i.c.stars |* iOpener Innovation Conference 2026
Wednesday, August 19th, 7:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower, Chicago, IL
Secure the Future: Protecting Data, Privacy, and Compliance
Listen to engaging keynote speakers, participate in CIO-led discussions, attend breakouts, and network with tech leaders and i.c.stars alumni.
Speaker Lineup: (more to come in the coming weeks)
Wendy Betts, Information Security Officer, Rotary International
Derek Eder, Partner & Founder at DataMade, President Emeritus at Chi Hack Night, Oak Park Village Trustee
Trent Ridgway, Head of Security & Infrastructure, CISO, Anning-Johnson Company
Brian Higgins, Sr. Manager of Information Security, CISSP at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma & Texas
Chanda Dutta, Director of Information Security and Governance, William Blair
Our host for the morning:
i.c.stars’ National Board member Melissa Summers, Managing Director, Accenture
Check out our VIP attendee Table Hosts: (more to be added in the coming weeks)
- Shakeef Abubaker, Pracitce Group Leader, ZUMITIN Inc.
- Yemi Akisanya, VP of Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and People Experience, Axon
- Jim Anfield, Adjunct Instructor – Industrial Systems Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Sid Bala, CEO & Founder, KOIOS
- Steven Barger, COO, Moshun LLC
- Vikram Bhonagiri
- Neal Bloomfield, Executive Director, Commercial Systems, Horizon Therapeutics
- Gopinath Cataram, Head of Corporate Systems, William Blair
- Tom Cesario, VP of US Operations and IT, Radio Flyer
- Alberto Colon, Director of IT and Enterprise, Home Chef
- Natalie Dyon, Senior Director Security Governance Risk & Compliance, Reyes Holdings
- Keith Evans
- Vince Fattore, CIO, One Extra Consulting
- Faisal Ghauri, CIO, IDHA
- Craig Hamill, Chief Data Officer, Deputy of Data, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning
- Tammie Hardrick, Assistant Director, Resiliency and Control, IHDA
- Jack King, CIO, American College of Surgeons
- Mandi Komas, Executive Advisor, Strategy, Growth & Technology LLC
- Lauren Lapinski, Manager, Capacity Building Analytics, Feeding America
- Merredith Lewis, Fellow, AI for Leaders, Intentional Gravity, LLC
- Miko Limjoco, SVP Business Line Information Systems, Corporate, Wintrust Financial
- Laura Maloney, Owner, LPM Consulting, Inc.
- Scot Marcotte, Product Lead, HR & Compensation Consulting, Gallagher
- Samantha Mathis, Manager, Enterprise Data Governance & Security, Reyes Holdings
- Ben McInturff, Vice President of AI and Infrastructure , Frontier Direct Care
- Jeff Miller, CTO, TEXO
- Scott Morgan, SVP, CIO, Health Care Service Corporation
- Michael Muszynski, Security Governance, Risk, and Compliance Manager, Reyes Holdings
- Scott Oliver, CIO, Nationwide Acceptance LLC
- Brian Palmer, Director of IT, Ventas Inc., Ventas Inc.
- James Pierce, Vice President, Business Technology Enablement, Medline Industries
- Donna Ponder, VP Partner Technology, Starbucks
- MQ Qureshi, Principal, Managing Director of Digital Product, Allstate
- Michael Rabbitt, Business Transformation Leader, Argonne National Laboratory
- Trent Ridgway, Head of Security and Infrastructure, Anning-Johnson Company
- Grahame Rush, Senior Vice President, Technology and External Relations, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
- Kader Sakkaria, Global CDO, Marsh
- Nick Stellato, Director Project Managment, LRS Recycles
- JT Stinnette, Co-Founder and Counsel, Fortis Global, LLC
- Christine Stone, Founder & CEO, Deliver at Scale
- Travis Von Alst, Senior Manager Data Security & Governance, Reyes Holdings
- George Wang, CMO, Peterson Technology Partners
- Rod Warren, Deputy CIO – Head of IT Delivery, City of Chicago
