# Bill Sieglein

Bill Sieglein works with CISOExecNet, which brings chief information security officers together with cybersecurity vendors in regional roundtables. His posts describe moderating discussions, gathering members’ views on issues such as AI governance and identity security, and encouraging vendors to listen before presenting.

- Profile: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/creators/bill-sieglein/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cisoexecutivenetwork
- Median of last 7 posts: 21 reactions, 1 comments (checked 2026-11-02)
- Topics: artificial-intelligence, cybersecurity, identity-security
- Based on 8 dated posts, latest 2026-09-17

## Summary

Most useful for moderated regional roundtables that connect cybersecurity vendors with US CISOs.

- Best for: A cybersecurity marketing agency helping a vendor improve engagement and messaging with US CISOs.
- Not for: EMEA or APAC demand pushes, scripted demos, cold paid distribution, or fast lead targets.
- Check first: Confirm sponsorship terms, recent roundtable results, and member seniority data.

### Takeaways

- He compares vendor outreach to active sonar that gives away a ship's position.
- A sponsor set aside slides after hearing nearly 45 members describe identity security challenges.
- Pittsburgh and Philadelphia poll: vulnerability management led expected AI impact at 41 percent.

## Main ideas

- **Cybersecurity vendors should listen before they pitch — the passive sonar argument**: Bill Sieglein's central argument to the vendors who sponsor CISOExecNet roundtables is that most cybersecurity companies broadcast at the market instead of listening to it. The reasoning rests on a comparison: active sonar sends out a ping that reveals your position, so navies moved away from it, while passive sonar listens only and leaves the other side unaware of where you are. Sieglein applies the same logic to the thousands of cybersecurity vendors, saying they spend their time pinging while doing very little listening, and that member CISOs will say honestly what they need and have budget for — which Sieglein calls the most valuable thing a vendor can learn. The post states that CISOExecNet coaches its sponsors toward the listening approach, and that the organisation has fostered it for the past twenty years.
- **A sponsor should answer the room, not read the slides**: Sieglein draws a line between two ways a vendor can spend a sponsor slot. A bullhorn pushes a fixed message at members; a walkie-talkie listens first and responds to what was said. The reasoning is that members have already described their problems in the room, so a vendor who uses that material becomes relevant immediately, while a vendor who ignores it does not. Sieglein treats the behaviour as something sponsors can learn and calls it out publicly when it happens.
- **AI governance and security is the question this community is working through**: Across the posts, AI governance and security is the subject Sieglein returns to most. It is handled at three levels: how mature an organisation's governance and controls are, where AI is expected to have the greatest positive impact on a security programme over the next two to three years, and who inside a company should own governance. Sieglein presents the topic as something members are still working out together rather than a settled practice, which is why it keeps appearing as a roundtable theme and a poll subject.
- **Member polls turn roundtable answers into a shareable benchmark**: Sieglein asks members multiple-choice questions during roundtables and publishes the results afterwards with an invitation for readers to compare their own situation. The reasoning is that the answers give vendors a factual picture of what this buyer group prioritises, rather than a vendor's assumption about it. The published percentages are the kind of specific evidence a vendor can cite, and the question wording is reusable.
- **Roundtable topics follow the regional schedule, not a fixed curriculum**: The programme Sieglein describes is a moderated, in-person format repeated across regions, with the topic changing as the series moves. One stretch of the calendar covered identity security; the next was announced as visibility and management of attack surface, security posture and exposure. The reasoning behind the format is that members share current problems with peers in the same region, with law firm hosts adding a legal update at some sessions and sponsors taking part.

## Work to read

- [Listen first, ping later: the passive sonar lesson for cybersecurity vendors](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cisoexecutivenetwork_what-does-sonar-have-to-do-with-cybersecurity-activity-7501639608166785024-1R8B)
- [Walkie-talkie, not bullhorn: how a sponsor earned attention by listening](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cisoexecutivenetwork_love-when-our-sponsors-use-a-two-way-walkie-talkie-activity-7506401587079077889-fdRT)
- [Where CISOs expect AI to matter most: Pennsylvania roundtable poll](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cisoexecutivenetwork_grateful-for-the-sponsorship-from-blinkops-activity-7518028546590806017-5eGy)
- [Twenty years of the CSO Breakfast Club and another week of roundtables](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cisoexecutivenetwork_yet-another-busy-week-last-week-moderating-activity-7517970468813897728-U0NE)
- [Fifth regional roundtable series: AI governance maturity and impact polls](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cisoexecutivenetwork_ciso-ai-ciso-activity-7515140046681759744-n6iR)
- [Eleven roundtables, 300 CISOs, and the next focus on attack surface](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cisoexecutivenetwork_sacramento-ciso-roundtables-activity-7521918881599426560-eXsG)

## Brand relationships

- **CISOExecNet** (disclosed_partnership)
- **BlinkOps** (sponsor)
- **Legit Security** (sponsor)
- **MIND** (sponsor)
- **Novee Security** (sponsor)
- **TELUS Digital** (sponsor)
- **Bold Security** (sponsor)
- **Sentra** (sponsor)
- **Upwind Security** (sponsor)
- **Blank Rome LLP** (mention)
- **Reed Smith** (mention)
- **CSO Breakfast Club** (mention)

## Partnerships

CISOExecNet, which Bill Sieglein represents in the reviewed posts, sells vendor participation in its regional CISO roundtable series. Sponsors support roundtables and gain access to member chief information security officers through event sponsorship and, in at least one described case, a speaking slot. The operating expectation Sieglein emphasizes is listening-first engagement: sponsors should hear member concerns before presenting, adapt to what members say, and avoid a broadcast-style pitch. Named sponsors across the reviewed posts include BlinkOps, MIND, Legit Security, Novee Security, TELUS Digital, Bold Security, Sentra, and Upwind Security. The posts show sponsorship activity but do not include a sponsor policy, rate card, contract terms, or an official partnership inquiry page.

## Alternatives

- Caleb Schmitz: Choose Caleb Schmitz when the campaign problem is the client's own marketing and sales machinery rather than the conversation with CISOs. The two posts show an internal NetSuite administrator building a "Pipeline Allocation Manager": a saved search of each rep's active pipeline is turned into a live report, first as an HTML mockup generated from a screenshot of the old Excel sheet, then converted into a working NetSuite Suitelet after a few rounds of layout changes. A second post shows the same tool used to explain a KPI that looked wrong — a dip in leads after a new marketing-qualified and sales-qualified lead status was introduced on 1 April — and then reused to build an interactive, filterable report the CEO could check. If the client's problem is misleading pipeline stages, manual weekly reporting, or leadership asking for numbers nobody can defend, this is the more relevant reference, and the posts include the exact prompt used so the workflow can be copied.
- Daliana Liu: Consider Daliana Liu when the brief shifts from vendor messaging to a career, visibility, or personal-brand task — for example helping a security practitioner or a security leader get promoted, present to executives, or build a public profile. One post lists five things from 2025: five months living in New York after five Asian cities, meeting people only through trusted referrals, treating coaching as a second master's degree because strategy alone does not move people, and watching clients go from frightened of presenting to winning executive buy-in, from stalled careers to senior promotions, and from undercharging to launching products. The second post argues that the three popular forms of "passive income" — a course, stocks, a small software product — are all active work, and reframes the goal as agency over your time rather than earning without effort. That is usable material for a brief about a person's positioning and next career move.
- Daniel Sagar: Pick Daniel Sagar when the decision narrows to small-business growth in the UK, especially a client selling CRM or AI adoption to owner-managed firms that want to stop firefighting. A January post lays out a working diary: onboarding a client into an AI CRM, a local Entrepreneurs Circle meeting, a first Pro-Cast session, a chamber of commerce breakfast talk on 2026 strategy and three growth philosophies, a two-day "Business Health Check" event on the twelve vital signs of a successful business, a Barclays Innovation Hub talk on where the money is and how to get it, a HYROX race, and a peer-to-peer board he is building. A second post, from a radio appearance, lists the themes he speaks on: the difference between being busy and being productive, finding the real constraints in a business, using AI as a leverage tool, keeping a simple CRM with automated follow-ups, and trust as the key asset in the age of AI. Those formats — local talks, peer boards, radio — are directly transferable if the client's market is nearby small businesses.

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AI-assisted summary of public posts. Audience demographics are not available. Engagement appears only where we checked recent posts. Method: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/methodology/