On the 36th episode of Enterprise AI Defenders, hosts Evan Reiser and Mike Britton talk with Chris Leigh, VP and Chief Information Security Officer at Eversource Energy. Chris leads security for a regulated, high-stakes utility serving millions across New England. He also owns AI in an uncommon org design that he uses to prove a point: governance does not have to slow innovation if it is built like an engineering function, with repeatable guardrails and clear pathways to ship.

Quick hits from Chris:

​​On shipping AI faster with standardization: “And that’s allowed us to accelerate our time to delivery by orders of magnitude of three months, down to four weeks, down to two weeks for various sprints.”

On preventing outages with drone inspection: “We’ve put some patterns out on this that allows us to better bring in the imagery and run it through our models and pick up damaged components or hotspots in the wires, which allows us to schedule and do repairs before we actually have power outages.”

​​On transforming threat intel into action for the SOC: “Any IOCs get popped into our tools automatically.”

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Like what you hear? Leave us a review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Enterprise AI Defenders is a show where top security executives share how moves to the cloud have created an evolved threat landscape that requires new tools to protect against cybercrime. Find more great lessons from tech leaders and enterprise software experts at https://www.enterprisesoftware.blog/.

Enterprise AI Defenders is produced by Abnormal Studios.

On the 35th episode of Enterprise AI Defenders, hosts Evan Reiser (co-founder and CEO, Abnormal AI) and Mike Britton (CIO, Abnormal AI) talk with Adam Keown, Chief Information Security Officer at Eastman Chemical Company. Adam draws on a career in law enforcement and global enterprise security to explain how Eastman is safeguarding life-critical manufacturing through identity-first defense, AI-informed education, and resilience engineering, staying ahead of a dynamic threat landscape.

Quick hits from Adam:

On aligning cyber with manufacturing outcomes: “Cybersecurity here at Eastman has two main pillars: make sure the business continues running, and protect our intellectual property. That gives us an advantage in the market.”

On evolving attack surfaces: “Identity is the new attack surface, and privilege is the blast radius.”

On adaptive education: “One of the nicest compliments I’ve gotten was a VP saying: ‘Your security newsletter is so concise it’s faster to read than to file away’.”

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Like what you hear? Leave us a review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Enterprise AI Defenders is a show where top security executives share how moves to the cloud have created an evolved threat landscape that requires new tools to protect against cybercrime. Find more great lessons from tech leaders and enterprise software experts at https://www.enterprisesoftware.blog/.

Enterprise AI Defenders is produced by Josh Meer.

On the 34th episode of Enterprise AI Defenders, hosts Evan Reiser (co-founder and CEO, Abnormal AI) and Mike Britton (CISO, Abnormal AI) talk with Micah Czigan, Chief Information Security Officer at Georgetown University. Micah shares how Georgetown is navigating AI adoption with security-first thinking, tailored governance, and a mindset rooted in experimentation. From piloting secure internal AI tools to defending against deepfakes and hyper-personalized phishing, Micah’s approach protects people while embracing innovation.

Quick hits from Micah:

On AI-powered phishing: “Phishing emails now look personal. AI is building profiles and crafting messages that feel targeted, not blasted.”

On governance that enables adoption: “Shadow AI happens when people don’t feel they have a path to yes. We’re focused on building that path.”

On personalized AI defense models: “We're profiling advisory targets to understand risk not just by email but web activity too, and that’s all AI-powered.”

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Like what you hear? Leave us a review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Enterprise AI Defenders is a show where top security executives share how moves to the cloud have created an evolved threat landscape that requires new tools to protect against cybercrime. Find more great lessons from tech leaders and enterprise software experts at https://www.enterprisesoftware.blog/.

Enterprise AI Defenders is produced by Josh Meer.