Fireside Chat
Practice Like You Play: What Sports and Security Teams Have in Common
September 29, 2026 | 2pm EST
Security programs fail for human reasons far more often than technical ones.
Jack Thompson, Field CISO at Cynomi, came up through military intelligence and an NFL organization before moving into cybersecurity. Matt Lee, Senior Director of Security and Compliance at Pax8, describes himself as an educator first. In this conversation, they look at security through the lens of teams: what high performers have in common, how preparation actually works, why the best organizations rehearse failure, and how leaders build a culture where people raise their hand the moment something goes wrong.
They’ll explore what great teams understand about preparation, how to run meaningful drills without turning them into theater, how to review mistakes without creating blame, and what it takes to teach and lead people when the stakes are high. They’ll also look at the moments that truly test a team: the incident itself, the pressure surrounding it, and what happens in the days that follow.
Less about tooling, more about the people operating it, and how you prepare them to perform when it matters most.
Speakers
- Matt Lee – Sr. Director of Security and Compliance at Pax8
- Jack Thompson – Field CISO at Cynomi