Inaugural Data & Security Summit Wisconsin 2023 Gathered 250 Leaders

More than 60 data and security executives representing various industries from the Greater Milwaukee and surrounding area served as keynote speakers, panelists and moderators at the ComSpark Data & Security Midwest Summit on May 9, 2023.

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CDO Magazine hosted more than 250 data and security leaders at its first ComSpark Data & Security Summit Wisconsin 2023 on May 9 in Milwaukee. The Summit spotlighted technology executives and organizations from the Midwest U.S. region as world leaders in technology.

Participants enjoyed keynote presentations by Mike Meriton, EDM Council Co-Founder and COO; Paul Moxon, Denodo SVP, Data Architecture and Chief Evangelist; and Kash Mehdi, Data Galaxy VP of Growth. They also engaged with 60+ speakers in 15 thought leadership panel discussions, visited with exhibitors at sponsor booths, and connected with peer experts.

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“Getting the leading executives in Milwaukee, and throughout the state of Wisconsin and the greater Chicago area together to talk about how data is impacting their community, and tying it to what's going on globally was thrilling,” said CDO Magazine CEO Steve Wanamaker.

According to Maribeth Achterberg, Molson Coors VP for Solution Delivery and CDO Magazine Global Editorial Board member, “The speakers were engaging and informative. The vendors were relevant and helpful. The venue worked perfectly and the event staff ensured that the first time CDO Magazine came to Milwaukee was flawless. I look forward to attending and speaking at other CDO Magazine events this year.”

Similarly, Chris Szafranski, American Family Insurance Privacy Director, “loved the event because it was fun, informative and relaxed. There was a lot of opportunity for networking, and the topics were very timely.” Grant Ecker, Danaher Vice President and Chief Enterprise Architect, valued the well-rounded discussions with a diverse group of women, people of color and various roles and job titles represented on panels.

The Summit featured nine tracks:

Building a Data-driven Enterprise
Leveraging Data to Drive Business Value and Outcomes
The Journey Toward Zero Trust
Best Practices with Cybersecurity in the Cloud
Securing Third Party and Supply Chain Best Practices
Best Practices in Identity Access Management
Building High Performing Remote Teams
Attracting, Retaining and Developing Talent
Best Practices Around AppSec and DevSecOps

The Summit was sponsored by 27 exhibitors including our Founding and Partner Pavilion sponsor GuidePoint Security and our major Keynote Sponsors Denodo and DataGalaxy. Bridget Armbrust, GuidePoint Security Marketing Manager, North Central, said the Summit was a “fantastic inaugural event with good vendor support and great panel breakout sessions.” She added that she’s looking forward to next year.

“The industrial town of Milwaukee is becoming data driven,” according to Karan Dhawal, ZS Enterprise Data & Transformation Strategy Leader. “The Summit was about bringing together leaders with experience from Six Sigma to manufacturing best practices to talent retention all through the lens of data, IT, security and compliance. It was the best way to bring ideas and innovation together,” he concluded.

All sessions were audio recorded and will be available in the coming weeks on ComSpark.tech and CDOMagazine.tech.