The CISO Circle Program

With so much uncertainty in the global environment and an expanding threat landscape, the job of CISOs and their teams is getting more and more complex — especially with the increasing prevalence of new tech like AI. Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit provides CISOs with the guidance they need to address their top mission critical priorities right now.

This experience includes:

Networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities with a group of CISO attendees to swap experiences, trade best practices and expand your executive peer community. 

Access to exclusive sessions throughout the conference, including thought leader lunches, workshops, roundtables and research discussions tailored to the most important topics for CISOs.

Priority booking capabilities for limited-capacity sessions and One-on-One Meeting(s) with a Gartner analyst to ensure you don’t miss out on these conference offerings.

CISO-only sessions

Integrated within the broader conference agenda, the CISO Circle Program includes interactive discussions covering the top priorities of CISOs, as well as casual networking opportunities to connect with other cybersecurity leaders from a variety of regions and industries. Through these sessions, participants connect over common initiatives and accelerate, validate and solidify their strategies. See this year's sessions below.
  • Insight Discussions
  • Roundtables
  • Workshops
  • Leadership Exchanges
  • Networking Opportunies

Insight Discussions

Exchange ideas with other senior leaders during an extended, collaborative discussion focused on priorities informed by Gartner insights, best practices and case studies.
  • Turbulence Report 2026: 7 Forces That Will Threaten Your Organization's Future
  • From Unsung Hero to Strategic Leader: The Power of Self-Advocacy for CISOs

Roundtables

Exchange insights with your peers during these lightly facilitated, small-group discussions.
  • Cybersecurity for AI: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
  • What's the Future of the CISO Role?
  • Level Up Your Impact — Mastering Outcome-Driven Metrics
  • Women in Cybersecurity
  • Cybersecurity GenAI & AI Agent Use Cases

Workshops

Receive guidance on important topics from Gartner experts, solve issues with your peers and leave with effective answers.
  • From Chaos to Control: Building Effective Tabletop Scenarios That Test & Strengthen Cyber Readiness
  • Build Your Cyber Strategy With Gartner Cybersecurity Controls Assessment

Leadership Exchanges

Share your experiences, issues and ideas with other senior leaders. Thought-provoking content and key take-aways will be delivered by a Gartner expert.
 
  • Leadership Exchange: A New Framework for Cybersecurity Board Reporting
  • Leadership Exchange: 3 Things You Need to Do Today to Enable Postquantum Cryptography
  • Leadership Exchange: Water Becomes the Shape of Its Receptacle: Lessons in Adaptive Politics for CISOs
  • Leadership Exchange: Effective Cybersecurity Requires Broader IAM Executive Sponsorship

Networking Opportunities

Get to know other attendees during meals and breaks in designated locations.
 
  • CISO Circle Lunch: Winning in a World Without Truth
  • CISO Circle Breakfast: Future of AI in Cybersecurity: AI Predictions and Roadmap Challenges for 2026-2029
  • CISO Circle Lunch: Change Resilience
  • CISO Circle Breakfast: Maverick: Three Ways CISOs Must Transform Their Role to Avoid Obsolescence

“Things like the CISO Circle Program [are an] exceptional opportunity to connect with peers and to understand what are the challenges they are facing that could help me in my program, but also share my own experiences that might help them as well.”

John Sapp

CISO, Texas Mutual

Apply to join the program

The CISO Circle Program is exclusive to eligible CISOs attending Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit. We recommend applying when you register for the conference as session seats are limited and fill up quickly.
How to qualify

Applicants must meet the following qualification criteria to participate:

  1. Enterprise-wide Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)/ Chief Risk Officer (CRO) or
  2. Business unit/ region/ government division Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)/ Chief Risk Officer (CRO) responsible for:
    1. Private sector: $250+ million in revenue
    2. Public sector: 1,000+ employees

CISOs/ CROs with client facing/ external responsibilities from an IT security vendor or consultancy are not eligible to participate.

You can apply to participate in the CISO Circle Program when you register for  Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit. During the registration process, the program application will be prompted by answering ‘yes’ to the question, “Are you the CISO or do you serve in the CISO role for your organization?”. You will be notified via email regarding the status of your application.

Application and approval are required for participation.

Log back into your Gartner conference profile, click “Edit” next to “Registration Profile,” and scroll down to answer the “Attendee Profile” questions.