Insights

Always essential for businesses, brand identity is quickly becoming crucial for the individual as well. But the power of branding isn’t siloed—an individual with a strong personal brand brings that resultant influence to the benefit of their organization. 

Our conversation with Ken Viciana outlines Ken’s own brand development journey, offers advice and best practice for personal brand curation, and includes key insights on current and future trends. You’ll hear Ken’s firsthand advice on how to: 

• Differentiate yourself as an IT professional/leader
• Communicate and curate your brand identity
• Maintain your brand identity and continue making connections through disruption (i.e. when in-person isn’t possible) 

Ken Viciana is a globally-recognized leader with a robust personal brand, VicianaData, primarily focused on Data Management, Business Analytics, Information Governance, Cyber Security, and Risk Management.

Ken’s career includes executive roles with Fidelity, Suntrust, ING, Equifax, Fiserv, where he has successfully developed and mobilized strategies, capabilities, and programs putting data to work for business.  

In the insightful conclusion to their two-part discussion, Dr. Arlene Espinal, Deena Swatzie, and Maria Schwenger identify meaningful deltas they've observed, examine the effects of globalization on cloud/data management and the responsibility of data and "ethical AI," and look ahead to what's next and top-of-mind, both personally and from an industry perspective.

Maria Schwenger is AVP Head of App Security & Data Protection at American Family Insurance. Prior roles include VP DevSecOps & Strategy at Honeywell and Director, Cloud Operations & Strategy Architect at IBM.

Deena Swatzie is GVP Cyber Security Strategy & Digital Innovation at Truist, formerly SunTrust, where she was Group VP Cyber Security GRC Manager responsible for cyber governance and risk identification activities.

Dr. Arlene Espinal is Chief AI Officer for i-TaaS Consulting and also serves as an Independent Corporate Advisor. Prior, she was VP at ManTech leading A3 strategy and execution, and Global Head of Digital Transformation for SoftwareONE. Dr. Espinal is among the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology (2021) and a Top 100 Global Technology Leader (2020, 2022). 

In Part 1 of this two-episode discussion, Dr. Arlene Espinal hosts Deena Swatzie and Maria Schwenger in a conversation encompassing career establishment and development, mentorship and entry points, leadership and value systems, and key advice for the next generation entering tech fields.

Watch for Part 2 coming soon, wherein the panel shares top-of-mind thoughts on security threats, AI, digital transformation, and more.

Maria Schwenger is AVP Head of App Security & Data Protection at American Family Insurance. Prior roles include VP DevSecOps & Strategy at Honeywell and Director, Cloud Operations & Strategy Architect at IBM.

Deena Swatzie is GVP Cyber Security Strategy & Digital Innovation at Truist, formerly SunTrust, where she was Group VP Cyber Security GRC Manager responsible for cyber governance and risk identification activities.

Dr. Arlene Espinal is Chief AI Officer for i-TaaS Consulting and also serves as an Independent Corporate Advisor. Prior, she was VP at ManTech leading A3 strategy and execution, and Global Head of Digital Transformation for SoftwareONE. Dr. Espinal is among the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology (2021) and a Top 100 Global Technology Leader (2020, 2022). 

SINC: The Conversation—where IT peers interview each other. SINC’s podcast season continues with the conclusion of the conversation between Walter Ferrer and Reinier Moquete. Here in Part Two, Walter and Reinier outline action-oriented leadership strategy, exploring how to cultivate diverse talent in the context of the talent crisis, both at an organizational level and in different levels throughout industry. 

Engage with Walter and Reinier and experience their live Fireside Chat at SINC’s 2021 regional forums: Northeast in Washington D.C. (Oct 3-5th) and TOLA in San Antonio (Oct 24-26th). 

Walter G Ferrer is Managing Director at Zenlity LLC, a consulting firm focused on transformative innovation to talent agility. Walter serves as COO for a business unit in a large financial services organization; prior leadership experience includes CSC, NeuStar, and ManTech.  

Reinier Moquete is the founder & CEO of CyberWarrior and CyberWarrior Academy. He has been recognized as an Emerging Leader by the Boston Business Journal and included in Boston’s 100 Most Influential People of Color.

For more information and our full slate of offerings visit SINCUSA.com 

SINC: The Conversation—where IT peers interview each other. Our season kicks off with Part One of a two-episode conversation between Walter Ferrer and and Reinier Moquete. This deep-dive discussion takes diversity beyond lip service, positing its moral accuracy as demonstrative of its integral value to organizational health, business relationships, innovation and resiliency. 

In Part One, Walter and Reinier explore the implications of cultural awareness and fluency that translate into immediate business results, assess the cybersecurity talent gap and potential impact of overlooked communities such as women, people of color, and military veterans, and address the social responsibility of industry to step up to the challenge. 

Engage with Walter and Reinier and experience their live Fireside Chat at SINC’s 2021 regional forums in Miami (Sept. 19-21st) Washington D.C. (Oct 3-5th) and San Antonio (Oct 24-26th). 

Walter G Ferrer is Managing Director at Zenlity LLC, a consulting firm focused on transformative innovation to talent agility. Walter serves as COO for a business unit in a large financial services organization; prior leadership experience includes CSC, NeuStar, and ManTech.  

Founder & CEO of CyberWarrior and CyberWarrior Academy, Reinier Moquete has been recognized as an Emerging Leader by the Boston Business Journal and included in Boston’s 100 Most Influential People of Color.

For more information visit SINCUSA.com 

SINC USA is a national resource for senior IT executives, and SINC: The Conversation podcast offers a digital window into the unique engagement experience that is the SINC community. In this podcast, you’ll hear directly from IT industry experts, leaders, and thinkers, and learn firsthand about the key insights, strategies, and relationships reimagining the future. Welcome to The Conversation. For more information visit www.sincusa.com