Business News: Updates, Trends, and Developments

Co-Founder of The Millennium Alliance Joins Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO)

Posted on January 20, 2022February 3, 2025 by Nicole Chan

NEW YORK – January 19, 2022 – The Millennium Alliance, an invitation-only organization for Senior-Level Executives and Business Transformers, has had the privilege over the past eight years of collaborating with many of the most accomplished C-Suite executives from across the globe. Millennium is excited to announce that its Co-Founder Alex Sobol is one of the newest members of the prestigious Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), where he will have the ability to build relationships with even more of the world’s top leaders. With over 30,000 members across 142 countries, totaling $9 trillion in combined revenue from YPO member-run companies, the opportunities to network with and share ideas with such an extraordinary leadership community are endless.

“I am really excited about joining YPO and being a part of the NJ chapter. Even in the few short months that I have been a member, I have met so many great people and participated in some very innovative events. Very much looking forward to what’s to come in the future and plan to contribute in a positive way.” – Alex Sobol, Co-Founder, The Millennium Alliance.

The entire Millennium Alliance team looks forward to following Alex’s journey as he continues to expand his perspectives and elevate his leadership. This will only help the organization as they prepare for a year full of growth and expansion, to put themselves in a position to top their most successful year in company history in 2022.

For more information or to get in contact with The Millennium Alliance directly, contact info@mill-all.com.

ABOUT YPO

YPO is the global leadership community of more than 30,000 chief executives in 142 countries who are driven by the belief that the world needs better leaders. Each of our members have achieved significant leadership success at a young age. Combined, they lead businesses and organizations contributing $9 trillion in annual revenue. YPO members become better leaders and better people through peer learning and exceptional experiences in an inclusive community of open sharing and trust.

ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM ALLIANCE

This all started in 2014 when our founders, Alex Sobol & Rob Davis, decided to create the most intimate, high-level & exclusive in-person and online thinktank for leaders in a wide variety of industries within both the private and public sectors: The Millennium Alliance. Since its founding, Millennium has built a strong reputation nationwide, now with thousands of engaged Members, and was recently featured on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies. The Millennium Alliance is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan with offices in Austin, TX.

Building upon its award-winning conference and executive education businesses, today, The Millennium Alliance continues to stay connected with its C-Suite Members and partners through intimate In-Person and Virtual Assemblies, industry-leading Executive Education Opportunities, and by providing exclusive industry insights from the nation’s leading academics, business leaders, and technology providers via our 50+ annual events and The Digital Diary Content Platform, as well as the rapidly growing #MillenniumLive Podcast Series.

Sujeet Bambawale, CISO of 7-Eleven, Returns to Keynote Our Upcoming CISO Assembly!

Posted on January 12, 2022January 31, 2025 by Nicole Chan

After an excellent keynote address in 2021, The Millennium Alliance is proud to announce Sujeet Bambawale is back by popular demand and will return as keynote speaker for the upcoming Transformational CISO Virtual Assembly taking place on March 8-9, 2022. Bambawale has proven himself to be a cybersecurity trailblazer as CISO of the iconic 7-Eleven brand. Before working with 7-Eleven, he led Security Engineering with Symantec, worked on the enterprise architecture & strategy team with NetApp, and spent over 10 years leading Intuit’s information security & compliance team. Click here to request an invite to the Assembly.

About Sujeet Bambawale

Sujeet Bambawale tells us that it is an honor and a privilege to serve as the Chief Information Security Officer of an iconic global brand that has a deep, cherished, always-on connection into communities everywhere. Information Security at 7-Eleven focuses on maintaining and enhancing an industry-leading, comprehensive and cohesive security fabric around the business value drivers in a customer-obsessed manner. The 7-Eleven Information Security organization brings together the various technical domains within Information Security with the force multipliers of Governance, Risk and Compliance as well as Data Protection to facilitate unified accountability and expedient action.

Bambawale went to 7-Eleven from Symantec’s Consumer Business Division where he had the honor of driving a global security engineering portfolio. Prior to joining Symantec via the LifeLock acquisition, he spent 5 years at NetApp, and over 10 years with Intuit, after working with the information security and risk management teams at Ernst & Young and KMPG. He has been responsible for leading key security initiatives that helped integrate security into the culture of the company and extend the brand into global markets. He led NetApp’s ISO27001 recertification, spoke at NetApp’s conferences in Berlin and Tokyo and was the recipient of Intuit’s Innovation Award. At Ernst & Young and KPMG, he was responsible for developing risk mitigation strategies primarily for Fortune 500 clients in the financial and technology sector.

His focus is on maturing the organization’s security posture by driving execution to a well-socialized and accepted security strategy that benefits internal and external stakeholders through a pragmatic mix of building cross-organizational relationships and developing people managers. He has a Masters degree in Electronics Engineering and am a Certified Chief Information Security Officer (C|CISO), a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) as well as Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT). Most recently, he was fortunate to learn about organizational leadership at global scale, with a focus on innovation and cybersecurity, from his professors and colleagues at the Haas Business School in UC Berkeley.

The Millennium Alliance Has Partnered With 30+ Of Interbrand’s Top Global Brands

Posted on November 3, 2021January 31, 2025 by Josie Witaschek

NEW YORK – November 3, 2021 – The Millennium Alliance, an invitation-only organization for Senior-Level Executives and Business Transformers, has had the privilege of working with a number of the most prestigious organizations throughout its nearly 8-year existence. Recently, Interbrand announced a list of their Top 100 Global Brands, 31 of which are companies that Millennium has partnered with, including:

Microsoft	IBM	AXA	Panasonic
Coca Cola	JP Morgan	Mastercard	HSBC
Toyota	UPS	Starbucks	3M
McDonald’s	American Express	L’Oréal	Johnson & Johnson
Disney	GE	Ford	Zoom
Nike	Visa	Citi	Sephora
Facebook	Sony	Goldman Sachs	Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Cisco	PayPal	eBay

“What has always set Millennium apart from other organizations in our space, has been the close-knit relationships that we have been able to cultivate with the world’s leading brands. We take the responsibility of providing a tremendous level of value to each partner that we work with very seriously, and our entire team is humbled to have had the opportunity to collaborate with so many of the brands that have broken down a lot of different barriers.”

– Alex Sobol, Co-Founder, The Millennium Alliance

To see even more of the powerful partners that Millennium is working with, check out their packed calendar of assemblies and digital transformation online community for the remainder of this year and through 2022.

For more information or to get in contact with The Millennium Alliance directly, contact info@mill-all.com.

ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM ALLIANCE

This all started in 2014 when our founders, Alex Sobol & Rob Davis decided to create the most intimate, high-level & exclusive in-person and online thinktank for leaders in a wide variety of industries within both the private and public sectors: The Millennium Alliance. Since its founding, Millennium has built a strong reputation nationwide, now with thousands of engaged Members, and was recently featured on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies. The Millennium Alliance is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan with offices in Austin, TX.

Research Analyst Ian Bruce Joins Our CMO & Retail Assembly!

Posted on October 19, 2021 by Emily French

We have big news to share – our final Transformational CMO & Retail Virtual Assembly for 2021 will feature Forrester Research! Ian Bruce, Vice President & Principal Analyst at the leading global research and advisory firm will share his exclusive insights gained over the course of 2021. His research has a special focus on how brand purpose & sustainability has influenced consumers and especially B2B buyers and impacted marketing efforts in the last year. Ian Bruce’s session will be an interactive roundtable discussion, allowing for participants to ask questions, and discuss how these findings relate to the C-Suite’s leading initiatives.

In our most anticipated marketing & retail assembly of 2021, we’ll be joined by top C-Suite innovators, leading academics, and industry thought leaders to uncover how to digitally transform enterprise in the new year. Interested in joining the conversation? Go here to request an invite.

About Ian Bruce

Ian Bruce is a Vice President & Principal Analyst with more than 20 years of international experience managing marketing, brand, and communications strategies for B2B companies.

Ian Bruce’s experience spans marketing strategy, brand development, messaging, market research, thought leadership, public relations, social media, and employee communications at innovative, venture-capital-backed startups as well as established multinational companies. He has also worked on a variety of large-scale research studies investigating brand perceptions, marketing effectiveness, and public policy.

Jose Arrieta Keynotes Our Digital Enterprise and Data Transformation Assembly!

Posted on October 18, 2021January 31, 2025 by Josie Witaschek

Our Digital Enterprise and Data Transformation Virtual Assembly in November will feature Jose Arrieta, Former Chief Information Officer and Chief Data Officer at HHS as our keynote speaker! In his last three years at HHS, he oversaw $6.3B in IT investments, $800B in grants, and $26B in Federal contracts while providing cybersecurity solutions for 174,000 people. Jose is a respected leader in applying emerging technologies including blockchain, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and data visualization/ process automation tools. The pandemic caused a lot of turbulence throughout the world and Jose led the creation and implementation of the largest public health surveillance capability in the United States during the pandemic and the first enterprise-grade supervised machine learning capability to help more accurately distribute testing supplies and predict hot spots across the United States.

In his Keynote Address on November 17th, Arrieta will share insights, lessons learned, and failures associated with implementing emerging technologies in a large complex organization during a global pandemic. He will outline how he thinks about valuing disruptive technology companies. He will also touch on blockchain-based solutions, quantum-inspired optimization capabilities, and the opportunities and challenges associated with the internet of things and cloud modernization. He will discuss how he thinks management and leadership will change as organizations become more distributed and virtual. The session will close out with an open Q/A segment for all registered attendees. Interested in joining this session? Go here to request an invite to the Assembly.

About Jose Arrieta

In his role as the former Chief Information Officer and Chief Data Officer of HHS, Arrieta admits that failing and pivoting was ultimately the key to the successes he and his team had. His office successfully defended the HHS network against multiple large-scale nation-state cyber-attacks. He led an effort to create a public-private key, distributed ledger infrastructure to establish digital identities for individuals across the United States that was never adopted as a solution. He built and led the implementation of the first blockchain-based solution for lowering licensing costs and decreasing the time of the procurement process in the Federal Government that saved over $100M dollars. Jose currently works with Federal customers evaluating and valuing venture-backed technology start-ups. He is also working with commercial customers bringing IoT solutions to supply chain and manufacturing processes in the energy and agricultural sectors. He currently sits on a few boards and advises technology startups and he recently launched a new IoT start-up focused on securing distributed solutions. To stay sharp, he created and teaches the first blockchain and cryptocurrency course at Johns Hopkins University as well as entrepreneurial finance. Jose currently lives in San Diego.

Innovator of the Year, Minsok Pak, Keynotes our CMO & Retail Assembly!

Posted on October 14, 2021 by Emily French

In our final Transformational CMO & Retail Assembly of the year, we are honored to be joined by our Keynote Speaker & 2021 Innovator of the Year Winner, Minsok Pak, EVP, Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer at Mondelēz International.

As our Innovator of the Year, Pak has demonstrated a background of digitally transforming organizations and creating superior omnichannel experiences over the years – from his time at Target, Lego Group, and McKinsey & Company. His innovation and leadership during the past year is what made him stand out among the hundreds of executives that qualified for this award. In what has been one of the most tumultuous years for business leaders, Pak and his team have focused on growing Mondelēz International’s e-Commerce and direct-to-consumer businesses, and focused on strategic growth opportunities. With 2020 net revenues of nearly $27 billion, Mondelēz International ranked 108 on the 2021 Fortune 500 list.

On November 17th, Minsok Pak’s keynote address will tackle the topics of snacking trends during the COVID-19 pandemic, the immense growth in e-Commerce, as well as the importance of innovation. The keynote will finish with an open Q/A segment for our registered attendees. Interested in learning from one of the most influential voices in the industry? Go here to request an invite!

About Minsok Pak

Minsok is Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer for Mondelēz International, a global company leading the future of snacking with 2020 net revenues of approximately $27 billion. In this role, he oversees a number of strategic growth areas critical to company growth and industry leadership, including Enterprise Strategy, M&A and strategic growth opportunities, new business, and e-Commerce and direct-to-consumer.

Prior to joining the company, Minsok was Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at Target in the United States where he helped lead the development and implementation of a highly successful growth strategy. He had oversight of Strategy & Planning, Insights, M&A/Business Development, and Innovation, all supporting the company’s drive for omnichannel transformation.

Minsok previously served as Senior Vice President for LEGO Group, where he led branded omnichannel retail including e-Commerce in more than 20 markets. Minsok spent close to 20 years with McKinsey & Company where he was a Senior Partner holding a range of roles in the US, Korea and Singapore, including Head of Asia-Pacific Sales & Marketing and other leadership positions in Asia Consumer & Retail and North American Supply Chain practices. He also spent a number of years as managing director of a private equity firm leading investments in packaged goods and mobile technology, as well as working internally for McKinsey & Company, helping lead the digital transformation for the firm.

Minsok holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Oberlin College and earned an MBA from Stanford University. Minsok is passionate about music and multisport, serving as a member of the Minnesota Orchestral Association Board and having completed 23 Ironman triathlons, including four times at the World Championships in Hawaii. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for Oberlin College.

Chet Robson of Walgreens Keynotes Our Digital Healthcare & Patient Experience Assembly!

Posted on October 12, 2021February 3, 2025 by Josie Witaschek

We are happy to announce that Chet Robson, Chief Clinical Officer of Walgreens, will be joining us as the featured keynote speaker at our Digital Healthcare & Patient Experience Transformation Virtual Assembly – our very last event of the year! At Walgreens, his team collaborates with roughly 70,000 healthcare professionals to deliver in-person and virtual care to over 8,000,000+ people a day. He is a proven innovator in digital health, as he designs and delivers evidence-based pharmacy and healthcare programs, products, and services. The pandemic has pushed the barriers of digital healthcare, and with Robson’s leadership, Walgreens has successfully navigated what’s been a turbulent time for the healthcare industry.

In his Keynote Address on December 7th, Robson will share insights on how to meet patients’ healthcare needs and values by the best use of prevention, medications, procedures, and delivery systems. He will also touch on evidence-based clinical practices, and the session will close out with an open Q/A segment for all registered attendees. Interested in joining this session? Go here to request an invite to the Assembly.

About Chet Robson

In his role as the Chief Clinical Officer at Walgreens, Dr. Robson provides clinical leadership for evidence-based medical review in pharmacy, specialty pharmacy, healthcare services, digital health, and retail merchandising. Dr. Robson has a particular interest in physician–pharmacist delivery models, complex patient integrated care, and alternative payment models. He has championed the pharmacists’ expanded scope of practice, and integrated provider-health system-pharmacy delivery models. Dr. Robson is on the Advisory Board of the Walgreens – Johns Hopkins, and Walgreens – Northwell health system – pharmacy collaborations. He provides leadership for all of Walgreens’ health system pharmacy, health system services collaborations, and Village Medical. By implementing innovative technology, patient-engaging care delivery models, and evidence-based medicine Dr. Robson clinically advances an integrated model of care to support people at each stage of their health journey. Before his work at Walgreens, Chet served as the Chief Medical Information Officer/Regional Director for Adventist Health Partners providing population health management, PCMH development, and ACO programs and analytics.

As for his education, Dr. Robson is a graduate of the University of Southern California in music and Eastern Washington University in Biochemistry. He attended medical school at Midwestern University in Chicago and completed a residency in family medicine at LaGrange Memorial Hospital where he was Chief Resident. Dr. Robson received his MBA in healthcare delivery science from Dartmouth College.

The Millennium Alliance Announces Two Key Promotions & Plans To Launch Five New Brands in 2022

Posted on October 7, 2021January 31, 2025 by Emily French

NEW YORK – October 7, 2021 – Coming off the best year in its nearly eight-year history, The Millennium Alliance has formalized their plans to add five powerful new brands to its growing portfolio of C-Suite Assemblies in 2022. These latest additions come as a direct result of Millennium’s commitment to expanding their available offerings to its members and customers and include:

Benefits Leadership Transformation Assembly: Taking place biannually in April and October, this event is designed to address the unique pain points of today’s C-Suite benefits leaders.
Transformational CHRO Assembly: Taking place biannually in April and October, this event is designed to address the evolving CHRO role to help them to navigate the challenges of tomorrow that HR professionals will encounter in the years to come.
Transformational CISO Canada Assembly: Taking place annually in June, this event is designed to accommodate Millennium’s Canadian members by delivering them with the same high-level networking and educational opportunities as the North American CISO events.
Transformational CISO Mid-Market Assembly: Taking place annually in March, this event is designed specifically for the mid-market sized cybersecurity organizations and will be co-located with Millennium’s flagship CISO Assembly.
Customer Experience Transformation Assembly: Taking place biannually in June and October, this event is designed to be a co-located event to accompany the Transformational CMO and Retail Assemblies, giving marketing and retail members the opportunity to define what an enhanced customer experience should look like for their customers in 2022 and beyond.

In addition to launching these new brands, Millennium has filled two key roles within the organization’s Senior Management Team this week. The first being, Salvatore Papa, who has been with Millennium for 5 years, and was announced as Millennium’s new Chief Revenue Officer, and the second being Gabrielle Polce, who has been a top performer on the sales team at Millennium for the past four years and has moved into the role of VP of Sales.

“There has never been a more exciting time for Millennium. We’ve been incredibly fortunate to have had our best year in company history amidst a global pandemic, which would never have been possible without the Leadership Team we have in place. It’s great to see members of our team like Gabie and Sal who have been instrumental to our success as a company, continuing to grow alongside Millennium. Now with us being able to expand our portfolio of Assemblies, we feel a responsibility to reinvest in our partners and members who have put their trust in us over the course of the past 18 months. Our latest brands will allow us to better serve our customers and build off of some of our most successful programs. This has been something that Millennium has been evaluating for quite some time, which is why it is so satisfying to see these new launches coming to fruition.”

– Alex Sobol, Co-Founder, The Millennium Alliance

With 2021 shaping up to be a banner year for the organization, Millennium has set its sights on following up with an even bigger year in 2022. To achieve these expectations, their plan is to keep the focus on building up its internal teams, and strategically expand its portfolio of events, in an effort to better serve its thousands of members across North America and now in Canada.

For more information or to get in contact with The Millennium Alliance directly, contact info@mill-all.com.

ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM ALLIANCE

The Millennium Alliance is a leading technology and business educational advisory firm with the sole mission of helping to transform the digital enterprise. Through our executive education platform, peer-to-peer learning model via our senior-level Assemblies, exclusive research projects conducted with Ivy League academic institutions, and our numerous digital properties, we have become a trusted source for real-world tangible learning and engagement opportunities for senior executives and their technology partners.

This all started in 2014 when our founders, Alex Sobol & Rob Davis decided to create the most intimate, high-level & exclusive in-person and online thinktank for leaders in a wide variety of industries within both the private and public sectors: The Millennium Alliance. Since its founding, Millennium has built a strong reputation nationwide, now with thousands of engaged Members, and was recently featured on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies. The Millennium Alliance is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan with offices in Austin, TX.

Building upon its award-winning conference and executive education businesses, today, The Millennium Alliance continues to stay connected with its C-Suite Members and partners through intimate Virtual Assemblies, industry-leading Executive Education Opportunities, and by providing exclusive industry insights from the nation’s leading academics, business leaders, and technology providers via our 40+ annual events and The Digital Diary Content Platform, as well as the rapidly growing #MillenniumLive Podcast Series.

Cybersecurity Leader, John Felker, Keynotes Our August Assembly!

Posted on July 19, 2021 by Josie Witaschek

On August 17th, The Millennium Alliance Transformational CISO Virtual Assembly kicks off with a keynote address from John Felker, Former Assistant Director for Integrated Operations, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at the Department of Homeland Security. Felker is a proven innovator in the cybersecurity space and is notably recognized for his work leading the Coast Guard strategic Cyber program. Most recently, Felker joined Parsons’ federal strategic advisory board where he provides strategic guidance in the key federal market growth areas of cyber and intelligence, space and geospatial solutions, engineered systems and missile defense, and C5ISR.

In his keynote address, Felker will share how CISOs can bring together information from cyber teams and the boardroom for successful business objectives. He will also provide an inside look into his career background, experiences, and what senior leaders should be thinking about as they enter the post-pandemic era. Interested in learning from one of the most influential voices in cybersecurity? Go here to request an invitation to the virtual assembly!

About John Felker

John Felker is the Former Assistant Director for Integrated Operations, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) for the Department of Homeland Security which monitors cyber threat data and works with corporations to improve the strengths of the existing digital infrastructure. He brought focus to integrated operations across the Agency that extended to Regional CISA elements, intelligence, operational planning, and mission execution with emphasis on risk mitigation and response efforts.

Before his work at the DHS, Felker was the Director of Cyber and Intelligence Strategy at HP Enterprise Services. During his career of 30 years at the U.S Coast Guard, he served as Deputy Commander of Coast Guard Cyber Command and commanded the US Coast Guard Cryptologic Group, which provides a “maritime cryptologic perspective within the Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) community, helping to achieve national intelligence requirements and enhances Maritime Domain Awareness for operational commanders as they plan and execute Coast Guard missions” according to the USCG. Additionally, he commanded USCGC CAPE UPRIGHT and USCGC RED CEDAR. His military awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, and the Meritorious Service Medal.

Felker graduated from Ithaca College in 1978 with a bachelor of science and later on completed his Master of Arts in Public Administration at Syracuse University in 1994. He also serves as a Senior Fellow at the McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security at Auburn University. He is currently on the Board of Governors of the Army-Navy Country Club, the board of directors of the Operation Renewed Hope Foundation, and the board of advisors for the Military Cyber Professionals Association and the Cyber Security Forum Initiative.

Former GE CEO, Jeff Immelt, Keynotes Our August Assembly!

Posted on July 7, 2021 by Emily French

On August 3rd, The Millennium Alliance Healthcare Providers & Payers Transformation Virtual Assembly kicks off with a keynote address from Jeff Immelt, Former CEO at General Electric. Immelt is a longtime leader in healthcare skilled with innovating and creating change during times of crisis. He’s been recognized by Barron’s as a “World’s Best CEO” three times, and served as a chairman for the “President’s Council on Jobs & Competitiveness” during the Obama administration. He has deep experience in the healthcare industry as a payor, innovator, investor and policy advisor. He is currently a Venture Partner for New Enterprise Associates (NEA), an organization helping founders build successful companies that improve the way we live.

In his keynote address, Immelt will share what’s next for providers and payers, the newfound importance of digital transformation for healthcare 2.0, and he will address any questions from the audience during a live Q/A session. Interested in learning from one the most influential voices in leadership & healthcare? Go here to request an invitation to the virtual assembly!

About Jeff Immelt

Jeff Immelt joined NEA in 2018 as a Venture Partner on both the technology and healthcare investing teams. He is the author of HOT SEAT, a memoir of leadership in times of crisis.

Jeff served as chairman and CEO of GE for 16 years where he revamped the company’s strategy, global footprint, workforce and culture. During his tenure, he led several innovative transformations that doubled industrial earnings, reshaped the portfolio, re-established market leadership, grew a strong share position in essential industries, and quadrupled emerging market revenue.

Jeff has been named one of the “World’s Best CEOs” three times by Barron’s. During his tenure as CEO, GE was named “America’s Most Admired Company” by Fortune magazine and one of “The World’s Most Respected Companies” in polls by Barron’s and the Financial Times. He has received fifteen honorary degrees and numerous awards for business leadership and chaired the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness under the Obama administration.

Jeff earned a B.A. degree in applied mathematics from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Harvard University. He currently serves on the board for NEA portfolio companies Bloom Energy, Bright Health, Cleo, Collective Health, Desktop Metal, Formlabs, Radiology Partners, Tri Alpha Energy, and Tuya. In addition, he is on the board of Sila Nanotechnologies, Hennessy Capital, and Twilio. Jeff is a member of The American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He and his wife have one daughter.