Artificial intelligence isn't coming - it's already in your organization, whether you invited it or not. In this session, Kenneth Townsend, CISO at Ingredion, shares how security leaders can stop playing defense against AI adoption and start shaping it. Drawing on real-world experience in a manufacturing environment, Townsend walks through how he approaches AI governance, data classification, shadow AI visibility and guardrails - not as barriers to innovation, but as the foundation that makes sustainable AI-driven growth possible.

The session will explore:

• Why understanding the business comes before any AI security decision;
• How data governance has become the most urgent priority for organizations deploying AI, particularly as agentic AI makes data classification, access control and customer data obligations impossible to defer;
• Practical lessons from monitoring AI adoption before blocking it, building employee education programs and identifying quick wins inside the SOC that demonstrate AI's value to leadership.