We are CISO Games.
At CISO Games, we believe security leaders deserve to be championed in the most authentic way possible - they deserve a jersey, a bracket, and a crowd that came to see them win. Founded in 2026 by Cecil Pineda and Dani Woolf, CISO Games is the world's first quarterly athletic tournament for CISOs and security leaders - where the best in the industry don't just show up to network. They compete.
Our Vision
Our vision is simple yet powerful: to create a club where security leaders are treated as the elite competitors they are - not once, not as a gimmick, but every quarter, in every city where the community exists. We are dedicated to celebrating the people who defend everything, building a program they can be proud of, and leaving something behind that the industry has never seen before.
Competition That creates connection
We take pride in building a tournament where the competition itself is the connector. Not a networking dinner with name tags. Not a panel where you sit in the audience while someone else talks. A bracket. A jersey with your name on it. A team of people you didn't know last quarter who you'd now run a relay for. The bonds that form under pressure are the ones that last long after the medal ceremony ends.
We also believe the vendor-buyer relationship transforms when both sides are on the floor together. Not pitching. Not presenting. Competing. Equal ground changes everything. That's not a side effect of CISO Games - it's the whole point.
A club for the community
CISO Games is more than a tournament - it's a club. We are deeply rooted in the security community and built from within it. Every team captain is a CISO. Every vendor earns their place by putting a real person in the bracket alongside the leaders they want to collaborate with. Every medal is tied to a charity donation made in the winning team's name.
We are proud of our community, our athletes, and the relationships we are building one competition at a time. Together, we are stronger than the industry gives us credit for.
United By More Than a Title
With a founding story that started on a Wednesday afternoon call and a format that has never existed before in this space, we honor what makes security leaders who they are, while building something bold enough to match it. Every tournament and every medal ceremony is part of a larger story. A story of resilience, dignity, and what happens when people who defend everything finally get to play.
Our Core Values
Wellness
Community
charity
wellness
This job was not designed with the human body or mind in mind. Long hours, chronic stress, and a nervous system permanently calibrated to threat detection take a toll that the industry rarely acknowledges and almost never addresses. CISO Games was built as a direct response to that. Every game we design demands physical movement, mental engagement, and full presence because we believe the security community deserves a legitimate outlet to health. You compete. You decompress. You go home feeling empowered.
Community
CISO Games was built from inside the community, not sold into it. Every team captain is a peer. Every match creates a story that travels back through networks, cities, and careers. We are not a vendor event with community language. We are a community with a tournament attached and everything we build serves that distinction.
inclusion
You do not have to be the fastest or the strongest physically or mentally to compete here. You have to be willing. CISO Games is designed for the full range of the human being behind the title - the mountain biker and the chef, the pickleball obsessive and the person who just walks their dog every morning. Every game demands something different. Everyone has a role. Everyone belongs on the field.
Charity
Winning at CISO Games means more than a trophy. Every Gold medal comes with a donation to the winning team's chosen charity - matched live on the winner's podium by our Charity Match Sponsor. Every season, every team, every city adds to a running total that we announce publicly and grow without exception. Because the people who spend their careers protecting others deserve to give back on their own terms, in their own name, for causes that matter to them.
The ciso Games shield.
Our Shield represents the full competitor: physical, mental, strategic, and human. Every person who has competed under it has run something heavy, solved something hard, and stood in front of a crowd with their name on their back. It lives on every medal, every jersey, and every piece of content we put into the world because we want the industry to learn what it means - and to want it.
You do not get the Shield by joining the Club. You do not get it by sponsoring. You get it by showing up, competing, and finishing the day. That is the only qualification that has ever mattered here.
