SecureWorld Denver 2023

Lumakar Challa is a transformational technical leader who transforms application and database infrastructure for large, complex Global Fortune 500 companies. His greatest talent is creating Trusted Advisor relationships with senior technology, corporate, and business line stakeholders. He defines strategies to deliver savings and improvements across regional and global application ecosystems. Colleagues know him for creating world-class teams and driving enterprise-critical initiatives.

Chris is the CISO for Boom Supersonic and works as an advisor for several entities and organizations around the globe. His most recent projects are focused within the aerospace, deception, identity, cryptography, Artificial Intelligence, and services sectors. Over the years, he's founded or worked with several folks specializing in OSINT/SIGINT/HUMINT research, intelligence gathering, cryptography, and deception technologies. These days he’s working on spreading the risk, maturity, collaboration, and communication word across the industry. (Likely while coding his EEG driven digital clone that’s monitoring his tea and biscuit consumption!)

Since the late 90’s Chris has been deeply involved with security R&D, consulting, and advisory services in his quest to protect and defend businesses and individuals against various types of attack. Prior to that he jumped out of planes for a living, visiting all sorts of interesting countries and cultures while doing his best to avoid getting shot at too often. (Before that, he managed to get various computers confiscated by several European entities.)

He’s considered one of the world’s foremost experts on counter threat intelligence and vulnerability research within the Information Security industry. He’s also gotten a name for himself in the transportation arena, basically anything with wings, wheels, tracks, tyres, fins, props or paddles has been the target for research for the last 15 years. (To interesting effect.)

Chris has led or been involved in information security assessments and engagements for the better part of 25 years and has a wealth of experience with regulations such as GLBA, GDPR, HIPAA, HITECH, FISMA, and NERC/FERC. He has also worked with government, state, and federal authorities on standards such as CMS, ISO, CMMC, and NIST.

Chris has been credentialed in many of the top IT and information security disciplines and as a CyberSecurity advocate and passionate industry voice, he is regularly featured in national newspapers, television news, industry publications and several documentaries. He can typically be found waving arms on a stage somewhere on this planet…or hacking into whatever’s taken his fancy… (Cows and camels being two of the more bizarre things, we’ll ignore things in space for now.)

As one of the well-known hackers and researchers, Chris is routinely invited to speak at industry conferences. CNN, The Washington Post, WIRED, Business Insider, USA Today, Forbes, Newsweek, BBC News, Wall Street Journal, and numerous others have covered him in the media.

And worst case, to jog the memory, Chris was the researcher who gained global attention in 2015 for demonstrating the linkage between various aviation systems, both on the ground and while in the air that allowed the exploitation of attacks against flight control system.

Michael Gregg is the state of North Dakota’s Chief Information Security Officer. The state CISO is responsible for establishing and leading the strategic direction of cyber security for the state and advising the governor and legislators on key cyber issues.

With Michael’s cyber experience span being over a period of two decades, he has been a pioneer of helping people interested in becoming IT professionals as well as seasoned IT professionals achieve by sharing knowledge by means of authoring over 25 IT cyber security books. He enjoys contributing his time and talents where there is a need to help others learn and grow by holding board, committee, and advisory positions for non-profit organizations. He holds a Bachelors degree, Masters degree, and many security certifications.

John Prewett is a security technologist with over 20 years’ experience helping private sector, government agencies, and educational institutions identify risk and improve their security postures. John's latest passion is code writing, software engineering best practice, and otherwise improving the overall relationship between security practitioners and application developers. Outside of work, John cherishes early morning walks with his wife (during which time they solve all the world's problems), completing home improvement projects, and generally enjoying the beautiful state (Colorado) in which he and his family live.

Joshua "Shua" Gamradt is set on influencing culture change and introducing security by investing in others through the development and delivery of gamified security, engineering customer centric security solutions, focusing on risk, and utilizing continuous feedback and data to drive decisions. Shua began this journey of shifting empathy left and focusing on the customer as a leader at UnitedHealthcare in the Rugged DevOps and application security space. He now wants to share this experience and success with everyone who wants to see positive changes in their company. Faith, family, and fun are what drives him. I am happiest with my wife Laura and raising three kids in the fine town of Nashville, Tennessee.

Ansh Patnaik, Chief Product Officer, has over 20 years of cross functional experience in cybersecurity and data analytics. Most recently, Ansh was Director, Cloud Security Products for Google Cloud Platform, and Chief Product Officer for Chronicle, prior to the acquisition of Chronicle by Google. Previously, he was VP of Product Management at Oracle Cloud where he defined and launched their security analytics cloud service offering. Ansh has held product management, product marketing and sales engineering leadership roles at several market leading software companies including Delphix, ArcSight (acquired by HP), and BindView (acquired by Symantec).

Jeannie Warner, CISSP, Director of Product Marketing at Exabeam, is an information security professional with over twenty years in infrastructure operations/security. Jeannie started her career in the trenches working in various Unix helpdesk and network operations centers. She began in Security Operations for IBM MSS and quickly rose through the ranks to technical product and security program manager for a variety of software companies such as Symantec, Fortinet, and NTT (formerly WhiteHat) Security. She served as the Global SOC Manager for Dimension Data, building out their multi-SOC “follow the sun” approach to security. Jeannie was trained in computer forensics and practices. She also plays a lot of ice hockey.

Reanna Schultz, from Kansas City, MO, holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Cybersecurity. With over six years of professional experience, Reanna has contributed to various corporate environments, leveraging her expertise to strengthen cybersecurity practices.

Throughout her career, Reanna has worn many hats, including roles in Endpoint Security Engineering, Detection Engineering, and leading a Security Operations Center (SOC) team. In addition to her primary responsibilities, Reanna serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Central Missouri (UCM) and is also an entrepreneur.

Reanna is the founder of CyberSpeak Labs, a platform dedicated to fostering community engagement through collaboration. She hosts the podcast Defenders in Lab Coats, where she delves into cyber threats and occasionally invites passionate guests to share their insights.
Driven by her passion for cybersecurity, Reanna frequently travels to speak at events, sharing her industry knowledge and empowering others to improve their organizations' cybersecurity practices.

With more than 20 years of experience in the technology field, Jason has served in numerous leadership role in his career leading to the Chief Operating Officer position with Envision.

Jason takes pride in leading the charge, and in building a culture that is innovative and secure by design for the business and its clients. He brings the strategic insight, industry knowledge, and agility that today’s industry requires to effectively respond to the rapidly changing technology, threat, risk, and business landscapes.

He has been the recipient of several prestigious recognitions and awards in technology and leadership, including being named a “2021 Top Cybersecurity Leader" by Security Magazine partnered with (ISC), Rhode Island’s 40 under Forty Award, and Rhode Island’s Tech 10 Award. He is also a seven-time National Public Technology Institute Solutions Award winner.

Jason currently co-hosts the Business Security Weekly podcast and serves on Congressman Langevin’s (Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus co-chair) Cybersecurity Advisory Committee. He also serves on the Tech Collective Board of Directors and the Rhode Island Joint Cyber Task Force.

Sumi Gorla is the Director of Systems Engineering at Illumio. Her responsibilities include executing Illumio strategic product vision, field engineering enablement, and enterprise customer selling and support across US West.

Prior to Illumio, Sumi has held several engineering and technical sales leadership roles in companies such as EMC, Brocade, Citrix and BigSwitch Networks. As a sales leader, Sumi brings a unique approach to problem solving, from both a technical and a business perspective. Sumi’s strengths are in her ability to explain how technical features can meet business requirements for all levels of audience.

Michael Silva is the Leader of Solution Engineering within Cisco’s Outshift team. He is a technology leader with over 17 years of experience. He joined Cisco via the acquisition of Lightspin, where he was the Director of Technical Solutions. At Lightspin, Michael designed the technical go-to-market strategy, developed strategic partnerships, and helped grow the business from its inception into the U.S. market.

Michael has led a variety of teams from sales engineering at companies Nutanix and Progress Software (formerly Chef) to technical teams at Cisco and various managed service providers. His knowledge is deeply rooted in public cloud security across all major cloud service providers as well as Kubernetes security. Using the combined expertise of technical and customer facing roles, Michael has developed the ability to relate to customers, understand their pain points, and help define a strategy that will map to successful execution of business requirements.

Aside from professional experience, Michael holds many professional and specialty certifications from AWS, GCP, SANS, and Nutanix, and is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Sam Masiello has been working with email, messaging, and fighting internet pollution for over 25 years. Prior to The Anschutz Corporation, he served as the CISO at Gates Corporation, where he was responsible for the company's data security, risk, and global compliance initiatives. Before that, he was CISO at TeleTech, where he oversaw the protection of employee, consumer, and customer data for all of the organization's clients, which included many Fortune 500 companies.

Sam has also been the Chief Security Officer, Head of Application Security, and Head of Security Research at companies such as Groupon, Return Path, and McAfee. He currently serves as Director-at-Large of The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE), National Advisory Board Member for SecureWorld, and is an Executive Board Member of Colorado Cyber. He has previously served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Messaging, Malware, and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG), the Steering Committee of the Online Trust Alliance (OTA), and a member of the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG).

In his role as VP Revenue Operations at the Austrian IAM software company tenfold, Helmut has been responsible for partner sales and product marketing across Europe and North America since 2012.

Right at the start of his tenfold career, he launched the company’s direct sales and was later strongly involved in developing its channel sales strategy.

From 2015, Helmut, who holds a degree in Business Informatics, drove forward the company’s expansion to Germany and Switzerland and additionally expanded sales to include the UK and North America from 2019.

He is in charge of tenfold’s North American branch “tenfold Software North America Corp”.

Krista Arndt is the Associate CISO at SLUHN. As the Associate CISO, Krista is responsible for managing the security program's day to day operational effectiveness. Krista has been working in information security in various capacities for more than 15 years. In her previous roles, Krista assisted with developing and leading security programs in national healthcare, crypto, finance, and the Department of Defense. She currently holds her CISM and CRISC certifications and NHRA competition driver's license.

Krista is an active member of ISACA, serves as InfraGard Philadelphia Chapter’s Healthcare Sector Chief, serves on Neumann University's Business Advisory Council, and is Marketing Committee Chair for Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) Delaware Valley Affiliate. Through this service, Krista's mission is to give back to her community by providing mentorship and support for aspiring cybersecurity professionals, especially for women who wish to enter the field.

When off the clock, Krista takes her affinity for overcoming challenges to the garage and the race track, where she enjoys building and improving her own race car, competing as a driver in national drag racing events with her family, and using her racing as a forum to advocate for neurodiversity awareness and inclusion.

Alex Wood is currently the CISO for Uplight and has more than 18 years of experience in information security. Previously, he has had managerial, program, and technical roles at several major companies in different verticals. Additionally, Alex has served on the Board of Directors for ISSA International and is a host of the Colorado = Security podcast. Alex is a CISSP and has an MAS in Information Security from the University of Denver.

Gina, based in Denver, severs as the information security lead for Trace3's mountain state region. Additionally, Gina offers valuable guidance to Trace3 clients on implementing innovative security solutions, enabling companies to safeguard their most valuable digital assets. Furthermore, she is an accomplished public speaker and a mentor in the field. Gina hold seven security certifications and has obtained her Master’s Degree in Cybersecurity from the School of Engineering at the University of New Hampshire.

In her previous role as a vCISO, Gina was entrusted with safeguarding numerous organizations. She oversaw the overall security strategy and operations, including the implementation and guidance of protective and detective controls, security operations, threat intelligence, incident response, governance, risk and compliance (GRC), risk assessments, audits, architecture and integration, as well as secure software development
life cycle (SDLC). Her expertise spans across diverse industries, including healthcare, biotech, pharmaceuticals, hedge funds, alternative investments, insurance, education, manufacturing, technology, and local government.

Additionally, Gina played a crucial role in a startup that established a Security Operations Center (SOC) specializing in Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and threat intelligence services. Later on, these services were acquired by Sophos.

Gina actively engages with the information security community and holds membership in several professional governing bodies, including ISSA, ISACA and WiCyS. She is frequently seen on conference stages, having delivered insightful presentations on information security at over 50 events.

Richard Staynings is a globally renowned thought leader, author, public speaker, and advocate for improved cybersecurity across the Healthcare and Life Sciences industry. He has served on various industry and international cybersecurity committees and presented or lectured on cybersecurity themes or concerns all over the world. He has advised numerous government and industry leaders on their healthcare security strategy and defensive posture and has served as a subject matter expert on government Committees of Inquiry into some of the highest profile healthcare breaches.

Richard is currently Chief Security Strategist for Cylera, a pioneer in the space of medical device and HIoT security. He is also author of Cyber Thoughts, a leading healthcare cybersecurity blog, teaches postgraduate courses in cybersecurity, health informatics and healthcare management at the University of Denver University College, and is a retained advisor to a number of governments and private companies.

A recovering CISO, with more than 25 years’ experience of both cybersecurity leadership and client consulting in healthcare, Richard has lived in over 30 countries and delivered innovative solutions to organizations in all of them. When he’s not on a plane or speaking at an event, he can usually be found in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA

Some of his more notable successes include work for: Amgen, Cisco, CSC (now DxC), PricewaterhouseCoopers, Intel, Microsoft, Zurich Financial, and a long list of hospital and health systems.

Julian Wayte is a highly skilled cybersecurity professional specializing in cloud security. With over a decade of experience in the industry, Julian has become an expert in protecting digital assets and ensuring the security and integrity of cloud-based systems.

Julian's passion for technology and security began early in his life, sparking his interest in pursuing a career in cyber security. He obtained his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science with a focus on information security from a renowned university, where he developed a strong foundation in both theoretical and practical aspects of the field.

Throughout his career, Julian has worked with a diverse range of organizations, from start-ups to multinational corporations, assisting them in securing their cloud infrastructures and mitigating cyber threats. His exceptional analytical skills and attention to detail have enabled him to identify vulnerabilities and protect critical data.

As a cloud security professional, Julian possesses extensive knowledge of leading cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). He is well-versed in the latest cloud security best practices and understands the unique challenges associated with securing cloud environments.

In addition to his technical expertise, Julian is an excellent communicator and collaborator. He has conducted numerous training sessions and workshops, educating both technical and non-technical stakeholders on the importance of cloud security and promoting a culture of security awareness within organizations. His ability to translate complex technical concepts into easily understandable terms has earned him accolades from colleagues and clients alike.

Julian is also dedicated to staying up to date with the rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape. He actively participates in industry conferences, seminars, and online forums to exchange knowledge and learn from fellow experts. His commitment to continuous learning allows him to stay ahead of emerging threats and implement cutting-edge security strategies.

With over 15 years in IT and 5 years in cybersecurity, Joe is a recognized leader in safeguarding global digital landscapes. His experience and commitment IT and cybersecurity has seen him contributing to large and high-profile assignments such as the 2020 US Census Bureau Project through the Department of Commerce to his current task with the ISAP program under Department of Homeland Security.

In 2011, Joe co-founded Nerdtap, an IT startup providing hands-on support and solutions to the greater Grand Junction area. It was those the foundational years of Nerdtap when Joe learned how to best partner his knowledge of IT and cybersecurity to create entrepreneurial opportunities assisting others with building and maintaining functioning and secure enterprise infrastructure. While no longer involved with the day to day of the business, he has retained ownership and continues to serve as an advisor to the company’s management.

Joe received his CSSIP in 2018 and specializes in Zero-Trust, DLP, endpoint security, and secure cloud migrations. He enjoys connecting with IT and security professionals and is a leader of TechYeet networking community. Outside of his professional endeavors, Joe spends time traveling with his wife and one year old daughter.

Michael Stephen is a 20+ year Cybersecurity and Privacy professional who has worked in multiple industries including telecommunications, healthcare, state and local government, finance and restaurant. His experience includes designing, building and supporting security solutions, and successfully implementing compliance and privacy programs to support business goals. He holds active certifications CISSP, SABSA, prior multiple Cisco network and security, and his last position was Privacy & Security Officer at Connect for Health Colorado.

Craig has worked in the IT industry for over 25 years and has focused on security for the past 15 years. He started in security as a forensic analyst and incident handler. After doing that for several years he moved into leadership in the InfoSec space and has been leading security teams in different capacities for the past 12 years. Craig has experience in Higher Education, Healthcare, Software Companies, and State government as well as some non-profit experience. Craig is passionate about creating the Office of Know instead of the Office of No. Craig currently serves as the right hand to the CISO as Sr. Director of Information Security for the State of Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology.

Toby Zimmerer is a Senior Demand and Delivery Director in Optiv’s Data Governance, Privacy, and Protection practice, where he assists organizations with building programs and implementing solutions focused on protecting high value information and assets. He has more than 24 years of professional experience developing information security strategies, designing information security programs, developing information security solutions and leading teams with deploying and operating information security programs. Toby has an MBA, a BS in electrical engineering, a CISSP certification, a CCSK from the Cloud Security Alliance, and is a US Navy veteran.

Julian Wayte is a highly skilled cybersecurity professional specializing in cloud security. With over a decade of experience in the industry, Julian has become an expert in protecting digital assets and ensuring the security and integrity of cloud-based systems.

Julian's passion for technology and security began early in his life, sparking his interest in pursuing a career in cyber security. He obtained his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science with a focus on information security from a renowned university, where he developed a strong foundation in both theoretical and practical aspects of the field.

Throughout his career, Julian has worked with a diverse range of organizations, from start-ups to multinational corporations, assisting them in securing their cloud infrastructures and mitigating cyber threats. His exceptional analytical skills and attention to detail have enabled him to identify vulnerabilities and protect critical data.

As a cloud security professional, Julian possesses extensive knowledge of leading cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). He is well-versed in the latest cloud security best practices and understands the unique challenges associated with securing cloud environments.

In addition to his technical expertise, Julian is an excellent communicator and collaborator. He has conducted numerous training sessions and workshops, educating both technical and non-technical stakeholders on the importance of cloud security and promoting a culture of security awareness within organizations. His ability to translate complex technical concepts into easily understandable terms has earned him accolades from colleagues and clients alike.

Julian is also dedicated to staying up to date with the rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape. He actively participates in industry conferences, seminars, and online forums to exchange knowledge and learn from fellow experts. His commitment to continuous learning allows him to stay ahead of emerging threats and implement cutting-edge security strategies.

Frannie is a passionate leader who drives energy and innovation in everything she touches. With over 35 years of experience in the technology sector, Frannie provides clarity in the face of complexity and uncertainty. She believes that transformation is the key to success in today's business climate. Frannie is continuously scanning for refinement and improvement. She identifies trends and connections early and moves quickly to find opportunities and anticipate risk.

Richard Staynings is a globally renowned thought leader, author, public speaker, and advocate for improved cybersecurity across the Healthcare and Life Sciences industry. He has served on various industry and international cybersecurity committees and presented or lectured on cybersecurity themes or concerns all over the world. He has advised numerous government and industry leaders on their healthcare security strategy and defensive posture and has served as a subject matter expert on government Committees of Inquiry into some of the highest profile healthcare breaches.

Richard is currently Chief Security Strategist for Cylera, a pioneer in the space of medical device and HIoT security. He is also author of Cyber Thoughts, a leading healthcare cybersecurity blog, teaches postgraduate courses in cybersecurity, health informatics and healthcare management at the University of Denver University College, and is a retained advisor to a number of governments and private companies.

A recovering CISO, with more than 25 years’ experience of both cybersecurity leadership and client consulting in healthcare, Richard has lived in over 30 countries and delivered innovative solutions to organizations in all of them. When he’s not on a plane or speaking at an event, he can usually be found in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA

Some of his more notable successes include work for: Amgen, Cisco, CSC (now DxC), PricewaterhouseCoopers, Intel, Microsoft, Zurich Financial, and a long list of hospital and health systems.

Alex Wood is currently the CISO for Uplight and has more than 18 years of experience in information security. Previously, he has had managerial, program, and technical roles at several major companies in different verticals. Additionally, Alex has served on the Board of Directors for ISSA International and is a host of the Colorado = Security podcast. Alex is a CISSP and has an MAS in Information Security from the University of Denver.

Kip Boyle is the Virtual Chief Information Security Officer of Cyber Risk Opportunities, whose mission is to help executives become more proficient cyber risk managers. He has over 24 years of cybersecurity experience serving as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and in other IT risk management roles for organizations in the financial services, technology, telecom, military, civil engineering, and logistics industries.