Vilas Shewale is a Houston-based cybersecurity leader with more than twenty-five years of enterprise experience, currently serving as Principal Specialist at Energy Transfer, a Fortune 100 company. His work focuses on Zero Trust architecture, IT and OT convergence, and critical infrastructure defense.He is the author of three books - Zero Trust From the Trenches, IT in the Energy Sector, and Cybersecurity in the Modern World Protecting Data, Privacy, and Systems. He serves as a continuing judge for the Globee and Edison Awards, has been a featured speaker at the FTNCT international conference and the ATAL Faculty Development Program, and serves as a curriculum reviewer for Katy Independent School District in Texas. He is also contributor in renowned leading publication, CSO online.

Title: Zero Trust Architecture for Cloud-Native Critical Infrastructure: Securing Enterprise AI/ML Innovation Without Compromising Defense -Abstract: Addresses how Zero Trust principles provide the architectural foundation for secure, scalable AI/ML deployments in mission-critical energy and infrastructure environments. The presentation covers risk mitigation patterns, implementation strategies for continuous authentication across cloud-native and AI/ML pipelines, and practical governance models—with insights drawn from 25+ years in Fortune 100 critical infrastructure operations.