Carlos Pignataro

Carlos Pignataro is the Program Director for the AI Executives Council and the Chief Information Security Officers Council at The Conference Board. 

He is Founder and Principal at Blue Fern Consulting, drawing on more than 25 years of multidisciplinary experience spanning enterprise technology, AI strategy, governance, and sustainability. 

Carlos works at the intersection of AI strategy, governance, and board-level accountability — helping enterprise leaders move beyond experimentation toward durable, institutionalized value. His perspective is shaped by having led large-scale technology and sustainability functions himself, and by convening the peer executives now navigating the same transformation. 

He also holds the role of adjunct faculty at NC State University. His tech-for-good commitments include serving as Board Chair at Code the Dream, Board Member at AI4ALL, and Board Member at the NC Council for Entrepreneurial Development.

Carlos previously held senior technology and executive roles at Cisco, including Distinguished Engineer and Chief Technology Officer for its multibillion-dollar Services Global Service Provider and Customer Experience businesses, and, most recently, Head of Technology and Data for Cisco's Engineering Sustainability organization. Throughout his career, he embedded sustainability into the engineering roadmap and led architecture for techno-conservation initiatives. 

An engaging speaker, Carlos keynotes on AI, technology, innovation, and sustainability. He leads standardization of environmental sustainability technologies at the IETF and IEEE, and is a champion at the Green Software Foundation. 

Carlos is Fast Company's Innovative Leader of the Year (2021), a Fellow at the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), a two-time HITEC 100 awardee (2021 and 2023), Stevie's Tech Innovator of the Year and Information Technology Executive of the Year, co-founder of the International Society of Service Innovation Professionals. He holds 350+ issued US patents, is coauthor of more than 60 Internet RFCs and four books, and has published widely across his fields of expertise.