Who we are

Uniting the C‑level community.

The events Kathy and her team host are more than just gatherings — they’re exclusive opportunities to connect with top CISOs, celebrate excellence, and immerse yourself in curated lifestyle experiences in extraordinary settings.

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The story

It began with a passion for connection.

Sixteen years ago, Kolenko & Associates set out to do one thing well: bring the people who defend the world’s organisations into the same room, and give them a reason to stay in it.

Since then we’ve united Chief Information Security Officers, Chief Information Officers and esteemed industry security leaders at prestigious events alongside the Black Hat and RSA conferences, and at intimate dinners and socials from Las Vegas to New York. In addition to our notable gatherings, we offer comprehensive IT and cybersecurity consulting in collaboration with our distinguished partners.

Sixteen years on, the guest list has grown and the settings have become more extraordinary — from private dining rooms to a sailing yacht on New York Harbor — but the intent hasn’t changed: curated executive experiences and authentic connections.

Guests on the red carpet at the Cybersecurity Woman of the Year awards — Cybersecurity Woman of the Year

The team

The people behind the evening

Kathy Kolenko

Founder

Kathy has been in the IT and security industry since 1991 — a seasoned Silicon Valley executive with over 25 years in sales and marketing to the Fortune 1000, and across the financial, retail and healthcare sectors.

Kolenko & Associates grew out of that career and the network that came with it — sixteen years of invitation-only gatherings, from signature evenings alongside Black Hat and RSA to smaller dinners coast to coast. Ask the guests what brings them back and the answer is much the same: Kathy knows who ought to meet whom.

What she will not do is let an evening become a sales floor. The guest list is curated rather than filled, sponsors sit at the table instead of behind a booth, and the conversation is left to find its own way. Sixteen years on, that restraint is the reason a room of security leaders still clears a night for it.

Nicole Watkins

Digital Marketing Manager

Nicole leads the digital side of Kolenko & Associates — the website first of all, and the graphics and invitations that give an evening its look before anyone arrives. Her background is in communications, and she puts it where it counts: the right note to the right person, in a voice that sounds like an invitation rather than a campaign. She is proud to do it alongside the women leading this industry.

Lisa and Marc at the Black Hat CISO Soirée, Las Vegas, August 2026

Lisa & Marc

Event Team

Lisa runs the day itself — registration and the welcome desk are hers, which makes her the first person most guests meet. Marc turns his hand to whatever the night needs, quietly filling whichever gap opens up. However carefully an evening is planned, it is decided on the day: a badge not yet printed, a table that wants moving, a guest arriving an hour early. Guests remember a night that ran as though it could not have run otherwise — and that ease is theirs.

How we work

Why our guests come back

Curated, not crowded

Every guest list is built by hand. We would rather have thirty of the right people than three hundred of the wrong ones.

Peer to peer

Practicing CISOs and executive security experts, together — so the conversation is candid and the shop talk is real.

Relationships first

Sixteen years of trusted relationships. Guests return because of who they’ll see, not what they’ll be sold.

Women in security

A woman-led team, proud to champion and celebrate the women shaping the cybersecurity field.

Join us

Be part of the next one.

Tell us a little about yourself and we’ll be in touch about the next gathering near you.

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