New Delhi: The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) hosted a closed-door roundtable on “Cyber Resilience & Legacy Tech Systems,” bringing together representatives from India’s National Security Council Secretariat, cybersecurity and technology experts, and industry stakeholders to examine the growing challenges posed by outdated technology systems and cyber vulnerabilities.
The discussion included Sarah Sloan, Head of Cybersecurity Policy, APAC, at Cisco, along with representatives from the Forum’s knowledge partner, Ikigai Law. The roundtable is expected to serve as a precursor to a USISPF India-focused research study on technology debt and legacy technology across government institutions and critical information infrastructure.
The initiative comes against the backdrop of growing India-US cooperation in cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence, emerging technologies and economic security.
USISPF: A Key Bridge Between India and the United States
Established in 2017, the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental and non-partisan organisation headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in both India and the United States. The Forum says its network comprises 400-plus global companies and focuses on strengthening the relationship by bringing together governments, businesses and other stakeholders.
USISPF has emerged as an important platform for facilitating dialogue between the Indian and US governments and the private sector. Its work extends beyond traditional trade and investment issues to areas such as technology, cybersecurity, healthcare, agriculture, energy, defence, education, innovation, critical and emerging technologies and economic security. Its founding leadership specifically envisioned expanding cooperation into newer areas including cybersecurity, data, agriculture and healthcare.
By connecting corporate leaders with policymakers and government representatives, the Forum seeks to identify opportunities, address regulatory and business challenges and promote greater US-India investment, technology partnerships and commercial cooperation. Its stated mission is to “build, enable, advocate, and facilitate” partnerships between the two countries by providing a platform for stakeholders to develop opportunities benefiting citizens in both nations.
Who Are the Members of USISPF?
USISPF brings together senior executives from some of the world’s largest technology, financial, manufacturing, healthcare, energy and other companies. Its current Board of Directors includes prominent business leaders such as Arvind Krishna of IBM, Alex Rogers of Qualcomm, Ben Dawson of Cisco, Bipul Sinha of Rubrik, Christopher Calio of Raytheon Technologies, Frank A. St. John of Lockheed Martin, Joe Creed of Caterpillar, Joe Ucuzoglu of Deloitte, Prabhakar Raghavan of Google, Ravi Kumar S of Cognizant, Roshni Nadar Malhotra of HCL Technologies, Salil Parekh of Infosys, Sanjiv Puri of ITC, Shailendra Singh of Peak XV, Uday Shankar of JioStar and Umesh Sachdev of Uniphore, among others.
The Forum’s Executive Committee is chaired by John T. Chambers, Chairman Emeritus of Cisco and Founder & CEO of JC2 Ventures. Shantanu Narayen, Chair and CEO of Adobe, and Raj Subramaniam, President and CEO of FedEx, serve as Vice Chairs, while Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of Aditya Birla Group, is also a member. Other members include Secretary William Cohen and Purna R. Saggurti.
With its extensive business network and government engagement, USISPF has positioned itself as a private-sector bridge supporting the broader US-India strategic partnership, particularly as the relationship expands into new areas of technology, economic security and critical infrastructure.
The latest cybersecurity roundtable therefore reflects USISPF’s broader effort to bring government, industry and policy experts together to address emerging challenges and develop practical solutions that can contribute to a more secure and resilient digital ecosystem in both countries.