Organizations no longer face only the challenge of protecting themselves against incidents. In an environment marked by technological dependence, regulatory pressure, the complexity of supply chains, and exposure to increasingly widespread crises, the big question is how to continue operating when something goes wrong.

With this approach, ISMS Forum will participate as a partner in Cyber Security World Spain, as part of Tech Show Madrid 2026, with the panel discussion “ISMS Forum: The Role of the Chief Resilience Officer in Resilience and Digital Continuity, ” which will take place on November 5, from 11:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

The session will focus on a role that is gaining prominence in organizations: the Chief Resilience Officer (CRO). The CRO’s role is not limited to coordinating business continuity plans; rather, it seeks to integrate areas such as technology, cybersecurity, risk, compliance, communication, suppliers, crisis management, and governance bodies under a common vision.

The roundtable builds on the work carried out by the ISMS Forum in the Chief Resilience Officer White Paper, an initiative that examines how resilience has evolved from an isolated practice into a strategic business capability. The document addresses key issues such as the evolution of business continuity toward organizational resilience, the CRO’s relationship with other critical functions, possible governance models, and the capabilities needed to establish this role from the ground up.

During the event, the speakers will address questions that are particularly relevant to companies and professionals: what it truly means to be a resilient organization, why this role is gaining prominence on executive committees, what responsibilities the CRO must assume, and how a company can prepare to withstand, respond to, and recover from disruption.

The discussion will also address whether resilience is merely a regulatory requirement for highly regulated sectors—such as banking, insurance, energy, transportation, and critical infrastructure operators—or whether it has already become a cross-cutting priority for any organization that relies on digital services, critical third parties, or essential processes.

The panel discussion will be moderated by Gema Brihuega, BCM and Crisis Management Manager at Vodafone Spain. Participants will include Carlos Fernández de la Reguera, ICT Risk & Operational Resilience Lead at Aresbank, and Javier Ordúñez, Deputy Director of Operational Resilience and Crisis Management at Mapfre. All of them are members of the ISMS Forum’s Technical Committee on Cyber Resilience, which is part of the Cyber Resilience Center (CRC)—a working group that spearheaded the development of the Chief Resilience Officer White Paper.

Drawing on their experience in particularly relevant sectors— banking, insurance, and critical infrastructure—the speakers will share practical insights on how to build a resilience function, how to coordinate it with areas such as cybersecurity, business continuity, risk management, and communications, and what lessons can be learned from organizations where operational continuity is already a strategic priority.

The session will offer attendees an opportunity to understand why resilience has evolved from a concept associated with incident recovery to a driver of governance, trust, and business continuity.

With this roundtable, the ISMS Forum reinforces its role as a meeting place for professionals and organizations seeking to anticipate new risk scenarios and move toward more robust, coordinated models that are better prepared to operate in critical situations.