Profile

David Gee is a globally recognised authority on technology strategy, cybersecurity, and digital transformation. With more than 25 years of C-suite leadership, David has held CIO and CISO roles across Asia Pacific, Japan, the US, and Australia, guiding organisations through large-scale transformation, resilience building, and risk governance.

David’s career includes senior roles such as Global Head of Technology, Cyber & Data Risk at Macquarie Group, CISO for HSBC Asia Pacific, and CIO for MetLife Japan, Eli Lilly, and Credit Union Australia. He has led multi-billion-dollar digital transformation programs, overseen cyber security uplift across 19 markets, and delivered core banking and insurance modernisation recognised with industry awards, including CIO of the Year.

As a trusted advisor, David serves on multiple boards and advisory groups, including Sapien Ventures, Bain Advisory Network, and the Critical Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (CI-ISAC). He is also a strategic advisor to emerging technology and cyber ventures, bringing commercialisation, governance, and growth expertise.

An accomplished thought leader, David is the author of The Aspiring CIO & CISO, recognised as a must-read for security leaders, and a regular columnist for CIO, CSO, and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. His insights reach a monthly readership of more than one million professionals.

David’s global perspective, coupled with deep operational expertise, positions him as a leading voice for boards and executives seeking clarity on technology, AI, cyber resilience, and governance frameworks essential for success in today’s complex digital environment.

Expertise

Talking Points

Board and Management alignment with the CIO and CISO

Technology plays such a key business driver for every enterprise and government body. For most Board and Management, the relationships with the CIO and CISO are challenging and there can be an unfortunate lack of alignment. How do I best reset on this relationship and maximise how technology is an exceptional business partner.

David has more than 25 years as a CIO and CISO. At HSBC he provided Cybersecurity Board Briefings to more than 300 board members each year. These briefings were designed to help increase the cybersecurity knowledge of the board members and drive stronger awareness for this key stakeholder. David has written articles on this for AICD and for CSO magazine globally. He has also delivered this keynote for CSO Conference.
This keynote has been developed for Board and Management to jointly with the CIO and CISO to establish a new working model.

Key Takeaways:
- How should I engage with my CIO and CISO?
- What expectations should we establish?
- How are these roles changing in the era of AI?
- What measures and metrics should we adopt at Board and Management level?

IT in the AI Era

The CIO and CISO role faces significant pressure from market dynamics, cyber risks, AI opportunities, and digital transformation, demanding rapid evolution. Consequently, CIO and CISOs must quickly adapt their strategies and themselves to ensure enterprise resilience despite existing data foundation challenges.

There is increased expectation from Board and Management to accelerate the adoption of AI to gain productivity improvements. How ‘responsible AI’ can be implemented with a sound risk framework so that enterprise is not moving ‘too fast’ or ‘too slow’ but aligned with the degree of risk / reward.

This keynote is designed for Business and Technology leaders who want to succeed in this new frontier and not miss the opportunity.

Key Takeaways:
- What are the new AI Threats?
- How your IT team can be AI Driver, rather than department of ‘no’
- Partnering with business to balance productivity gains with security risks
- Practical approaches for building AI-ready security teams

World Class CIO and CISO

Modern technology leaders must navigate complex stakeholder expectations while building resilient, future-ready organisations. Consequently, aspiring and current CIO and CISOs must develop comprehensive leadership capabilities that span technical expertise, business acumen, and strategic vision to drive organisational success in an increasingly complex digital landscape. This keynote is based on the best-selling Aspiring CIO and CISO book which has been recognised as a ‘must read’ for leaders and recommended as ‘2025 career guide’.

The keynote has been delivered to Technology Leadership teams, aspiring leaders and to Technology vendors who are trying to understand how the CIO and CISOs think.

Key Takeaways:
- Building Executive Leadership Presence: Developing the strategic mindset and communication skills necessary to operate effectively at the C-suite level
- Navigating Stakeholder Relationships: Mastering the art of partnering with boards, CEOs, and business units to align technology initiatives with organisational goals
- Career Advancement Strategies: Creating a purposeful path from technical roles to executive leadership through skill development and strategic positioning
- Balancing Innovation with Risk: Establishing frameworks for embracing emerging technologies while maintaining robust security and governance standards

Quantum Computing Risk

Modern technology leaders must navigate the emerging quantum computing landscape while preparing their organisations for both new opportunities and existential cybersecurity threats. Consequently, business and technology leaders must develop comprehensive quantum readiness strategies that span cryptographic modernisation, risk assessment frameworks, and strategic technology roadmaps to ensure organisational resilience in the approaching quantum era.

The quantum computing revolution presents technology leaders with a unique challenge: preparing for a technology that will simultaneously unlock extraordinary computational capabilities while rendering current encryption methods obsolete. CIOs must balance immediate infrastructure investments with long-term quantum strategy, while CISOs face the urgent task of implementing quantum-resistant cryptography before "Q-Day" – the moment when quantum computers can break existing encryption standards

This keynote has been developed for business executives and technology leadership teams grappling with quantum timeline uncertainties, aspiring leaders seeking to understand next-generation risk management, and technology vendors who need to comprehend how forward-thinking CIOs and CISOs are evaluating quantum-related investments and security transformations

Key Takeaways:
- The coming shockwave: Quantum computing may disrupt financial markets
- The hidden danger of "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later"— why today’s encrypted data may not be safe tomorrow
- The potential for quantum-driven cyber warfare, surveillance, and next-gen weaponry
- The costly and complex road to quantum-resistant encryption—what’s at stake?
- What steps can you take now to protect your data and infrastructure, NOW?

A Day in the Life of a CISO

Cybersecurity leadership requires mastering the delicate balance between technical security expertise and executive business acumen while navigating unprecedented threat landscapes and stakeholder expectations. Consequently, current and aspiring CISOs must develop comprehensive leadership capabilities that span strategic thinking, organisational influence, and the ability to translate complex security concepts into measurable business outcomes to drive resilience in an increasingly hostile digital environment.
Based on David Gee’s - A Day in the Life of a CISO book, which includes more than 24 global CISOs from different industries sharing their stories and career guidance. This mentorship-driven approach is based on real-world experiences from successful cybersecurity executives who have navigated the complexities of the CISO role and transformed security from a cost centre into a strategic business enabler.

This comprehensive guide serves multiple critical audiences: business executives who are wanting to support cybersecurity agenda and create the security culture required. Plus CISOs seeking to accelerate their professional development by learning from experienced practitioners' successes and failures; aspiring CISOs who want to understand the realities of the role before stepping into it; CIOs who need to better support and collaborate with their security leaders; and the vendor ecosystem that must understand how CISOs actually think, evaluate solutions, and make purchasing decisions rather than operating on outdated assumptions about their needs and priorities.

Key Takeaways:
- How to build trust with the Board
- Moving Cybersecurity from cost centre into being a strategic business partner
- Managing crisis communications and major incidents
- How to deliver value through risk reduction

Leading Complex Transformations

Every business is looking to drive business transformation to both stay in business and to enable growth for the future. Most transformations fail to deliver their expected benefits and are delayed with cost overruns. To bring an enterprise or large organisation on this journey takes courage and commitment. Transformation leadership requires exceptional leadership resilience and there is specific change agent 'pain killer' DNA that the team will need to hire or develop quickly.

During a transformation there is significant pressure on the Management Team to role model and actively support this mission, however they also must keep the business operating effectively while their teams are distracted with this new challenge. Building transformation capability and strategies to avoid stakeholder fatigue while sustaining energy throughout the journey becomes essential for success. These transformations are motivated by the objective to improve products and accelerate market growth. The transformation will often have technology, data and AI enablement, but how these intersect with 'People' and "Process' is critical to the success of these initiatives.

David brings a proven track record of leading large-scale business transformations that deliver significant customer experience improvements across complex technology environments. He led his first enterprise-wide transformation at Pioneer International and has evolved into a career as a serial transformation leader across Pharmaceutical, Insurance and Banking sectors, including the successful CUA Core, Mobile and Online Banking transformation that fundamentally reshaped digital customer engagement.

This workshop session is designed for Management Teams, Boards, Senior Executives and Transformation Sponsors that are about to embark on a transformation or recently commenced a significant change project and have concerns that this has not been as smooth as expected.

Key Takeaways:
· How to lead and drive a successful transformation
· On the edge of chaos – how to balance sense of urgency with disruption
· How to engage your team and discourage 'spectator' behaviour
· Identifying and neutralizing transformation killers before they sabotage progress
· Transformation governance frameworks that actually work effectively