CISOs and CIOs forge vital partnerships for business success

DeFiore and CIO Jason Birnbaum got a head start on their relationship dynamics working at General Electric, where they didn’t interact as colleagues, but still gained exposure to a shared set of experiences, core values, and business language. That mutual understanding was pivotal when it came time to sketch out the contours of their working partnership at United. DeFiore and Birnbaum built on their common foundation, prioritizing open communications and transparency, developing a shared vision and set of outcomes, and aligning messaging to help break down barriers and misperceptions.

Their playbook helps position security requirements at the center of new initiatives without bogging down timelines or becoming a gating factor for innovation. Case in point: United’s “Every Flight Has a Story” offering, a generative AI-fueled flight-status service released last year designed to bring more transparency and context to flight delays and updates.

Jason Birnbaum / United Airlines

Working as a team, DeFiore and Birnbaum recognized the game-changing potential for generative AI, and together with their organizations created a framework around responsible use of the technology. The flight-status service was one of the first external-facing use cases for gen AI, and there are about 90 others in the pipeline, she says. “We were able to iterate on that quickly together and manage the risks associated with using emerging technology,” she explains.