from an organizational standpoint.

As the Founder and CEO of AlterEnable, Charles Wiggins helps organizations modernize at scale without losing control in the process. For over 20 years, he has led complex enterprise technology transformations across global, regulated, and high-stakes environments. His work sits at the intersection of AI, cloud, cybersecurity, data, and operating models, helping organizations grow while maintaining trust, resilience, and governance. Most recently, as CIO at the American Marketing Association, he led a significant digital shift, re-architecting infrastructure and applications while embedding AI to power personalization and predictive analytics. Through his advisory work, Charles partners with CEOs and executive teams to operationalize AI, modernize security foundations, and align technology strategy to business outcomes. A battle-tested operator who leads with clarity, calm, and conviction, he specializes in creating clarity, reducing risk, and unlocking growth through fractional CIO/CTO leadership and real-world mentorship.

Yaël Gomez is a fractional CIO/CTO and former Vice President, Global IT, Integration & Intelligent Automation at Walgreens Boots Alliance. As an accomplished technology executive, technologist, and strategic business partner across large-scale enterprise organizations, Yaël has proven expertise in successfully developing technology delivery centers, delivering complex technology strategies and transformations generating business growth. He is skilled at driving global strategies whilst meeting business specific local requirements, with the goal of enabling business innovation, agility and performance with the right technologies. Yael finds his energy at the intersection of people, business and technology, and taps into 25 years of experience in small and large organizations such as Walgreens, in aligning business and technology, and in bringing clarity to complex problems to drive growth, operational excellence and product/service leadership for the businesses he serves.

Shashwat Sehgal is the Co-Founder and CEO of P0 Security. He’s spent most of his career building security and observability products for developers, DevOps, and security teams. Shashwat is passionate about solving the problem of cloud access security and helping security engineers control 'who has access to what sensitive resources' in any environment. He enjoys playing tennis, spending time with his family, teaching his son how to play chess and geeking out on all things security.

Associate Partner at Reply, where she leads the U.S. Modern Work team with a focus on Microsoft 365, Copilot, and AI-driven transformation. With nearly 20 years of experience in Change Management, she helps enterprises adopt collaborative technologies and integrate AI into daily workflows—spanning governance, technical readiness, and user enablement. A recognized leader in Copilot for Microsoft 365, Margaret has developed maturity models, led nationwide prompt engineering workshops, and guided enterprises in scaling AI adoption. She is also active in Copilot governance, plugin development, and agent creation through Microsoft Copilot Studio. Based in Chicago, Margaret draws on her background in healthcare and education transformation and holds advanced certifications in Change Management, ITIL, and leadership from Stanford and Northwestern.

Nitin has 25+ years of experience in performing IT, Security and Risk leadership roles for various organizations and serves as a global advisor tasked with prioritizing and evaluating trade-offs and conflicts among various security initiatives within the realm of ThoughtWorks businesses. Proven leadership with key skills like security governance, compliance, budgeting, hiring, risk management, project management, mentoring, negotiation, and problem-solving skills demonstrated throughout his career. Expert in translating between technical and business contexts; people, processes, technical aspects of technology, and in assisting organizations delivering effective, secure, and business-enabling solutions. Stakeholders/CxO advisory experience in IT/ITes organizations. Customer-focused and strategic mentality. Problem-solving and process-oriented. Nitin holds a Bachelor's degree (B.S) in Electronics engineering and Masters (PGDIT) in Information technology. He also holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) industry certifications and Board Qualified Technology Executive (QTE).

With more than 30 years of experience in ransomware and information security, Allan Liska has improved countless organizations’ security posture using more effective intelligence. Liska provides ransomware-related counsel and key recommendations to major global corporations and government agencies, sitting on national ransomware task forces and speaking at global conferences. Liska has worked as both a security practitioner and an ethical hacker at Symantec, iSIGHT Partners, FireEye, and Recorded Future. Regularly cited in The Washington Post, Bloomberg, The New York Times, WIRED and NBC News, he is a leading voice in ransomware and intelligence security. Liska has authored numerous books including “The Practice of Network Security;” Building an Intelligence-Led Security Program;” “Securing NTP: A Quickstart Guide;” “Ransomware: Defending Against Digital Extortion;” “DNS Security: Defending the Domain Name System;” “Ransomware: Understand.Prevent.Recover.;” and the graphic novels “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar;” “The Press Guardian;” & “Cryptid Hacker Force.”

Youlin Li is the Director of AI Hub Engineering at McDonald’s Global Technology, where he leads enterprise-wide AI transformation initiatives to accelerate AI adoption responsibly, enabling business process automation, insights, and faster decision-making at scale. Previously, Youlin was CTO at iHealth Labs, where he developed Unified Care, a digital health ecosystem for chronic disease management, and co-founded Xolved Solutions, a healthcare AI startup pioneering Text-to-SQL LLM technology. He also held executive leadership roles at Apollo.io and SmartNews, where he scaled engineering organizations, launched large-scale AI platforms, and drove hypergrowth in user engagement and revenue. Earlier in his career, Youlin led engineering teams at Meta, Google, Microsoft (Bing), and Yahoo, designing core infrastructures for personalization, search, and machine learning that served billions worldwide. He holds dual master's degrees in computer science and molecular biology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and is an inventor with multiple patents and publications in AI, recommender systems, and digital health.