Enterprise Finalists

Keith Duemling is Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Catholic Health, Long Island, where he raised cybersecurity maturity from baseline to advanced and made it a core enabler of clinical strategy. Aligned to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and HITRUST, his work strengthened detection, response, and identity governance across clinical environments. His current focus is identity modernization, Zero Trust, and AI-enabled cyber governance. He previously led cybersecurity at Cleveland Clinic and holds an MBA.

We changed what cybersecurity is at Catholic Health. It was a control function. It is now a capability the business plans around. One governance model replaced many, allowing us to assess once and report across federal, state, and payer obligations. Detection and response moved to a 24-hour clock. We consolidated a fragmented identity environment, shortening clinician onboarding and removing access no one needed. Our independent security rating reached top-tier performance, and our insurers priced that improvement at renewal. The program now protects the four things every executive team cares about: patient safety, operational uptime, financial exposure, and institutional trust.

Dave Munroe is the CISO for the National Hockey League (NHL). He has over 30 years of experience in the Internet and Information Security industries. He started his technology career in 1994 by founding one of the first commercial Internet Service Providers and participated in the exponential growth of the Internet while responding to many of the nascent Internet-based cyber threats. Before joining the NHL in 2015, Dave worked at Sony Music for 10 years.

In my opinion, the hardest job in cybersecurity is not defending against attackers, but effectively maintaining the balance between security and usability for a business. I have been quite fortunate with the success of this balance during my time at the National Hockey League. Being able to maintain such a balance is not entirely a solo effort; it requires the support of the leadership, team, multiple departments, and all this involved in any technology enabled activity. I am very thankful for everyone I have worked for and with at the League, without them we would not have achieved our success.

Daniel Nuñez is NYCERS CISO, leading its InfoSec program. With 39+ years in IT and 25 in cybersecurity, risk, compliance, and leadership, he specializes in balancing security with business objectives and communicating risk and strategy to executives. he aligns security with business strategy for executives. Previously Deputy Commissioner/CISO for NYC OTI, Daniel also held global CISO roles in finance, education, healthcare, and SaaS. He is dedicated to program transformation and mentoring future leaders.

Since joining NYCERS as CISO, I have transformed and matured the Cybersecurity Program into a comprehensive, resilient, and NYDFS-compliant program. We implemented modern capabilities including an AI-enabled SOC, SIEM, adaptive MFA, cloud IGA/PAM, GRC, DLP, MDR, WAF, DDoS protection, CASB/CASM, vulnerability management, penetration testing, and breach simulation. We strengthened governance with comprehensive policies, including AI, and established a Security Ambassador Program to address human risk. I’ve upskilled and certified my team across multiple domains. Enhanced resilience through incident response, tabletop exercises, cyber insurance, and BCP/DR integration. Also established Fraud and strengthened SDLC controls, with Insider Threat and CSPM initiatives underway.

Ben serves as SVP and CISO at Optimum, where he leads the company’s enterprise cybersecurity, governance, and IT risk management strategy. With over 20 years of experience across telecommunications, healthcare, and financial services, he has built and led security and IT risk management programs that align technology with organizational strategy, operational resilience, and regulatory requirements. Ben serves on multiple Boards and Advisory Committees. He holds both an MBA and a B.S. in MIS from RIT.

Over the past two and a half years, we transformed Cyber Security from a largely reactive function with limited attack visibility and immature incident response capabilities into a proactive, intelligence-driven organization. Today, we operate an AI-enabled SOC with advanced automation, a mature threat intelligence program, dedicated customer security teams, best-in-class tooling, and robust incident response capabilities. We achieved this while nearly tripling the size of the organization, fostering a high-performance culture built on teamwork, and delivering the highest employee engagement scores across the company.

Hussein Syed is the SVP and Chief Information Security Officer at RWJBarnabas Health, with more than 25 years of experience in information technology and cybersecurity. He has led enterprise security strategy since 2002, aligning cybersecurity with business objectives for the nation’s largest healthcare system. A recognized industry leader, Hussein has presented at Gartner, HIMSS, and RSA, served as Chair of AEHIS, and was named by Becker’s Hospital Review as a “Hospital CISO to Know.”

RWJBH needed to improve the cyber threat defenses by redesigning the threat detection and response due ransomware threats. We deployed a number of leading tools to detect respond with automation to mitigate threats to endpoints, identity, Cloud and email. Critical threats have auto isolation policies to prevent spreading of malware. We conduct monthly and quality cyber defense exercise to validate controls, engage partners to enhance functionality based upon known attack vectors. The baseline and metrics are presented to the leadership. The architecture comprises of CrowdStrike EDR, CrowdStrike Identity, Red Canary, Cymulate and Paolo Alto xSoar as the manager

Peter Tse is the Head of IT Security at Natixis CIB Americas, leading strategic cybersecurity, threat mitigation, and regulatory compliance. Known for scaling high-performing teams, Peter transforms security into a business-enabling differentiator. Beyond his corporate leadership, he is a dedicated community champion, serving on the Board of Directors for the ISACA New York Metropolitan Chapter and mentoring future cybersecurity professionals to strengthen collective industry defenses.

As the Head of IT Security/CISO for Natixis CIB Americas, I transformed our security division into a proactive, business-enabling asset. By pioneering risk-based vulnerability management and integrating automated security monitoring, we fortified our global infrastructure while accelerating software deployment speeds. Simultaneously, I scaled our security team and prioritized a culture of psychological safety, advanced mentorship, and internal mobility. These initiatives did not just secure our digital ecosystem and ensure compliance with stringent financial regulations—they cultivated the next generation of cybersecurity leaders and built the digital trust essential to our market-leading client services.