SecureWorld Government Virtual Conference 2023

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.

Stephen Dougherty has over a decade of investigative experience. His career as a Financial Fraud Investigator in support of the federal government has played a pivotal role in criminal investigations, surrounding cyber-enabled financial crime, money laundering, human trafficking, identity theft, healthcare fraud, embezzlement, tax/government program fraud, dark web crimes, among others. Stephen’s main area of expertise is combatting money laundering in all its forms. Aside from this, Stephen has been proactive in identifying new and future trends in the world of financial crime. Such trends include the cyber security nexus of financial crimes and its ever-growing relationship in major financial crimes such as Business Email Compromise and the rise of the dark web and the use of virtual currency as a vehicle for facilitation of financial crimes. Stephen has been a leader and a mentor to other investigators teaching them how to uncover fraud internally and externally. Stephen is currently an investigator contracted to the U.S. Secret Service’s Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC) in Washington D.C.

Mr. Stanton Gatewood is the U.S. DHS/CISA - R4 Cyber Security Coordinator - State of Georgia. He is the former Chief Information Security Officer for the State of Georgia and Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and the University of Georgia.

Stanton has more than 35 years of experience in cybersecurity program management and strategic planning, executive leadership, including the U.S. military, state, local, federal governments, higher education, and several top 10 global corporations. He has also served as the Vice President for Information Technology and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Albany State University. He has built two centers of excellence, one for cryptography and one for cyber awareness and training.

Tom Brennan is the CIO of the national law firm Mandelbaum Barrett PC and leads the U.S. arm of CREST International. In this role, he works with government and commercial organizations to optimize the value of CREST as a cybersecurity accreditation body and industry standards advocate, particularly for companies in the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency’s 16 critical infrastructure sectors which are vital to U.S. security, national economy, and public health and safety. As CREST USA Chairman, Brennan spearheads strategic plans for CREST USA’s organizational growth while also serving as an industry evangelist and educator on the value of using accredited cybersecurity products and professionals to improve consumer privacy, security, and protection worldwide.

As a proud U.S. Marine veteran, Brennan became involved with CREST International in 2016 while serving the Global Board of Directors for the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP). Seeing similar goals, he became more active in the CREST organization and was nominated to lead the organization’s U.S. Advisory in 2019. Over his career, Brennan has amassed security expertise across the cybersecurity spectrum, including penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, application security, threat intelligence, and more. In addition to being CREST USA Chairman, he is the Chief Information Officer of the national law firm Mandelbaum Barrett, overseeing critical infrastructure, privacy, and security operations. He is also an Advisory Board Member of the information services advisory Gerson Lehrman Group, a Cyber Fellows Advisory Council Member, a Member of the Information Technology Advisory Committee of the County College of Morris, a Senior Advisor and Industry Advisory Board Member of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a Cyber Fellows Advisory Council Member of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

Christian Espinosa is the CEO & Founder of Blue Goat Cyber and a Cybersecurity Professor at Maryville University. He holds over 25 certifications, including the CISSP, CCISO, and PMP. Christian is a U.S. Air Force veteran with a BS in Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy and an MBA from Webster University. He holds multiple patents on cybersecurity attack and defense. Major recent projects include penetration testing and assessments of commercial aircraft, medical device penetration testing, and numerous incident response projects. When Christian isn’t protecting us from cybercriminals, he climbs mountains, travels the world, teaches outdoor wilderness survival, and competes in Ironman triathlons.

Thomas Scott (Tom) is the Executive Director of the South Carolina Cybersecurity Association and Foundation. As the inaugural Director of the SC Cyber Consortium, he has been a key leader in the cyber education, cyber workforce development, and cyber protection efforts in both South Carolina and across the Nation. He is the CEO of CyberSherpas, a premier cybersecurity consulting firm.

With over 30 years of cybersecurity experience in both Florida and South Carolina, Tom has developed a wealth of knowledge and experience in protecting critical infrastructure and cyber assets. He currently holds certifications in information security, information auditing, security leadership, critical infrastructure protection, and project management – he is also recognized a FEMA Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) Practitioner.

Tom is a member of the FBI’s InfraGard program and serves as an advisory board member for the Dutch Fork High School Cyber program. He has actively participated as a member of the MS-ISAC’s Executive Committee as well as the USC School of Law Cybersecurity Task Force. Tom currently serves the academic community through board service to the Industry Advisory Board for the USC Integrated IT program, and at Florence-Darlington Tech and Aiken Tech

Chris Hetner is a Senior Executive, Board Director, and leader in Cybersecurity recognized for raising cyber risk to the Corporate Board level to protect industries, infrastructures, and economies. He creates operational resilience by aligning robust Cybersecurity strategies with business objectives. Mr. Hetner’s professional judgment combined with a public company perspective and SEC regulatory and investor oversight experience has led to his success in corporate and government roles. Currently, he is on the board of directors of a PE Fund TCIG, a Senior Advisor for the Chertoff Group, the Special Advisor for Cyber Risk for the NACD, Chair Cybersecurity and Privacy for the NASDAQ Center for Board Excellence, National Board Member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and Research Affiliate with MIT Sloan School of Management.

Throughout his career, Mr. Hetner has created and launched Cybersecurity programs in the public and private sectors. As business functions transfer to the cloud, he has consistently elevated the issue of enterprise-wide preparedness and continuity to Boards and Executive Management teams. The Covid-19 global pandemic has magnified cyber risks across sectors. Based on the growth of the distributed workforce and the increase in the prevalence of bad actors, the threat and severity levels of cyber breaches have become a security and operational resilience priority.

He served as the Senior Cybersecurity Advisor to the Chair of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and as Head of Cybersecurity for the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examination at the SEC. He also represented the Chair of the SEC as a senior member of the US Department of the Treasury Financial Banking Information Infrastructure Committee. His greatest contributions included vision for and implementation of the first agency wide Cybersecurity governance structure, threat intelligence program, and incident response capabilities. The Cybersecurity framework he implemented improved the National Examination Program’s ability to monitor and respond to Cyber risks and threats across the US Securities market.

Mr. Hetner has also led efforts across financial, regulatory, and government agencies to enhance Cybersecurity coordination in the financial services sector. He successfully led diverse teams, in multiple global locations, through transformative thinking about cyber-risk management, Cybersecurity policy, and regulatory compliance to embrace change and become cultures of action and collaboration. He established governance and risk management structures aligned with strategy and business objectives, while integrating resilience into corporate DNA.

Mr. Hetner’s thought leadership is actively sought by governments, private and public entities, industry associations, and media outlets as the threats to critical infrastructure and economies increase. Throughout his career he has shared his professional expertise by mentoring students at Columbia University, New York University, Fordham School of Law, and Pace University.

He is a Certified Information Security Manager (ISACA), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (ISC2), and holds a high-level USA security clearance. Mr. Hetner earned a MS, cum laude, in Information Assurance from Norwich University and a BS in Security Management from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Lisa Plaggemier is Executive Director at the National Cybersecurity Alliance. She is a recognized thought leader in security awareness and education with a track record of engaging and empowering people to protect themselves, their families, and their organizations. Lisa is a University of Michigan graduate (Go Blue!) and while she wasn’t born in Austin, Texas, she got there as fast as she could.

Founder of a strategic risk consultancy after serving 26 years in the US Air Force, Cedric Leighton oversaw numerous critical intelligence missions throughout his career. He served at US Special Operations Command, the Joint Staff and the National Security Agency, where he helped train the nation's cyber warriors. A Middle East combat veteran, he is the recipient of numerous military awards, including the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Bronze Star.

Currently, Cedric advises multinational businesses on cyber attacks and the management of complex global strategies to reduce risk and unpredictability.

VJ Viswanathan is a seasoned technology executive recognized and awarded for innovation, business capability transformation and thoughtful mentorship. Most recently, VJ is the founding partner at CYFORIX, a global cybersecurity research, advisory & strategic consulting firm delivering solutions to public and private sectors. He also serves as the CEO at TORQE, a specialized advisory firm focused on analytics, automation and convergent technologies. VJ is the co-host of ELEVATEINTEL, a podcast series at the nexus of technology, social and defense.

With over 25 years of pioneering Enterprise technology, Cyber Security, Privacy, Compliance and Risk Management experience, VJ has a detailed track record of designing, implementing and leading highly successful programs, products & services at multinational Fortune 100 brands spanning CPG, Telecom, Media, Supply-chain, Health care & Finance segments. As a strategic thought leader, VJ has delivered the first of its kind "Supply Chain Security" & “Omni-channel Risk management” frameworks. As a published author and featured keynote speaker at global industry events, he approaches disruptive digital paradigms with innovation, creativity and active collaboration with his key industry peers, researchers, national & international law enforcement and defense groups.

VJ is an active mentor at various incubators & accelerators groups, serves as an advisory Board member for growth stage companies. As a strategic adviser to VC & PE firms, he specializes in developing market analysis, competitive product road map and guides in opportunity mapping. As a Board member and subject matter advisor to CEOs and Corporate directors, VJ evaluates and audits enterprise technology and cyber security program for veracity and operational effectiveness.

VJ is passionate about animal rights and giving back to the technology & security industry. He has created a rescue & foster care group for large breed dogs. He is actively engaged with academic institutions and purpose driven professional groups like ‘Minorities in Cyber security’, where he serves as the Board member and chair of mentorship programs to develop the next generation talent through coaching and facilitating scholarships for technology & cyber security education.