Clarity for CISOs - when it matters most.
About IANS
IANS is the practitioner-sourced intelligence engine where data, peer experience and expert insights converge for security teams.
Security leaders are getting hit from all directions—mounting threats, fast-changing technologies, tightening regulations, compounding board demands and endless vendors that never stop selling. The difference between a good decision and a costly one isn't more information. It's the right information, sourced from experts and peers who actually understand the issues, available the moment you need it. That's what IANS was built to deliver—and what no analyst firm or general purpose LLM can replicate.
What we believe
1. Exclusive focus on security makes our insights more relevant and powerful.
Security is a discipline that demands dedicated focus — and it's the only thing we do at IANS. This is in contrast to information services firms that treat cybersecurity like a sub-category of IT—or that are spread thin across HR, Marketing, Finance and other functions. IANS’ singular focus on security is what makes our intelligence valuable and applicable to CISOs in ways that “generalist” firms cannot match.
2. Actionable intelligence comes from someone who's done the work—not someone who's studied it.
Most “research” is written by analysts watching the industry, not participating in it. IANS’ data comes from thousands of conversations between 170+ Faculty—security practitioners who are in the field right now, grappling with today's urgent cyber issues—and CISO clients who are fixing these same problems. This practitioner-to-practitioner exchange creates specific, actionable ground truth—not vague or theoretical frameworks.
3. Vendor independence is a prerequisite for trust and credibility.
When the firm you rely on for advice has a financial stake in what you choose, it isn't guidance you can trust. Some firms rank vendors using opaque, analyst-driven opinions they call "magic." Our vendor intelligence is based on facts and data — what clients actually evaluated, selected, and experienced. No vendor can become an IANS client, influence our opinions or access our data. That independence is what makes our recommendations defensible in a vendor evaluation, in a budget discussion or in front of your C-Suite and Board.
4. Your AI is only as good as the data behind it.
The question isn't whether you're using AI. It's what your AI is drawing from. Generic AI gives you plausible answers drawn from whatever is publicly available—vendor marketing, Reddit posts, or outdated reports. IANS uses AI to deliver fast, comprehensive answers from our practitioner-validated intelligence base of real cybersecurity decisions, real tradeoffs and real outcomes. These answers are grounded in documented, sourced conversations, giving them accountability and traceability that LLMs can’t match.
5. Speed is now a security requirement.
The pace of threats, technology, and business change means security teams can no longer wait days for an answer. You don’t have time to wait for a report to be published or a call to be scheduled; you need intelligence where you are, when you need it—instantly, frictionlessly, inside the tools you're already using. That’s why we employ not only expert practitioners but also AI tools to deliver our insights at digital speed.
Why IANS
Drive decisions with unbiased insights
Trusted insights and data built on a truly vendor-agnostic model.
Proven approaches
Field-tested Faculty guidance and proven best practices from security leaders.
Cut through the noise
Stay focused with daily curated insights, threat briefings and incident support.
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Our story
As a US Navy strike fighter pilot, our founder and CEO, Phil Gardner, established the principles that IANS is based on:
Sweat the details. Be a good wingman. And focus on what matters.
From the beginning, IANS has had a single focus: cybersecurity. Not general business advisory, not vendor-sponsored research — security, practitioner-built, and vendor-agnostic. Today, that focus has evolved into something more powerful: a proprietary intelligence platform that mines the collective experience of our CISO community and Faculty and makes it available to you when and where you need it.
IANS leadership
Phil Gardner
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Having built the original end-user research offering, Phil now oversees all strategic and operational decisions at IANS. Phil began his career with seven years in the U.S. Navy as an F/A-18 combat pilot & Weapons Requirements Officer. After receiving an MBA from Harvard, he worked at Goldman Sachs and later became an Associate with McKinsey in Boston. In 1996, Phil became a founder of Provant, a publicly traded training company serving the Fortune 1000 & Federal Government. He left Provant in 2000 to launch IANS. Phil graduated at the top of his US Navy Flight School class in 1987.
Emily Sweeney
Chief People Officer
Emily is Chief People Officer and leads all aspects of the People function with a goal of building a scalable, high-impact people strategy, ensuring IANS continues to attract and retain top talent as it grows to meet the evolving needs of the cybersecurity community.
Prior to IANS Emily was Vice President of HR Strategy at Cengage Group. In that role, she partnered closely with the Chief People Officer and executive leadership to drive enterprise-wide initiatives across HR Operations, performance management, leadership development, and people analytics. Before that, she spent seven years at Boston Consulting Group, advising clients on organizational design and culture transformation.
Emily is a strategic and action-oriented HR leader and problem solver, working alongside business leaders to develop strategies for impact and success. She has an MBA from Wharton and a BA from Holy Cross.
Kurt Reisenberg
Kurt is Chief Operating Officer at IANS, responsible for the company’s research, product, consulting, technology, and client services functions. He brings to IANS 30 years of experience in the information services sector, including significant expertise in launching and scaling subscription products for C-level executive clients, creating unique, actionable content and data assets, and aligning go-to-market teams around aggressive growth strategies. Kurt was a key member of the team that grew CEB (Corporate Executive Board) from approximately $15 million in revenue in 1994 to $1 billion when acquired by Gartner in 2017.
During his career at CEB, he helped develop and hone the firm’s research methodology and held many senior leadership roles, including Managing Director of CEB’s financial services practice, General Manager of the finance, legal, strategy & innovation, and operations practices, and finally Chief Commercial Officer. When CEB was acquired by Gartner, Kurt served for two years as SVP, Global Business Sales. More recently, he was CEO of Datos Insights, the leading provider of research, advice, and data to the financial services industry. Kurt holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in English & American Literature from Brown University.
Rob Johnson
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Rob is the Vice President of Finance at IANS. In this role he oversees the Accounting, Finance, Human Resources and IT functions. Prior to joining IANS, he worked at Venture Advisors, a leading provider of outsourced CFO and Controller services. He has also held financial management positions at Fast Search & Transfer, m-Qube and WBUR. He has over 20 years of financial experience with extensive experience in Financial Reporting, Budgeting & Forecasting and Process Improvement. Rob holds an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University as well as a Master of Science in E-Commerce from Boston University. He is a graduate of Bentley College with a BS in Accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Paul Henderson
Chief Product Officer
Paul is the Chief Product Officer at IANS, overseeing the product and technology teams, with a focus on expanding the firm’s portfolio of product and technology solutions and pioneering new services that enhance the value of IANS’ digital insights for the cybersecurity community. Paul brings to IANS over 25 years of experience across the information services sector, with leadership roles spanning product development, data management, publishing, and operations.
Dan Klein
Executive Vice President, Faculty and Professional Services
Prior to IANS, Dan was EVP of Analytics at Fastmarkets, responsible for leading a global team of economists and analysts. Before that, he was CEO of Fastmarkets RISI, a leading data and analytics firm focused on the forest products industry. Prior to Fastmarkets, Dan spent 15 years at Forrester Research, where he held several leadership roles, including in its consulting and advisory practices, where he was responsible for building and scaling its offerings and delivery. Dan holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Obie Quelland
Chief Technology Officer
Our services
IANS delivers what no analyst firm or AI can replicate: governed intelligence drawn from private, practitioner-validated conversations with 170+ expert Faculty. Through Ask IANS, get instant access to benchmarks, implementation guidance, and vendor insights — anonymized, quality-controlled, and growing every day.
IANS Intelligence
Make confident decisions with on-demand expert guidance and resources.
Consulting Services
Uncover system weaknesses and implement real-world remediation.
Professional Development
Build leadership with coaching and uplevel your team with training.
Events
Learn from leading industry practitioners and network with your peers.