As the Interim Chief Information Security Officer for the State of Minnesota, John Israel leads the executive branch cybersecurity teams within Minnesota IT Services (MNIT), the state information technology agency. The Enterprise Security Office at MNIT prevents, monitors, detects, and coordinates with key partners to respond to cyber threats targeting state systems and services and supports advanced cybersecurity defenses for local governments through state and local partnerships.

The Office also supports cybersecurity planning and provides guidance to state executive branch agencies that connect Minnesotans to state services and programs every day. These teams have helped implement Governor Walz’s Executive Order 22-20 on critical infrastructure cybersecurity, which calls on state agencies to prioritize resources to improve state network security and build strong collaboration, threat intelligence sharing, and cybersecurity awareness with critical infrastructure providers statewide.

Trusted Advisor - Passionate about people development & team building - Sales leader with consistent record of customer success, team excellence, and stretch results. A genuine individual who excels at cultivating strong relationships, committed to strong ethics and diversity. Business professional adept at fostering customer confidence & brand loyalty, selling in a highly competitive environment, and rapidly moving from challenge to solution.

Joe Marshall is a Senior IoT Security Strategist with Cisco Talos Intelligence Group, one of the largest commercial threat intelligence teams in the world. Joe specializes in industrial control systems, critical infrastructure protection, and IoT device security. Joe has worked with public and private industry around the world to help secure critical ICS and IoT assets from threats both mundane and exotic. Joe resides in Baltimore Maryland, where he can be found knee deep in banjo’s, threat research, and helping keep the Internet safe.

As the Interim Chief Information Security Officer for the State of Minnesota, John Israel leads the executive branch cybersecurity teams within Minnesota IT Services (MNIT), the state information technology agency. The Enterprise Security Office at MNIT prevents, monitors, detects, and coordinates with key partners to respond to cyber threats targeting state systems and services and supports advanced cybersecurity defenses for local governments through state and local partnerships.

The Office also supports cybersecurity planning and provides guidance to state executive branch agencies that connect Minnesotans to state services and programs every day. These teams have helped implement Governor Walz’s Executive Order 22-20 on critical infrastructure cybersecurity, which calls on state agencies to prioritize resources to improve state network security and build strong collaboration, threat intelligence sharing, and cybersecurity awareness with critical infrastructure providers statewide.

Emily Sochia currently serves as the Maturity Services Manager at the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC®), a division of the Center for Internet Security®. In this role, she works to support federally funded programs and services, including the Nationwide Cybersecurity Emily Sochia Review (NCSR), a voluntary self-assessment that measures gaps and capabilities of cybersecurity programs for SLTT governments. She holds a Bachelor’s in Informatics and a Master of Science in Cybersecurity. With a background in cybersecurity policy and governance, she specifically focuses on helping organizations assess their cybersecurity program and prioritize next steps for improvement.

Shawn Riley assumed the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the State of North Dakota Information Technology Department in April 2017 after being appointed by Gov. Doug Burgum. Shawn has served in IT leadership positions for the past 22 years, where he’s demonstrated the ability to transform organizations through the use of technology.

A native of Lanesboro, Minn., Riley earned a bachelor’s degree in information technology administration from American InterContinental University and a master’s degree in business administration from Salt Lake City-based Western Governors University.

Earlier in his career, he consulted at IBM and other Fortune 500 companies nationally and internationally on network, system security and compliance, training, e-health, and e-business projects. From 2004 to 2017, he worked for Mayo Clinic in numerous roles, including regional roles as Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer and Information Management Officer. He is always looking to connect with others who have a “we can change the world” attitude as he strives to be a servant leader and improve lives, empower people, and inspire success.

Shawn and his wife, Michelle, have three children. In his off hours, Shawn enjoys being a history interpreter and competitive marksman. You may find him out in full costume as a colonial soldier telling the stories of the American Revolution.

Nancy Skuta is a Senior Security Analyst on the Threat and Vulnerability Management Unit for the State of Minnesota, MNIT Services. In her role, she is involved with scanning over 60,000 State IT assets. Nancy is leading the charge to communicate security vulnerabilities to IT teams for remediation and resolution.

Mr. Gabbard is a part of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as a Cybersecurity Advisor (CSA) for Region V (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH & WI). Based in Minneapolis, MN, he supports the mission of strengthening the security and resilience of the nation’s critical infrastructure. Prior to joining CISA, Chris served as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Ramsey County. Prior to being a CISO, Chris worked as an IT auditor and risk manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers, ING, and US Bank. Mr. Gabbard is a Certified Information Security Auditor (CISA), has Bachelor’s Degrees in Accounting and Management Information System from the University of Northern Iowa.

As the MNIT SOC Cyber Navigator, Pete leads cyber security outreach efforts focusing on the Statewide Security Monitoring Initiative, relationship building, and threat reporting. He represents MNIT at the Minnesota Fusion Center, where he is the conduit for national and global cyber threat reporting, communications, and outreach. Prior to joining MNIT, Pete worked for the MITRE Corporation and in signals intelligence for the US Air Force/US Cyber Command. He holds a BS in Information Technology from UMASS, Lowell and MA in International Affairs from the University of Denver.

As the Interim Chief Information Security Officer for the State of Minnesota, John Israel leads the executive branch cybersecurity teams within Minnesota IT Services (MNIT), the state information technology agency. The Enterprise Security Office at MNIT prevents, monitors, detects, and coordinates with key partners to respond to cyber threats targeting state systems and services and supports advanced cybersecurity defenses for local governments through state and local partnerships.

The Office also supports cybersecurity planning and provides guidance to state executive branch agencies that connect Minnesotans to state services and programs every day. These teams have helped implement Governor Walz’s Executive Order 22-20 on critical infrastructure cybersecurity, which calls on state agencies to prioritize resources to improve state network security and build strong collaboration, threat intelligence sharing, and cybersecurity awareness with critical infrastructure providers statewide.

Shawn Riley assumed the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the State of North Dakota Information Technology Department in April 2017 after being appointed by Gov. Doug Burgum. Shawn has served in IT leadership positions for the past 22 years, where he’s demonstrated the ability to transform organizations through the use of technology.

A native of Lanesboro, Minn., Riley earned a bachelor’s degree in information technology administration from American InterContinental University and a master’s degree in business administration from Salt Lake City-based Western Governors University.

Earlier in his career, he consulted at IBM and other Fortune 500 companies nationally and internationally on network, system security and compliance, training, e-health, and e-business projects. From 2004 to 2017, he worked for Mayo Clinic in numerous roles, including regional roles as Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer and Information Management Officer. He is always looking to connect with others who have a “we can change the world” attitude as he strives to be a servant leader and improve lives, empower people, and inspire success.

Shawn and his wife, Michelle, have three children. In his off hours, Shawn enjoys being a history interpreter and competitive marksman. You may find him out in full costume as a colonial soldier telling the stories of the American Revolution.

Dr. Ashley Podhradsky is the Vice President for Research & Economic Development at Dakota State University. She is also a member of the First Bank & Trust Board of Directors. Dr. Podhradsky is a sought-after speaker and keynote for cybersecurity events around the country. Her research teams have received over 15 million in competitive grants from the National Security Agency, National Science Foundation, Small Business Administration, and others. In addition to her academic and professional work, she has a strong passion for increasing gender diversity in cybersecurity. She is the co-founder of CybHER, a cyber outreach program which has reached thousands of people from K-12 to college age and beyond. As a fundraiser, Ashley has received nearly 2 million in gifts for CybHER.  Dr. Podhradsky was the recipient of the EmBe 2017 “Young Woman of Achievement,” The 2017 Merrill Hunter Award for Excellence in Research, was a 2017 and 2018 New America Cybersecurity Fellow. She was also named an American Association for the Advancement of Science IF/THEN Ambassador in 2019. Through this program, she is one of 120 women in STEM featured around the country with a life-size statue.

Christopher Buse serves as Chief Information Security Officer for Old Republic National Title Insurance Company. In this capacity, Christopher is responsible for designing and implementing the enterprise security architecture for the company.

Christopher also served as Assistant Commissioner and Chief Information Security Officer for the State of Minnesota’s central technology agency, known as MN.IT Services. Christopher’s career in government also included several roles in the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor, where he oversaw information technology audit work done on large government computer systems.

Christopher Buse graduated from St. Cloud State University in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. Since graduation, he has supplemented his accounting degree with numerous computer science and management information systems courses. Christopher is a Certified Public Accountant (Inactive), Certified Information Systems Auditor, and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional.

Gretchen Block is the Sr. Vice President of the Optum Global Technology Enterprise Risk Governance Program and the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for UnitedHealth Care.

In 1995, Gretchen began her career in healthcare by working for John Deere HealthCare. Her roles included IT asset management, computer operations and security. In 2006, she joined Optum as part of the acquisition of John Deere HealthCare with UnitedHealth Group. She currently leads the enterprise policy, risk governance, supplier management, access management and security operations teams supporting the enterprise. She has been part of the Enterprise Security organization working with risk governance, compliance management and threat management in support of the broader cybersecurity program.

Gretchen also serves as the CISO for UnitedHealth Care (UHC) supporting the respective lines of business within UHC, delivering on secure technology platforms for health benefits to its members, simplifying the health care experience and delivering on access to high-quality care.

Judy Hatchett is the VP Chief Information Security Officer at Surescripts. She sets the vision, develops plans and oversees the execution of Surescripts’ Enterprise Information and Physical Security, Business Continuity and Risk Management Programs to ensure comprehensive, high-quality and effective risk and information security management in support of business goals. With 15 years in cybersecurity, she has held leadership roles overseeing global teams for governance, cybersecurity and HIPAA compliance and identity management in both the manufacturing and retail industries.

I am a bold, trusted, authentic technology founder, speaker and executive coach. I've navigated the tough worlds of entrepreneurship, executive leadership, and fundraising. I've founded, invested in, and run software companies in Silicon Valley, hold over a dozen software patents, and have won awards for my software products.

Today, I work with the world’s largest private equity and investment firms and corporations as well as innovative startups. I help executives articulate their value propositions, stand out, be memorable and get hired. I prepare boardroom candidates, coach leadership teams and executives, and facilitate corporate workshops. I speak globally on topics affecting executives and leaders.

Cindi Carter is a global, multi-industry Cybersecurity and Information Technology Executive with more than 15 years of experience as a transformational leader for both startups and enterprises.
Cindi’s expertise includes building Cybersecurity practices in highly regulated industries, turning strategic goals into actionable outcomes, influencing a “secure from the start” culture, developing secure architecture & engineering platforms, and highly collaborative engagement
(C-Suite, Board, Clients and Industry) for managing risk.

At Check Point Software Technologies, Cindi is a Chief Information Security Officer in the Office of the CISO, committed to helping other CISOs achieve success in both strategic and tactical initiatives and contributing to Check Point’s own security practices. Cindi possesses a firm grasp
of the challenges surrounding the security, privacy, and risk management landscape, and is a trusted advisor within Check Point as well as for our customers. More recently, Cindi was the CISO for IntSights Cyber Threat Intelligence, where she was responsible for driving the company’s internal security initiatives, as well as serving as an external-facing advisor and
subject matter expert in the areas of threat intelligence, cybersecurity resilience and risk management. Cindi also served as VP and Chief Security Officer at MedeAnalytics, a healthcare analytics software-as-a-service (SaaS) leader; prior to that Cindi was the Deputy Chief Information Security Officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City.

Sarah Engstrom is chief information security officer for CHS, the nation’s leading farmer-owned cooperative and a global energy, grains and foods company. She leads the CHS Information Security, Data Privacy and Information Technology Productivity programs to generate a more secure and productive workforce. The goals for those programs are to arm CHS employees against the latest cyber security threats, identify technology and business process improvements to better secure CHS information assets and provide a level of employee satisfaction through IT services and technology offerings.

Engstrom joined CHS in December 2015. Prior to that, she worked for Target for 13 years, first in the Information Technology department before transitioning into Information Security.

She has a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems from the University of Connecticut. She also maintains a security certification as a CISSP - Certified Information Systems Security Professional. Sarah enjoys traveling and staying active in her personal life and lives in South Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Kristy Livingston is a Sr Manager of the Cyber Security Operations Center at Sleep Number and Adjunct Professor at Century College. She has 12 years of cybersecurity experience and has held leadership roles overseeing, data governance, vulnerability management e-discovery and incident response. Kristy holds a master’s degree in Secure Technologies (MSST) from the University of MN Leadership Institutes and industry certifications including CISSP and EnCE.

Aimee Martin leads the Information Security, Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC), and Project Management Office (PMO) functions at Vista Outdoor. Aimee has over 15 years of experience in security and compliance, spanning multiple different industries and functions including internal and external IT audit, compliance, risk management, disaster recovery planning, and project management. In her current role at Vista Outdoor, Aimee is responsible for driving information security program maturity, various compliance programs and leading IT M&A activities. Aimee holds the following certifications: CISA, CRISC, PMP.

Milinda is responsible for the enhancement and operational oversight of an enterprise security program for Bremer. She is an executive security leader with extensive experience building and leading security programs teams. Milinda has more than 20 years of experience in creating and managing large-scale information security programs in technology, healthcare, and financial services. Her passion is about leading and mentoring others on the importance of information security.

With nearly 20 years of experience in IT, cybersecurity and data management across industry verticals, Julie is accountable for developing and implementing identity and data services at Optiv that protect a client’s critical assets while ensuring a secure, compliant and uniform digital experience. Prior to Optiv, Julie held key transformative CISO and data leadership positions at Symantec, The Ohio State University, Cardinal Health, JP Morgan Chase, Nationwide Insurance and SunTrust Bank. In these roles, Julie established and aligned global security and data strategies while leading the implementation of security and data capabilities to reduce cyber risk exposure and enable these organizations to maximize the value of their data to elevate revenue, product evolution and consumer delight.

Julie has a passion for supporting women in their advancement and fulfillment within their careers sponsoring several Women in Technology Initiatives.

Nancy Brainerd joined Medtronic in 2000 and has held various technical roles in Medtronic’s Global IT organization. In 2006, she began working within the information security field, and currently holds the Deputy CISO role leading the Cyber Defense function within the Global Security Office at Medtronic, where she also serves as the co-Chair of the Women in IT (WIIT) hub of the Medtronic Women’s Network.. She is a frequent guest lecturer at the University of Minnesota on the topic of Cybersecurity. Nancy lives in Minnesota with her husband and is the proud mother to a daughter who works in the mental health industry. Lastly, Nancy spends most of her free time on the golf course.

Lucia Milică serves as VP, Global Resident Chief Information Security Officer at Proofpoint, a leading cybersecurity and compliance company. She is a senior technology leader with over 20 years of extensive technical and business experience. In her previous role, Lucia was the VP, Chief Information Security Officer & Chief Privacy Officer for Polycom, where she managed all aspects of data privacy and information security. She has also held leadership and technical roles in IT governance & strategy, security risk and compliance, corporate and product security, data privacy, and IT infrastructure at other companies, including HP, Palm, Wells Fargo, and Franklin Templeton. Many organizations in the cybersecurity industry and broader business community have asked her to speak at their conferences, symposiums, and other events. She has also extended her contributions to her profession by serving as an advisory board member and active participant with the cybersecurity industry and relevant industry groups, including policy council and board membership on the National Technology Security Coalition, and service with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 405(d) Cybersecurity Task Group, SC Media Advisory Board, Forbes Technology Council and CHIEF member. She has a Master of Science in Information and Cybersecurity degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She also holds Master in Business Administration and Juris Doctorate degrees.

Jannell Mohn serves as the Chief Information Security Officer for RSM. She is a leader experienced in developing and implementing cyber programs that effectively focus on risk, compliance, countermeasures, and controls to mitigate and detect cyber intrusions. Her experience includes being a CISO for an aerospace and defense contractor, an international manufacturing firm and a privately held company. She has significant experience with advanced persistent threats by nation state actors and has established global information security strategies for highly regulated organizations. Before moving into Information Security, Jannell was a practicing attorney specializing in securities, corporate and tax law.

Beth Singer leads the CHS IT Compliance organization responsible for supporting IT to be audit ready and champions data privacy and security awareness for CHS. Beth believes in mindful leadership to grow her team and promote compliance. She also volunteers as a board member of Minnesota InfraGard and holds multiple security and privacy certifications. Beth has held security leadership roles at Best Buy, Donaldson Company and GMAC-RFC. Balancing her work life, she also enjoys time with her family and volunteering as a yoga teacher at a local juvenile facility bringing the gift of yoga and meditation to teenagers.

Lindsey Konerza is a Security Engineer with University of Minnesota Information Security. She focuses primarily on higher education policy and awareness initiatives across the U of MN system. Prior to her role in security, Lindsey worked as a senior business analyst focusing on Oracle PeopleSoft ERP systems within higher education. She currently serves on the Higher Education User Group focusing on topics related to security governance and the cloud technology landscape. She holds an MS in Security Technology with a minor in Cybersecurity from the University of Minnesota’s Technological Leadership Institute.

Alex Bastian is an IRM professional with 6 years’ experience securing operations and enhancing the security posture of financial institutions. Alex’s unconventional path into cybersecurity began with designing and implementing training solutions for stateside and international engineers-- and she never looked back. Today, she is responsible for identifying, assessing, and remediating information security gaps at Bremer Bank. She is practiced at designing, improving, and implementing processes to smooth operations. In a previous life she led a self-contained IRM unit, improved team efficiency through automation and semi-automation and enforced policy in change and incident processes, improving compliance. Alex finds joy in building relationships within her community to educate students on cyber security best practices and career opportunities.

Mandie has a strong networking background with a passion for network security monitoring and Cyber-Physical systems. She has advised clients ranging from Fortune 500 to 5-person firms on selecting, deploying, and tuning security toolsets, and has spearheaded the design of Cyber Incident Response policies and processes for clients in multiple verticals.
Previously, Mandie was the Manager of a Security Operations Center at a Managed Service Provider in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.
Mandie currently holds Network+, Security+, and Cybersecurity Analyst+ certifications and is currently studying for her GRID certification. She holds a BS in Information and Communication Technologies from UW-Stout.

Aanchal Manchanda is a Senior Manager & HR leader at Wipro Limited. She is a trusted talent advisor to senior executives as they drive sustainable business growth . Aanchal strives to build resilient and effective teams embracing inclusion and diversity in all facets of business. She is seasoned HR professional with over 11 years of global experience in a wide array of roles across people functions.

Karl is a cybersecurity leader and innovator who serves as the CISO for Noname Security. He has over 25 years experience leading innovative and diverse teams of technology and security professionals in financial services, retail and federal government.

Previously, Karl served as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for PennyMac Financial Services and City National Bank. As well, Karl has served as Adjunct Faculty for the University of Minnesota's MSST program since 2012.

Kumar Dasani is a collaborative leader and trusted advisor to the business on information security, privacy and technology risk identification, risk management and risk reporting. Dedicated and results oriented servant leader with proven experience in building programs and highly effective teams to help deliver on a measurable security maturity journey in alignment with the business objectives.

At present, Kumar is the VP, Chief Information Security Officer at Digital River responsible for setting the vision, strategy and execution of enterprise information security, business continuity, and risk management. Prior to joining Digital River, Kumar was the Segment CISO for Medtronic Care Management Services where he built a cyber security program from ground up and helped deliver on the cyber security maturity, customer and regulatory requirements and compliance initiatives. His prior experience includes building security compliance risk functions in various industries and internal/external audit experience with KPMG focusing on healthcare and financial services industries.

Kumar received his undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Masters in Software Systems. In 2021, Kumar was recognized as the Visionary Leadership Award winner for his work in the cyber security field and governance, risk and compliance function. Kumar is also very active in the security community and maintains relevant certifications: CIPP/US, CISA, CISM, CRISC, CvCISO (pending)

Dr. Shayla Treadwell is vice president of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) at ECS. In this role, Dr. Treadwell oversees the company’s information security programs and helps drive stakeholder collaboration on issues related to information technology (IT) governance, risk, compliance, and assurance. Dr. Treadwell is also responsible for the establishment of ECS’s cybersecurity risk management program, ensuring the company remains aligned with industry-leading security regulations, frameworks, and certifications.

In addition to her role as VP of GRC, Dr. Treadwell serves as VP of ECS’ Cyber Center of Excellence. In this role, she works with subject matter experts throughout the company to facilitate research and development and support ECS’ strategic cyber goals.

Dr. Treadwell is the co-founder of the Treadwell Agency, a small consulting firm dedicated to advising businesses on digital transformation, strategic planning, and IT security. She has a doctorate in business psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Her dissertation focused on organizational leadership and examined the correlation between information security and leadership practices.

Principal Security Analyst Governance, Risk and Compliance with 10+ years of experience in Information Security. I have extensive experience in managing and leading internal and external security audits, such as, PCI, SOC2 Type II, HIPAA and Client audits, third party risk management and Risk Management. I have collaborated and assisted in business process redesign, application development and risk management to develop and implement security controls that comply with regulatory and legal obligations. I consider myself a well-rounded security professional knowledgeable in the following IT Security domains including, but not limited to: Information Security Governance and Risk, Access Control/IAM, Software Development, Third Party Risk Management, Vulnerability Management. I graduated with my Bachelors of Applied Science in Computer Forensics from Metropolitan State University in 2013 and I am currently a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).

Yolanda Hunte is a passionate advocate for leadership and has served as a council member for the Ambitious Women Conference where she has worked with female colleagues in sales and marketing helping to organize, mentor and motivate other women.
Yolanda has also served as Co-Chair of the Women's Leadership Network, an employee resource organization where she has organized and conducted panel discussion sessions and lunch and learns. Working with senior executives to tackle issues such as work-life balance, emotional intelligence, and effective leadership communication strategies.
Yolanda has been an Executive Assistant for over 28 years. She has previously served as the lead person for the annual Software Development Conference and Quarterly Leadership Summits. Yolanda holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology with an emphasis on Applied Behavioral Analysis and plans to earn her master's degree in organizational leadership by October 2022.

Stephanie joined Medtronic 6 years ago and currently leads the Third Party and Compliance Risk Management team for Medtronic’s Global Security Office (GSO). She is passionate about reducing risk, simplifying complex issues, and building cohesion across organizations. Stephanie also serves as co-chair on the Medtronic leadership team for GenesysWorks. Before coming to Medtronic, Stephanie was at Target for 7 years in various roles and had a brief contracting stint at Optum.

Rob is the Managing Director & National Healthcare Practice Leader at Edgile a Wipro Limited company. He is responsible for ensuring Edgile’s strategy-first, business-aligned security approach is responsive to the market conditions facing the US Health and Life Sciences communities.

Rob previously served as a healthcare Chief Information Security Officer, and later a national Healthcare Strategist with VMware. He brings 22 years of healthcare experience, including serving 8 years as Chief Information Security Officer (“CISO”) and another 4 years as Chief Technology Officer (“CTO”) at Oklahoma’s largest integrated delivery network. During his tenure he led strong interdisciplinary teams in the creation of customer value by focusing on the alignment of business strategy and professional IT service delivery with a focus grounded in the principles of a high-reliability organization.
He lives in Oklahoma with his family and enjoys staying active with his three sons and watching football.

Sujatha Sadasivuni is working as the Partner & Account Delivery Head at Wipro Technologies. She is responsible for driving market share and growth of Wipro Technologies Cybersecurity and Risk services consisting portfolio of services - Digital Identity, Cloud and Infrastructure security, Data Security, Security & Risk Services, Threat & Vulnerability Management and Security Intelligence, Analytics and Assurance across Retail and Consumer Sectors.
Sujatha has 26 years of experience in the IT services industry. She has played key roles in transforming Business, IT services , CyberSecurity & Risk services, M&A, Quality Engineer Services and Digital operations for clients in Retail, Consumer, Utilities, Manufacturing, Insurance, Financial Services and Capital Markets. She has lead global teams in the GEOs of Asia, European Union and North America and assisted in setup of PMO organizations. Sujatha is Innovation and Diversity champion who has received several awards for innovation, Delivery Excellence and business growth. She is also recipient of “Woman Icon Award” from Wipro Technologies for her exemplary services in nurturing Women CyberSecurists, Delivery Excellence and Business growth.
Sujatha is Founder and Co-chair for “Wipro Women in Cyber (WWIC)” a charter to Build, Nurture, Enable and Empower Women CyberSecurists of Wipro Technologies. She strives to encourage and influence many women to take up CyberSecurity as a career choice.

Tina is a highly accomplished Senior Information Security & Compliance Executive and Entrepreneur with more than 17 years of success in the retail, banking, technology, and medical device industries.

Tina is currently the Sr. Director of Information Security at Sleep Number Corporation and has also held executive cyber security leadership positions at Best Buy, Inc., Shutterfly, Inc. and Target Corporation. She built and led her own consulting firm, Beacon Information Security, LLC, a multi-industry cyber security advisory and consulting service. Tina specializes in cyber security and privacy program building and maturation, cyber security risk management, enterprise security policies, security awareness, phishing programs, mergers & acquisition security evaluations, and recruiting/building high-performing and diverse teams.

Tina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Behavior & Management from St. Scholastica and a Master of Business Administration from Augsburg University. In addition to holding an MBA, Tina maintains active CISSP and other security certifications and is a part-time adjunct Cyber Security instructor at Dunwoody College in Minneapolis.

She is currently the Vice President of the Minnesota Affiliate of WiCyS (Women in CyberSecurity) in addition to a Think Tank member for the Cyber Security Summit, a large conference in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area going on its twelfth year and was the keynote speaker at “Cyber Now – Birmingham, AL” in April 2018. She has been featured as a speaker at a number of highly attended conferences, including GSX Las Vegas, ISC2 Security Congress, Secure 360 Minneapolis, Secure World, Cyber Security Summit, and the Minnesota Continuing Legal Education Conference.

Global cyber security is no longer just a technical pursuit. Today’s cyber security team must first speak the language of business, and then partner cross-functionally to tune cyber priorities around a company’s needs and potential risks.

I’m privileged to lead teams dedicated to promoting security for both the organization I work for and that of our clients. Much of my work centers on the belief that security begins with the individual, the result has been an evolution of security governance, risk, and compliance principles together with security architecture that not only addresses today’s cyber landscape, but listens closely to the needs of the future as the world and people become increasingly connected.

I’ve driven many companywide cyber-security transformational initiatives, building and leading teams of up to 150 people and budgets up to $50m focused on mitigating risk and vulnerabilities, amplifying user awareness, and reinforcing the value of security as a technical partner and enabler to the business.

A team player who imparts spirit and contributes to a pleasant atmosphere in the work environment. Highly motivated to succeed. A creative thinker, neat, organized and target-oriented. Meets deadlines, a rapid learner with a good grasp of new fields of endeavor. Experience in software development, manual and automatic software testing, working with customers in an international / global work environment.

Before joining Blue Team Alpha as Chief Information Security Officer, Dan Wolfford was the head of joint cyber intelligence for the U.S. Military Training Mission under U.S. Code: Title 22, Diplomatic Affairs. Dan retired from U.S. Air Force, Space Command, Cyber Warfare Wing in 2015 as the officer in charge of threat intelligence. He holds a bachelor’s in computer science, master’s in cybersecurity, CEH, CISSP, and a lifetime membership in the VFW.

John has been in the Technology/IT/Cybersecurity space for over 18 years with roles ranging from enterprise sales and alliances to consulting and implementation . His last 10 years have been dedicated to Cybersecurity Advisory Services, working with all industries ranging from 10-10,000 employees. His passion is to work with the C-Suite to talk through cybersecurity strategies that will help organizations implement and adopt programs to make them defensible in the ever-changing threat landscape.

Jay Spann is the Security Automation Evangelist for Swimlane, a leading provider of Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) based in Louisville, Colorado. Over the last 30 years, Jay has delivered more than 38,000 hours of training as an instructor, speaker and consultant in the fields of Information Technology and IT Security. Mr. Spann holds a master’s degree in Computer Science and numerous industry certifications such as Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), CyberSec First Responder (CFR), Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+), CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+ and several additional certifications from Microsoft, Check Point, Nokia and others. Over his career, Jay has developed and instituted technology initiatives for Raytheon, the Department of Health and Human Services, AT&T, the Internal Revenue Service, McGraw-Hill, the Department of Defense and many other Fortune 500 companies and US Government Agencies.

Kanen is a technology and security veteran that leads a team of Specialist Sales Engineers at ExtraHop with a focus on threat detection for cloud and containerized workloads. He holds a B.S degree in Computer Science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Away from work, he is an avid Vols fan and enjoys sharing food and drinks with friends and family.

 Security professional with over 20 years in IT Security. Currently I am a Security Solution Architect at Magenic focusing on assessing and delivering comprehensive Information Security programs for clients ensuring a smooth, operational security posture.

Prior I was the Director of Information Security & Risk Management at Univita Health (now bankrupt). In addition, I was a Director of Operations at Ameriprise Financial, an IAM technical consultant for CA, and my time at Wells Fargo I was the Lead Engineer for Research and Development in the Web Application Security group to secure, manage access, and implement Single Sign On capabilities to the bank's most strategic web based applications.

Lenny Zeltser designs practical security solutions and shepherds them to a sustainable state. As the CISO of Axonius, he leads the security program to earn customers' trust and fuel the company's growth. In his prior roles, he built security products and services at companies such as NCR. Lenny helps shape cybersecurity practices by teaching at SANS Institute and sharing knowledge through writing, public speaking, and community projects. He used to be hands-on in many areas of cybersecurity and IT. Now he focuses on strategy and leadership, treating security as an enabler that helps people and companies achieve their goals. Outside of work, Lenny loves cooking for his family and friends.

Matt Ambroziak is a Director of Security Solutions for Virsec Systems. Matt is certified AWS Solutions Architect Professional, ScrumMaster and holds a master’s degree in Project Management. With a career as a global solutions architect to Fortune 100 clients and The Big 4 accounting firms, Matt holds eighteen years of hands-on engineering experience in security, compliance, networking, infrastructure, development, and cloud. A firm believer that only through trying and failing is where success is found. Matt has a passion for innovative technologies which reimagine the solutions to problems from the ground up.

Christian is passionate about open source, Red Hat, architecting solutions, and all things related to technology. He has been in the technology industry serving in different capacities for over 10 years, and he enjoys helping organizations digitally transform in a more agile way. He has architected many solutions where the combination of people, process and technology, allows companies to become digital leaders. Christian is also passionate about collaboration and helping Red Hat partners bring solutions to market that will benefit teams, and organizations alike.

Stephen has worked in the IT Industry since 2000 and in the security industry for the previous eight. Based out of the Twin Cities, Stephen has spent time at some of the largest organizations including Target, US Bank, Honeywell, and United Health Group. In his current role at Varonis, Stephen works with organizations around the US helping organizations protect their data from insider threats and cyberattacks.

Brandon Potter (CISSP, GSEC, GCIH, CCFP, GWAPT)is the Chief Technology Officer of ProCircular, Inc, a dedicated cybersecurity and compliance firm headquartered in Coralville, Iowa with offices in Minneapolis and Des Moines.

With more than 18 years’ experience in Information Technology—10 of them in cybersecurity consulting—Potter approaches cybersecurity as a dynamic partnership: first connecting with clients on a personal level, understanding their unique business objectives, and then working together toward a mutually-developed goal. He identifies with executives and technical teams alike, firmly understanding the delicate balance between budgets, personnel, compliance, and real security.

Potter leads an expert suite of cybersecurity engineers, assembling as red, blue, or purple teams to rigorously test the limits of an organization’s security from both inside and out. Aggressively tracking cybersecurity practices and emerging threat technologies, he fosters continuous improvement in both his team and his approach, developing layered security recommendations and continually providing service of unmatched quality.

Outside of ProCircular, Brandon seeks his repose through enriching time spent with family and friends, the highs and lows of his burgeoning golf game, and the unique pleasure in savoring a finely crafted bourbon.

Jacob Iverson is a Supervisory Special Agent and the Cyber Program Coordinator for the FBI Minneapolis Field Office, serving Minnesota and the Dakotas. Jacob joined the FBI in 2006 with prior cyber security experience and has continued to develop that experience over the course of 16 years as an FBI cyber agent in Northern Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and Minneapolis. In addition to managing a team of investigators, Jacob is also a senior member of the FBI's Cyber Action Team, which deploys globally for major cyber incidents.

Brian Freedman comes from a long background in cyber security serving as a former analyst, the Federal Technical Principal for HPE, leading East Coast Channel Engineering for Cylance, and now managing Global Customer Engineering for QOMPLX, Inc. Brian has worked with a wide range of technology from SOC build outs, Security Engineering, EDR platforms and Big Data/Identity platforms. When not working Brian enjoys spending time with his wife and son, along with being an avid motorcycle mechanic.

Jessa began her InfoSec journey at the University of Wyoming after joining her department’s cyber security lab where she researched adversarial learning attacks and continuous authentication. Jessa gravitated towards a penetration testing career after participating in her first Capture the Flag challenge as a college senior and hasn’t looked back since. She is currently a Surescripts Red Team member as an Information Security Testing Analyst in Minneapolis, MN.

Jessa holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Science and minor in Environment and Natural Resources. She is a member of the Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) organization and strong advocate for creating accessible cyber security education for all.

Will McCloskey, Oregon native and Manager of Surescripts’ Purple Team, New to the Cyber Security scene after spending 20 years working on the other side of the fence in Systems and Network Infrastructure. Bringing a fresh perspective to our team after years of experience building skills in Automation, Systems Infrastructure, and Networking, I’m now working to apply those skills to help build our teams skills while defending our networks and systems.

Alexander Leslie is an Associate Threat Intelligence Analyst with the Advanced Cybercrime & Engagements Team (ACE) at Recorded Future.

Dalin McClellan is a Senior Security Consultant and is the service lead for On-Site Social Engineering penetration testing at NetSPI. Dalin also performs phishing, vishing, external network and web application penetration tests. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, as well as the OSCP, CREST RPT, and CCNA Security certifications. When he's not breaking into high security buildings, Dalin enjoys world travel, creating interactive art, and all things bread.

Zinet Kemal, an immigrant from Ethiopia, currently resides in Minnesota. She has been married for over 13 years and is a mother of 4 children. Zinet is a career changer from the legal field to cybersecurity. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Law (LLB). She is currently pursuing her master's degree in cybersecurity from Georgia Tech University. She is an award-winning cybersecurity professional, Keynote speaker, bestseller, and award-winning children's book author. Currently works for a Fortune 500 organization as an Associate Cloud Security Engineer. She also serves in a non-profit organization, Black Girls in Cyber as a Community Outreach director.Zinet also holds relevant industry security certifications, GCLD, CISA, CCSK, CYSA+, AWS CCP.Zinet became inspired by her children to start writing children's books. She saw a need for books to uplift and empower young girls who choose to wear a hijab to be proud of it, embrace their own identity, and recognize their beauty. She also hopes to create awareness for readers about the importance of diversity and appreciating other people's cultures and faith. Proud in Her Hijab is a bestseller and the winner of the 2021 Distinguished Authors Guild and 2022 Literary Titans book awards.During the pandemic, Zinet also noticed how her children were spending more time online gaming or for educational purposes. With that exposure, she also saw two of her children's gaming accounts get hacked on more than one occasion. Their online experiences motivated her to write her 2nd children's book "Oh, No: Hacked Again" A story to teach children the importance of online safety. Being a Black immigrant woman who transitioned into the cybersecurity field not too long ago, Zinet has learned about the glaring lack of diversity within the industry. She hopes to convey another important message, to spark interest in young readers, especially girls, to consider cybersecurity as an exciting and meaningful career option when they grow up. She is recently featured on media such as GMA, ABC News, Yahoo News, BBC, 11Alive, and CBS news.

Lee Ann has been a member of the Cybersecurity Summit Think Tank for three years. She volunteers with the Women in Cybersecurity MN Chapter (WiCyS MN) for the past two years supporting membership, mentorship, and the annual golf tournament. She is passionate about mentoring young people and those transitioning into cybersecurity careers. Lee Ann Villella serves customers via Proofpoint, a leading cybersecurity company protecting people, data, and brands against advanced threats and compliance risks. Lee Ann brings over 20 years in sales, and account management across a wide variety of industries. She holds a B.A. degree in English and Women's Studies from St. Olaf College.

Global business leader, entrepreneur, marketing and innovation strategist who readily translates the complex into actionable business and communication models. Her global communications career includes work for multinational corporations, investors, entrepreneurs, nonprofits and high profile national and global initiatives spanning 5 continents, 28 countries, over 200 brands across 12 vertical markets. With a decade plus of international social media expertise, Meadley is a media-savvy published author and has generated over a billion campaign views and millions of conversion events placed over a dozen social media platforms becoming a sought-after corporate speaker and digital production executive on projects including the NFL Super Bowl, NBA All Star Weekend, CES, SXSW, Dubai Expo 2020, the UN and most recently the World Economic Forum in Davos. Meadley holds her Executive MBA from the University of St. Thomas and her BA in Broadcast Production from the University of Minnesota. Ms. Meadley serves on the Minnesota USA Expo 2027 board of directors and on the World's Fair Bid Committee Educational Fund board of directors.

Mary Diner is currently leading Optum’s Security Portfolio Management team. Responsibilities include leading enterprise security roadmap activities, optimizing the enterprise’s security capabilities and maturity, developing and updating key security product lifecycle processes and keeping effective collaboration going in the security community for a Fortune 6 company (herding the cats). The last 20 years of Mary’s IT career have been security focused in financial services, manufacturing and healthcare.

Judd is a Principal Engineer in Medtronic’s Enterprise Quality - Product Security Office. He focuses primarily on post-market cybersecurity concerns and leads the Product Vulnerability Intel team. Prior to his time at Medtronic, Judd worked for a healthcare delivery organization and was involved in cybersecurity work spanning from network security to the patient’s bedside. He also holds a MS in Medical Device Innovation with a Minor in Cybersecurity from the University of Minnesota’s Technological Leadership Institute.

Brian Kenyon drives corporate strategy at Island as its Chief Strategy Officer and one of the company’s founding members. Brian has also held the role of CSO at Symantec and Blue Coat Systems. He built his early career in technical roles for more than a decade at McAfee where he was Chief Technical Strategist, as well as CTO, and served as chief architect at start-up Foundstone.

Brian is the author of Security Battleground: An Executive Field Manual; Security Sage: Guide to Hardening the Network Infrastructure; and Special Ops: Host and Network Security. He holds a B.A. degree in Finance from Loyola Marymount University.

Stefan Boehme, Medical Device Security Specialist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, has 20 years of IT experience combined in biopharmaceutical and healthcare industries.His IT journey has taken him from desktop architecture, through project management to cybersecurity.When he took on his current position in 2020, he saw an opportunity to fill a void in the relatively new arena of medical device cybersecurity.Stefan understands that building trust relationships and making the time to communicate and listen to clinical staff members are integral to the success of the program.He makes sure that his partners in the field and in the hospitals know that Cybersecurity isn’t just IT’s job, but everyone has a role to play.This philosophy has been key to the successful implementation of projects such the segmentation of medical devices.

Derek Loomis is an IT security expert with nearly 15 years in the security industry. Prior to a career change, he won an Emmy Award producing TV for ESPN’s SportsCenter in 2004. Derek has a broad security operations background including endpoint security, network security, vulnerability management, compliance, risk assessments and more. He has worked in environments of all sizes and industry verticals. In his 4 years consulting, Derek worked for more than 5 different healthcare organizations. His diverse background coupled with his experience in healthcare provides a rare perspective into healthcare’s unique challenges

Judd is a Principal Engineer in Medtronic’s Enterprise Quality - Product Security Office. He focuses primarily on post-market cybersecurity concerns and leads the Product Vulnerability Intel team. Prior to his time at Medtronic, Judd worked for a healthcare delivery organization and was involved in cybersecurity work spanning from network security to the patient’s bedside. He also holds a MS in Medical Device Innovation with a Minor in Cybersecurity from the University of Minnesota’s Technological Leadership Institute.

Benjamin Stock is the Director of Healthcare Product Management at Ordr. Previously, Ben worked as the Director of Clinical Equipment Systems and Project Support at SSM Health St. Louis, MO. With more than 15 years of experience in healthcare technology management, his wealth of knowledge in the Clinical Engineering space allows him to be a wonderful advocate for Ordr healthcare customers. Ben is also a Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician (CBET).

Debra Bruemmer is a Senior Manager at Mayo Clinic within the Office of Information Security. She is accountable for leading a team to address cyber security resiliency for foundational assets (e.g. servers, workstations, applications, medical devices, IoT devices), maintain secure identity and access management practices, and uphold security principles in network segmentation. Debra received her Bachelor of Science in Finance from Winona State University, a Masters in Business Administration from Cardinal Stritch University, and is CISSP certified.

After joining Cofense in 2018 as a strategic advisor, Tonia Dudley currently serves as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the organization. With over 15 years of cybersecurity experience, Tonia has managed programs in incident response, security awareness, and IT compliance for large, global organizations such as Honeywell and Charles Schwab. As a current Executive Committee Member for the National Cybersecurity Alliance, Tonia works closely with organizations such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) promoting information security best practices and education to organizations around the world.

Michelle Jump is the Chief Regulatory Strategist at MedSec where she is responsible for providing strategic leadership, training and education to the medical device industry, and thought leadership in the area of medical device cybersecurity practices and process. She also participates in a variety of domestic and international standards, as well as relevant industry and governmental initiatives to support security within the healthcare industry.

Michelle is a veteran of our Medical Device security industry being instrumentally involved with seminal industry consensus standards like AAMI TIR 57, AAMI TIR 97, IMDRF, and the Medical Device CVSS Rubric.
She regularly communicates with the United States FDA on the topic of medical device security by co-presenting, assisting with submissions, and helping shape guidance and implementation of this topic at the agency.

Matthew Hazelett started at the Food and Drug Administration as a biomedical engineer within the Implantable Electrophysiology Devices Branch (IEDB) at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH). His review areas included pacemakers, defibrillators, leads, and supporting devices (programmers, home monitors, etc.). Since starting at FDA, he developed a review focus in cybersecurity, participates in cybersecurity guidance development, and supports cybersecurity vulnerability assessments and premarket reviews across CDRH. He started his position as the Cybersecurity Policy Analyst in the Office of Product Evaluation and Quality (OPEQ) in February 2020. His role is focused on premarket and postmarket cybersecurity policy development and implementation across the clinical review offices. He also serves as a Digital Health Center of Excellence Program Director for the OPEQ Cybersecurity Focal Point Program.

Matthew earned a B.S. in biomedical engineering from the University of Rochester where he focused in electrical signals and systems. After graduation, he worked for a medical device research and development company in New Hampshire as a Test Engineer and then Test Manager overseeing device verification and validation testing.

Eran Kahana is an experienced attorney concentrating his practice on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and intellectual property law. He counsels clients on a wide variety of matters related to cybersecurity, privacy, technology law, artificial intelligence, trademarks, patents, and copyright issues.
In addition, Eran is a Fellow at Stanford Law School and a member of the advisory board of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Law Society. He also serves in a variety of cybersecurity thought-leadership roles in which he publishes and lectures on the intersect between the law and artificial intelligence and is the co-author of the book The Law of Artificial Intelligence and Smart Machines, a publication of the American Bar Association. Eran is a graduate of the FBI's Citizen Academy and works closely with the FBI, Department of Justice, Secret Service, and colleagues from the private and academic sectors to promote and sustain cybersecurity best practices. To that end, Eran serves as general counsel of InfraGard (Minnesota Chapter), a public-private sector organization affiliated with the FBI. He also serves on the Advisory Board of MN Cyber, an organization dedicated to position Minnesota as a national leader in cybersecurity.
Eran has been interviewed on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, privacy, and technology law for Bloomberg Law, BBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), KABC Radio, WCCO Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, Star Tribune, TheStreet.com, Stanford University Radio, KZSU FM, Twin Cities Business magazine, and Quartz.

Leadership roles in medical device and enterprise cybersecurity. Diverse experience in the healthcare industry, managing risk by carefully balancing safety, people, processes and technology controls to protect against, and respond to cyber threats.

Thought leader in cyber strategy, security architecture, tools, vulnerability management, white/grey hacking, forensics/incident handling and designing security beyond regulatory requirements.

Experience working with regional and global healthcare and financial regulations: FDA, CFDA, PCI, SOX, FISMA, HIPAA, GDPR, EUROPA; International security standards such as NIST, ISO/IEC, NERC etc.

Mr. Ristaino is the Managing Director of Global Alliances, Consortia and Conformance programs for the International Society of Automation (ISA) based in Durham, North Carolina. Starting in 2007, Mr. Ristaino developed ISA’s conformance certification programs including the ISASecure® control systems cybersecurity certification program that certifies automation and control system products to the IEC 62443 series of international standards. This program has expanded to include IIoT component certification and later IIOT solution certification. Mr. Ristaino consortiums and alliances activity includes the ISA Security Compliance Institute, ISA Wireless Compliance Institute, ISAGCA, LOGIIC, FCG collaboration, OPAF collaboration, FDT collaboration, ISA Bulk Power Systems WG, Building Cybersecurity (BCS), and Fundacion Chile.

Mr. Stailey is the Training Development and Strategy Lead , Workforce Development and Training Department (WDTD), Infrastructure & Analysis Division (IAA) in the National & Homeland Security (N&HS) directorate at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). IAA, WDTD supports the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), federal partners, industry, and academia in discovering workforce development pipeline issues impacting global cyber workforce growth. His work focuses on researching opportunities, creating solutions, and validating resolution ‘in the field’ for pressing workforce development issues. As such, Mr. Stailey, serves in a relationship management role by leading innovative efforts for workforce development on international, national, regional and local stages.

Mr. Glenn Merrell, CAP is a senior industry consultant applying extensive experience in Industrial Control Systems (ICS), automation, safety, Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) and industrial security. Mr. Merrell is an ISA Certified Automation Professional with over 40 years of cross-sector multi-discipline expertise in industrial control systems, possessing a wide expertise base in real-time control systems including but not limited to electrical, Nuclear Power, instrumentation, process, manufacturing, machine and factory automation / Robotics, Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS), industrial networks, SCADA, ICS Cyber Security and many others.
Mr. Merrell has a wide range of cross-sector knowledge spanning many aspects of product and process development projects from stakeholder management, conceptualization through project deployment in North America and global regulatory environments. He has experience encompassing project management, hardware and software development, system testing, quality assurance and quality control, conformity in regulatory environments CFR/FERC/NERC CIP, system-production-product-process validation, hazard assessment/ risk mitigation, and process improvement. Mr. Merrell additionally performs European Union EC/CE compliance self-certification training and compliance in many areas of EU Directives involving ICS and the Machinery Directive.

Craig Cocciola leads the cyber range operations for the ABL Cyber Academy, a division of (ABL) Advanced Business Learning, Inc. He directs the company’s ongoing public and private sector consulting on the valued use of the right cyber range for job role skills development. He has dedicated the last 10 years of his 33 years in technology to skills training and placing qualified IT cyber professionals to help close the growing gaps in the cyber workforce. Cocciola’s leadership includes cyber and risk management. He leads the company’s GRC (governance, risk, and compliance). In his earlier Director role with ABL, his team developed and launched ABL Cyber Academy and the first Cyber Practice Range on premises at the Academy, focused on workforce development. Cocciola was responsible for the company’s strategy and implementation of skills-based training for students mapped to cyber IT job tasks, ensuring job skill competence and specific role readiness.

Ms. Morris’ areas of expertise include business consulting, research, design, development, and implementation of workforce effectiveness solutions and corporate change initiatives that produce bottom-line results for ABL’s clients, including the Fortune 1000 and the Federal Government.

Mr. Glenn Merrell, CAP is a senior industry consultant applying extensive experience in Industrial Control Systems (ICS), automation, safety, Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) and industrial security. Mr. Merrell is an ISA Certified Automation Professional with over 40 years of cross-sector multi-discipline expertise in industrial control systems, possessing a wide expertise base in real-time control systems including but not limited to electrical, Nuclear Power, instrumentation, process, manufacturing, machine and factory automation / Robotics, Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS), industrial networks, SCADA, ICS Cyber Security and many others.
Mr. Merrell has a wide range of cross-sector knowledge spanning many aspects of product and process development projects from stakeholder management, conceptualization through project deployment in North America and global regulatory environments. He has experience encompassing project management, hardware and software development, system testing, quality assurance and quality control, conformity in regulatory environments CFR/FERC/NERC CIP, system-production-product-process validation, hazard assessment/ risk mitigation, and process improvement. Mr. Merrell additionally performs European Union EC/CE compliance self-certification training and compliance in many areas of EU Directives involving ICS and the Machinery Directive.

Mr. Stailey is the Training Development and Strategy Lead , Workforce Development and Training Department (WDTD), Infrastructure & Analysis Division (IAA) in the National & Homeland Security (N&HS) directorate at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). IAA, WDTD supports the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), federal partners, industry, and academia in discovering workforce development pipeline issues impacting global cyber workforce growth. His work focuses on researching opportunities, creating solutions, and validating resolution ‘in the field’ for pressing workforce development issues. As such, Mr. Stailey, serves in a relationship management role by leading innovative efforts for workforce development on international, national, regional and local stages.

Ms. Morris’ areas of expertise include business consulting, research, design, development, and implementation of workforce effectiveness solutions and corporate change initiatives that produce bottom-line results for ABL’s clients, including the Fortune 1000 and the Federal Government.

Craig Cocciola leads the cyber range operations for the ABL Cyber Academy, a division of (ABL) Advanced Business Learning, Inc. He directs the company’s ongoing public and private sector consulting on the valued use of the right cyber range for job role skills development. He has dedicated the last 10 years of his 33 years in technology to skills training and placing qualified IT cyber professionals to help close the growing gaps in the cyber workforce. Cocciola’s leadership includes cyber and risk management. He leads the company’s GRC (governance, risk, and compliance). In his earlier Director role with ABL, his team developed and launched ABL Cyber Academy and the first Cyber Practice Range on premises at the Academy, focused on workforce development. Cocciola was responsible for the company’s strategy and implementation of skills-based training for students mapped to cyber IT job tasks, ensuring job skill competence and specific role readiness.

Joel Hollenbeck is a Cyber Security Visionary with the Office of the CTO at Check Point Software Technologies Inc., the worldwide leader in securing the Internet. His background includes over 20 years of experience deploying application protection and network-based security. Mr. Hollenbeck has been securing networks and systems since 1994, including developing and executing on strategies to connect some of the most sensitive networks for the Federal Government and Financial Institutions to the Internet in the earliest days of commercial internet connectivity. Mr. Hollenbeck has served as a consulting Security Architect with Check Point Software Technologies advising a wide variety of clients across many verticals on Security Best Practices, Security Architecture, and deriving the maximum value from investments in security, prior to joining Check Point, Mr. Hollenbeck has held various security engineering, leadership and executive roles within organizations local to St Louis.

Bryan Gillson is Head of Vertical Market Strategy at Ordr. He joined Ordr in November 2019 after spending six years as VP Strategic Alliances at Ionic Security. At Ionic, Bryan initiated and managed business relationships with system integrators such as Accenture, Deloitte, and PwC, and closed OEM partnerships with vendors in the CASB, virtualization, and data protection sectors. Previously, Bryan led product management and business operations for Symantec’s encryption products and information protection groups after integrating the acquisitions of both PGP Corporation and GuardianEdge. Prior to Symantec, Bryan led the business development team at PGP Corp. and was a VP in Merrill Lynch’s Technology Investment Banking group.

E.J. Daigle is the Dean of Robotics & Manufacturing at Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis, MN. Prior to Dunwoody, E.J. served as an missile technician aboard two nuclear submarines in the US Navy. He currently teaches courses in programmable controllers, machine vision and auto-guided vehicles. He serves as the lead faculty advisor for Dunwoody’s Robotic Snow Plow Team which placed second in the world at the Institute of Navigation’s Autonomous Snow Plow Competition this past winter. E.J. has a Bachelors in Mathematics, a Master’s Degree in Manufacturing Engineering and a Doctorate in Education.

Proven leader, with over 25+ years of IT experience spanning pre-IPO startups to all aspects of IT associated with public and private educational institutions.
As the Director of Computer Technology programs at Dunwoody, Julie and her team are responsible for developing the next generation of Cybersecurity specialists, Cloud architects, Network engineers and secure full stack software developers.
Julie and her team are currently developing Dunwoody’s new Center for Industrial Cybersecurity and Cloud Technology. This center will focus on cyber defense training for the existing and future industrial controls and automation workforce, along with defending next generation IOT based infrastructure control systems from cyberattacks.
Outside of work, she is passionate about empowering women and youth in all areas of STEAM. She is also active in the urban wood movement reclaiming downed city trees, long considered waste and upscaling the logs into finished hardwood designs at a variety of scales.

David has over 30 years of experience in the technology and security fields and currently serves as Chief Information Security Officer for Castlelake, L.P., an investment firm that specializes in complex, asset-rich and cash-flowing opportunities in undercapitalized or inefficient private markets using investment strategies in real assets, specialty finance and aviation. As CISO for Castlelake, David leads the programs for cyber security, technology infrastructure, facilities and technology vendor management.

Brian McDonald is the District Director for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Minnesota District Office. Under his leadership, McDonald’s team facilitates SBA-backed loans, advocates and trains small businesses for federal government contracting opportunities, and works to improve entrepreneurial development to strengthen business growth across all 87 Minnesota counties.

Before joining the Minnesota District Office, Brian worked in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. SBA Headquarters Office of Entrepreneurial Development and for the U.S. Treasury CDFI Fund. Prior to federal service Brian worked in private banking.

Originally from Upstate N.Y., Brian went to Syracuse University for undergrad and Georgetown University for his Master’s degree, and resides in Minneapolis with his wife and two children.

Lyle Wright is the Associate State Director of the Minnesota Small Business Development Center program (MnSBDC). The SBDC program is a nation-wide program funded in part by the US Small Business Administration (SBA) designed to help entrepreneurs start and grow successful small businesses. He has thrived in the MnSBDC program for thirteen years.

Karissa serves as the Intelligence Officer for the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A). Karissa is back home in Minnesota and embedded with the Minnesota Fusion Center at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). Karissa works with federal, state, local and private sector partners to provide the threat picture on the five DHS threat priorities; Cyber, Counterintelligence, Counterterrorism, Transnational Organized Crime, and Economic Security. Karissa is trained in overt collection, information intelligence report writing, and finished analysis production. Karissa has 15 years of Intelligence Community (IC) and Law Enforcement experience. Prior to Minnesota, Karissa was the Intelligence Officer assigned to Iowa from January 2018-March 2019.

Starting in February 2017, Karissa served an intelligence instructor for the DHS’s Intelligence Training Academy (ITA). As a certified intelligence instructor, Karissa supported the delivery of the Watchlist Analyst Course (WAC) and I&A Analytic Development Course (IADC).

Mr. Gabbard is a part of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as a Cybersecurity Advisor (CSA) for Region V (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH & WI). Based in Minneapolis, MN, he supports the mission of strengthening the security and resilience of the nation’s critical infrastructure. Prior to joining CISA, Chris served as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Ramsey County. Prior to being a CISO, Chris worked as an IT auditor and risk manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers, ING, and US Bank. Mr. Gabbard is a Certified Information Security Auditor (CISA), has Bachelor’s Degrees in Accounting and Management Information System from the University of Northern Iowa.

Milinda is responsible for the enhancement and operational oversight of an enterprise security program for Bremer. She is an executive security leader with extensive experience building and leading security programs teams. Milinda has more than 20 years of experience in creating and managing large-scale information security programs in technology, healthcare, and financial services. Her passion is about leading and mentoring others on the importance of information security.

Muhammad is an experienced security leader with a passion for customer satisfaction, innovation, and simplification. At Bremer Muhammad is responsible for Cyber Defense Management and Security Governance Risk and Compliance. He has over 15 years of technical and functional experience in building, managing and developing diverse teams, addressing security governance, risk and compliance, and building cyber security programs to achieve desired outcome. He is a driven leader with ability to effectively collaborate with business and technology senior management to operationalize IT strategy and information security Agenda.

Kristin joined Bremer Bank in 2008, holding a variety of positions in Loss Prevention and currently manages the team of Loss Prevention Fraud Investigators to ensure the safety and security of customer deposit accounts. Prior to joining Bremer, Kristin worked in banking and deposit roles at several other community banks in Minnesota and has been in the industry for more than 24 years.

Kristin is a Certified AML and Fraud Professional (CAFP) from the American Banker Association, and is working towards a Bachelor's degree in Management and Leadership from Concordia University-St. Paul. She has also served as past Treasurer of the Twin Cities Organized Retail Crime Association, an industry group dedicating to fighting organized crime in the retail sector.

Jarrod Hutchinson has 20 years of experience in the financial sector with the last 10 focused on serving the business community. He is responsible for leading a team of relationship managers focused on business in the small to medium sector in the Twin Cities Region. His team is heavily focused on community engagement and strategizing with business owners on their operations to ensure they grow and thrive.

Joel and his team deliver comprehensive insurance programs to meet business operational risk management needs with the right balance of coverage and cost. Joel holds a bachelor’s degree from Minnesota State University, Markota. Joel holds a bachelor’s degree from Mankato State University. He also holds a Commercial Lines Coverage Specialist (CLCS) and a Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation.

Rebecca is the Business Development manager for PCs for People, a nonprofit which provides technology to low-income families. In her role with PCs for People, Rebecca works with businesses interested in joining PCs for People’s certified and secure electronics recycling program.

Prior to joining PCs for People, Rebecca had a successful career in technology, building and leading Professional Services organizations for SaaS companies including Kroll Ontrack, Quantum Retail and Calabrio before leaving corporate America to serve her community vocationally.

Aaron Campbell is a Computer Scientist with the Minneapolis FBI and an FBI Adjunct Instructor. His experience in the cyber security arena includes digital forensics, malware reverse-engineering, and red-team/penetration testing. Aaron has served the Minneapolis FBI for a little over 3 years, where his work supports investigations into criminal/national-security cyber intrusions.

Benjamin Canine is the Chief Operating Officer & General Counsel of Lorenz Bus Service, Inc. Prior to joining Lorenz, Ben was an Assistant City Attorney in the Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office and a law clerk for U.S. Magistrate Judge Franklin L. Noel.

Eileen Manning is a 30-year entrepreneur specializing in strategic planning and marketing with a focus on technology events. She has worked at a top advertising agency and spent over a decade in management at a Fortune 100 financial institution producing hundreds of business conferences ranging in attendance from 100 to 5,000; managing marketing services including communications, public relations, business television, video production, and graphic design; and directing an $11 million corporate travel department.

David has over 30 years of experience in the technology and security fields and currently serves as Chief Information Security Officer for Castlelake, L.P., an investment firm that specializes in complex, asset-rich and cash-flowing opportunities in undercapitalized or inefficient private markets using investment strategies in real assets, specialty finance and aviation. As CISO for Castlelake, David leads the programs for cyber security, technology infrastructure, facilities and technology vendor management.

As the Interim Chief Information Security Officer for the State of Minnesota, John Israel leads the executive branch cybersecurity teams within Minnesota IT Services (MNIT), the state information technology agency. The Enterprise Security Office at MNIT prevents, monitors, detects, and coordinates with key partners to respond to cyber threats targeting state systems and services and supports advanced cybersecurity defenses for local governments through state and local partnerships.

The Office also supports cybersecurity planning and provides guidance to state executive branch agencies that connect Minnesotans to state services and programs every day. These teams have helped implement Governor Walz’s Executive Order 22-20 on critical infrastructure cybersecurity, which calls on state agencies to prioritize resources to improve state network security and build strong collaboration, threat intelligence sharing, and cybersecurity awareness with critical infrastructure providers statewide.

Eileen Manning is a 30-year entrepreneur specializing in strategic planning and marketing with a focus on technology events. She has worked at a top advertising agency and spent over a decade in management at a Fortune 100 financial institution producing hundreds of business conferences ranging in attendance from 100 to 5,000; managing marketing services including communications, public relations, business television, video production, and graphic design; and directing an $11 million corporate travel department.

Judy Hatchett is the VP Chief Information Security Officer at Surescripts. She sets the vision, develops plans and oversees the execution of Surescripts’ Enterprise Information and Physical Security, Business Continuity and Risk Management Programs to ensure comprehensive, high-quality and effective risk and information security management in support of business goals. With 15 years in cybersecurity, she has held leadership roles overseeing global teams for governance, cybersecurity and HIPAA compliance and identity management in both the manufacturing and retail industries.

Jeff is a data protection and privacy leader, CISO, board member and cyber product adviser with 20+ years of experience in security, privacy, fraud and risk management across multiple industries. He is a frequent speaker at global security and risk conferences, author and active member in the community.

Jeff holds an MBA from the University of St. Thomas with a focus in the risk leadership, is a founding member of the UST Risk Leadership Advisory Board. Certs include: CISSP, CISA, OpenFAIR.

His focus is building security programs that allow organizations to meet their objectives through effective decision making and prioritized security investments by truly understanding their risk in terms of probability of financial loss.

Andrew Borene is a career executive in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), an attorney, and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Andrew has more than 20 years of experience in intelligence, operations, cybersecurity, and investigations. An adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, he teaches an evening course on transnational crime. He also has private sector senior executive experience leading advanced technology, high risk, and rapid growth initiatives within Fortune 100 companies and as turnaround CEO of a publicly-held encryption development company. He has been a Senior Advisor to the Director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), an Associate Deputy General Counsel at the Pentagon, and an advisor to Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) leadership. He is a former U.S. Marine intelligence officer and Iraq veteran. Andrew holds a JD from the University of Minnesota Law School and a BA in Economics from Macalester College. He is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a recipient of the FBI Director’s Award.

With 35 years of experience in national security including two decades of senior leadership in the CIA and the Office of the Director for National Intelligence, Beth Sanner has direct experience in looking over the horizon to identify both risks and opportunities facing companies today. She brings deep knowledge of the threat environment spanning such issues as cyber, supply-chain bottlenecks, economic crises, and great power competition. Having briefed multiple presidents—including two years as President Trump’s intelligence briefer—cabinet officials, and congressional and military leaders, she has a proven ability to communicate insight and complexity with clarity.

Fey was President and COO at Symantec. Prior to Symantec, he wasPresident and COO of Blue Coat. Prior to that, Mike was EVP & GM for enterprise products at McAfee and CTO of Intel Security playing a pivotal role in Intel’s acquisition of McAfee for $7.7 billion in 2010.
Fey holds a degree in Engineering Physics and Mathematics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and was co-author of Security Battleground: An Executive Field Manual, providing a playbook for security obligated executives coping with the new realities of cyber security responsibilities to the board.

Tony Sager is a Senior VP and Chief Evangelist for the Center for Internet Security. He leads the development of the CIS Critical Security Controls, a worldwide consensus project to find and support technical best practices in cybersecurity. Tony also serves as the Director of the SANS Innovation Center, a subsidiary of The SANS Institute.

Thomas Sager is the self-styled “Chief Cartographer” of the CIS Controls, where he tries to turn cybersecurity frameworks into usable advice on prioritization and where to start. Primarily this means providing and developing mappings to other frameworks which may be more onerous or industry specific, working with the other publishing entity or a team of industry volunteers whenever possible. There he uses skills developed during his previous work as a commercial security consultant to bridge the gaps between security controls as written and those responsible for implementing them.

Ross Rosenzweig, Sr. Director of Engineering leads technical engineers for BlackBerry in the West and Central United States. For the past 4 years at BlackBerry, Ross has been working with organizations looking to achieve silence through a prevention-first approach to endpoint security. Prior to BlackBerry, Ross has served the last 15 years in various Cyber Engineering and Product Management roles at Cylance, VMware, Dell and Symantec. Ross began his career at The Gillette Company in Boston, MA where he developed and administered the companies first zero-budget IT initiative to reduce enterprise software spend resulting in savings of $2M in the first year. Ross holds a BA in Business Administration from Northeastern University where he met his wife, and mother to their two children, Debbie. Now living, working and playing in San Diego, CA, Ross and his family love to spend their free time staying outdoors, keeping fit and healthy and enjoying all the beauty and adventure sunny Southern California has to offer. Ross volunteers for Habitat for Humanity and is a Troop Committee Member for the Boy Scouts of America.

I am a bold, trusted, authentic technology founder, speaker and executive coach. I've navigated the tough worlds of entrepreneurship, executive leadership, and fundraising. I've founded, invested in, and run software companies in Silicon Valley, hold over a dozen software patents, and have won awards for my software products.

Today, I work with the world’s largest private equity and investment firms and corporations as well as innovative startups. I help executives articulate their value propositions, stand out, be memorable and get hired. I prepare boardroom candidates, coach leadership teams and executives, and facilitate corporate workshops. I speak globally on topics affecting executives and leaders.

As Head of Product, Cody focuses on ensuring the delivery of the technical roadmap, strategizing on future product offerings, and partnering with sales and marketing on go-to-market strategies. He has spent the majority of his career in varying cyber security roles at companies like Ameriprise Financial and Target Corp.

Cody Wass has experience building and leading highly technical teams to provide exemplary client experiences. As NetSPI’s VP of Services, Cody drives excellence in service delivery and identifies new, innovative service lines to meet industry demand. Prior to becoming VP of Services, Cody was a Practice Director at NetSPI responsible for managing strategic account relationships and providing technical leadership on application security engagements. Cody holds a B.S. in Computer Science from North Dakota State University.

Mike Kearn leads the Threat Informed Defense team within U.S. Bank Information Security Services (ISS). This team aligns Cyber Threat Intelligence, Red Team operations, the MITRE ATT&CK Center of Excellence and Cyber Security Threat Modeling capabilities to deliver enhanced visibility to vulnerabilities, exploitations, potential exposure and residual risk to the bank. This team feeds directly into the security technology decisioning and priorities across ISS. In addition the collective contributions support Vulnerability Management, Security Architecture and Engineering, Application and Data Security, and Security Risk and Technology Consulting teams. Prior to this role, Mr Kearn lead the Security Risk & Technology Consulting team within ISS and transitioned into his current role in February 2020. Prior to rejoining US Bank early in 2012, Mr. Kearn held several positions with Wells Fargo & Company, including roles as an IT Auditor, Application Developer, Application Architect and VP of Information Security (ISO). an information security subject matter experts. Mr. Kearn also manages the relationship between CIO organizations and ISS. Mr. Kearn brings more than 20 years of varied experience in Information Technology to his current role. Prior to joining US Bank early in 2012, Mr. Kearn held several positions with Wells Fargo & Company, including roles as an IT Auditor, Application Developer, Application Architect and VP of Information Security (ISO).

Nitin Natarajan serves as the Deputy Director for CISA. In this role, he supports the CISA Director in overseeing the Cybersecurity Division, the Infrastructure Security Division, the National Risk Management Center, and the Emergency Communications Division. His operational support responsibilities are to ensure a holistic approach to critical infrastructure protection across physical and cyber risks activities.
Prior to joining CISA in February 2021, Natarajan served as an executive at a consulting firm and served in federal, state, and local government roles.
Natarajan started his career spending 13 years as a first responder in New York including service as a flight paramedic.

John has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Fairfield University in Fairfield, CT. His professional IT career includes Citibank, Pepsi, Dell, Best Buy, and 3M, before retiring in late 2019. John’s career has focused mainly on Information Technology Infrastructure, architecture and management. He serves as a CXO Executive Advisor for Zscaler and on the board of advisors for Pacer Center.

Ivan Fong is Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Medtronic and a member of the Medtronic Executive Committee. He leads the global legal, compliance, government affairs and health economics, policy and reimbursement teams and serves as corporate secretary to the Medtronic Board of Directors.
Ivan brings extensive experience as a corporate general counsel and trusted advisor, partnering to provide strategic and practical solutions to support business growth and help mitigate enterprise risks. Recognized as one of “America’s 50 Outstanding General Counsel” and one of the “Twenty Most Influential General Counsel” by the National Law Journal, he has a track record of guiding CEOs, business leaders and boards through complex legal and policy issues; building and leading high-performing, high-trust teams; and driving inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility.

Todd Hartman is general counsel and chief risk officer for Best Buy Co. Inc. In this role, he is responsible for the company’s legal activities and its global risk and compliance program. He also serves as corporate secretary.
Todd joined Best Buy in 2006. He most recently served as chief risk and compliance officer, overseeing enterprise data security, customer data privacy, enterprise risk management, global security, business continuity/disaster recovery, internal investigations, crisis response management and compliance and ethics. He continues to lead those functions in his current role.

Melissa Krasnow of VLP Law Group is recognized by Chambers USA for 2022 in Nationwide Privacy & Data Security and Nationwide Technology.
Melissa advises companies on privacy, data security, and technology matters (data incidents, ransomware, account takeover, business email compromise, phishing, and vulnerabilities), preparing written information security programs, devising incident response plans, and facilitating and participating in tabletop exercises.
Melissa also advises boards of directors and officers on privacy, data security, and technology risk oversight and developments, and reviews cyber liability insurance policies.
Melissa is a Certified Information Privacy Professional/US, and a National Association of Corporate Directors Board Leadership Fellow.

Mike Kearn leads the Threat Informed Defense team within U.S. Bank Information Security Services (ISS). This team aligns Cyber Threat Intelligence, Red Team operations, the MITRE ATT&CK Center of Excellence and Cyber Security Threat Modeling capabilities to deliver enhanced visibility to vulnerabilities, exploitations, potential exposure and residual risk to the bank. This team feeds directly into the security technology decisioning and priorities across ISS. In addition the collective contributions support Vulnerability Management, Security Architecture and Engineering, Application and Data Security, and Security Risk and Technology Consulting teams. Prior to this role, Mr Kearn lead the Security Risk & Technology Consulting team within ISS and transitioned into his current role in February 2020. Prior to rejoining US Bank early in 2012, Mr. Kearn held several positions with Wells Fargo & Company, including roles as an IT Auditor, Application Developer, Application Architect and VP of Information Security (ISO). an information security subject matter experts. Mr. Kearn also manages the relationship between CIO organizations and ISS. Mr. Kearn brings more than 20 years of varied experience in Information Technology to his current role. Prior to joining US Bank early in 2012, Mr. Kearn held several positions with Wells Fargo & Company, including roles as an IT Auditor, Application Developer, Application Architect and VP of Information Security (ISO).

Eli Davis is an Information Security professional with over 10 years of experience in Information Technology. As an individual who started out in an entry level support role and worked his way up, Eli has experience with a wide variety of IT environments, ranging from the small mom-and-pop business to the multi-national corporation, and everything in between. In his current role as an Information Security Architect at Vista Outdoor, Eli is responsible for driving high-level Information Security strategy, bridging the gap between disparate IT teams, and discovery and integration activities for Mergers and Acquisitions.

Eli holds an Associate of Applied Science from Anoka Technical College, where he later moonlit as adjunct faculty for their Information Technology program from 2019 to 2021. Prior to this, he served in the United States Army, where he became a Non-Commissioned Officer and deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom rotations IV and VI.

Nathan Caldwell has been a marketing leader in the tech world for over 10 years. He served as the producer and head of video marketing for one of the largest MSP software companies, where he was the director of video marketing, keynote producer, and coached tech leaders in executive speaking. In his latest adventure, he helped create Arctic Wolf’s Managed Security Awareness solution.
When he’s not fighting cyber bad guys Nathan loves to speak about his book, Empowering Kindness, and enjoys taking his four kids to theme parks.

Mercy has spent the last two decades building long-term partnerships with clients by being committed to their success and being a solution provider. She faces their business and security challenges head on and collaborates with them to build a thoughtful and well-structured approach that includes people, process and technology to build momentum for their agenda within the organization. Mercy currently is the Director of Business Development at Edgile a Wipro Limited company and resides in Edina with her family. She is also dedicated member of WiCys, has served on the local ISSA and CSA Boards and continues to look for ways to mentor individuals as they consider a career in cybersecurity.

Devan Koss is an accomplished Information Security and Compliance leader with 12 years of experience in the retail, banking, technology, and medical device industries.

Devan is currently the Director of Governance, Risk and Compliance at Sleep Number where she leads GRC, IT controls, Identity and Access Management and Business Continuity. She has previously held positions at Target, Medtronic and Deluxe. Devan specializes in regulatory compliance, cybersecurity risk management, security awareness, phishing programs, authorization and authentication, access governance, BCDR, security program development, and building high performing teams.

Josh Oldham is an accomplished Information Security and Infrastructure leader with 12 years of experience in the retail, banking, technology, and the health care industry.
Josh is currently the Senior Engineering Manager Sleep Numbers compute, database, and identity engineering teams. He has previously held positions at Target, RSM McGlardery and Relay Health. Josh specializes in infrastructure and security engineering and building high performing teams.

Becky Sandberg is a Director of Identity at Edgile with over 20 years of experience in Identity and Access Management practices as a consultant, advisor, mentor, and practitioner.  She has led the implementation of numerous Identity and Access management programs, IGA and ITSM systems and integrations.  In addition, she has established countless operational and business supporting processes, policies, standards, procedures, and guidelines for many organizations.  Becky holds multiple certifications including CISSP, CISA, a certificate in Cybersecurity and Privacy Law from Hamline School of Law, and a degree in Management from Augsburg College. 

Kathy Washenberger is an executive technology leader who leverages experience to drive business value. Capitalizing on her diverse skillset, she specializes in building large-scale strategic programs related to information security (cybersecurity) and other critical functions in IT that focus on alignment with the business.

Christopher Buse serves as Chief Information Security Officer for Old Republic National Title Insurance Company. In this capacity, Christopher is responsible for designing and implementing the enterprise security architecture for the company.

Christopher also served as Assistant Commissioner and Chief Information Security Officer for the State of Minnesota’s central technology agency, known as MN.IT Services. Christopher’s career in government also included several roles in the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor, where he oversaw information technology audit work done on large government computer systems.

Christopher Buse graduated from St. Cloud State University in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. Since graduation, he has supplemented his accounting degree with numerous computer science and management information systems courses. Christopher is a Certified Public Accountant (Inactive), Certified Information Systems Auditor, and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional.

Jennifer Cichoski has over 20 years of experience uniting top global organizations with technology solutions to help businesses and industries thrive.  Equal parts businessperson and technologist, her passion is to put technology to work for the betterment of communities and individuals.  After leading global teams at IBM and Cisco, Jennifer is currently focused on the utilization of cybersecurity innovation to protect the world from new and dangerous cyberattacks, to safeguard critical infrastructure and business operations.  Jennifer is a Michigan native and lives in Detroit with her husband and family.

Betty is an accomplished information security leader with 18+ years’ experience and a proven track record of building successful security programs across financial, retail, BPO and consulting services industries. Betty joined Freddie Mac in December 2020 as SVP, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). Previously, Betty was at Mercer where she served as Partner, CISO. She has served as VP, CISO at MoneyGram International, Convergys and Stream Global Sourcing and has led security teams at Ameriprise Financial, Allianz Life and Best Buy. She was recognized as CISOs Connect C100 top 100 CISO’s in its inaugural year.

As the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute’s Security and Compliance Analyst, Naomi brings over 20 years of Systems Engineering experience together with Information Security to protect and support a variety of research data. Naomi is a strong advocate of security through teamwork to create secure policies, procedures, and solutions to achieve best outcomes in support of high performance computing and advanced research. As a student at University of Minnesota’s Technological Leadership Institute, Naomi is combining theory with practice and method to enhance her skills as a security leader.

Laura Johnson is an Enterprise Endpoint Manager at Minnesota IT services serving the State of MN Executive branch agencies. She spent the majority of the past 9 years consolidating service to build efficiencies and provide a consistent service delivery to Executive branch customers. She has created consistent software delivery strategies and monthly Microsoft update processes that has drastically improved the landscape and has increased response time to sev1 vulnerabilities in the environment.

Chip Laingen is Executive Director of Defense Alliance, an SBA-funded technology cluster; Corporate VP, LSI, and graduate faculty at the University of Minnesota’s Technological Leadership Institute. He has a masters in Public Affairs from the Humphrey Institute, and was a U.S. Navy Moreau Scholar in the National Security Ph.D. program of the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University. Commander Laingen is a 21-year Navy Veteran as an aviator and speechwriter to the Secretary of the Navy. He finished his career in 2004 as a squadron commander. He is the author of “Laingen on Leadership,” available on Amazon.

Alyssa Maki started her career as an elementary educator but made the jump to cybersecurity in 2018. She has a bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity from Metropolitan State University and is an IT/InfoSec analyst at Kimley-Horn and Associates. In this role she wears many hats, including leading the cybersecurity awareness and training program for the company. As an intern, she inherited the program as a blank slate. Through the last two years, she collaborated with leaders and teammates to understand the company, the users, and the risks they face to build a program that was curated for the audience it served.

William Rankin is the Director of Governance and Compliance at ECS. In this position, he has helped numerous companies establish information security programs that align with their business and industry needs. This work not only helps ensure industry compliance with applicable regulations and frameworks, but also helps protect the future of information security and cybersecurity on a broader scale.

William has held previous leadership roles at American Technology Services, Symantec Corporation, and Gannett/USA Today. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Decision Sciences and Management Information Systems from George Mason University, as well as numerous cybersecurity and compliance certifications.

Nadia Rizk is the Director of Technology Audit & Data Analytics for Target Corporation. Her responsibilities include leading internal audit and risk coverage of technology across Target and driving digital change through solution delivery that enhances the insights provided by data analytics throughout Internal Audit. Nadia has over 14 years of IT and Engineering experience where she led systems and application development and platform implementation in previous roles. She is also an advocate for equality and equity in the corporate sectors, highlighting the experiences people of diverse backgrounds face that can be improved upon through allyship, inclusion, mutuality and belonging.

Prasenjit Saha is the Executive Vice President and Global Cyber Security Business Head for L&T Infotech (LTI). In his role, Prasenjit is responsible for defining and driving LTI’s global vision and strategy for LTI’s Cyber Defense Resiliency Services. Prasenjit is an industry-recognized and respected leader in the Cybersecurity Services space. In the last 31+ years, he is highly respected for building profitable and fastest-growing global businesses in Cybersecurity, Digital Security, Cloud and Infrastructure Management and E-Commerce offerings. He is also an entrepreneur at heart as is known to establish the business as a founder for Cyber Security services in his last 3 organizations serving clients across all the continents.

Experienced Information Security and Cloud Architect with a history of working with several large public and private sector employers. Skilled in many compliancy and Framework areas including NIST, ISO 27001 with a solid background in IT Strategy, Data Center, Identity & Access Management (IAM), and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Additional extensive background doing secure design architecture with many cloud-based platforms and technologies.

Natascha Shawver is an Information Technology Security Professional with a demonstrated strong history of working in a variety of industries, most recently as a Security Architect in Higher Education. She has extensive experience in Enterprise Information Risk Management and the development of Information Security Governance, an area she considers not only important because of various compliance requirements, but also because clearly ARTICULATED security requirements empower organizations to let them confidently improve their security posture. She particularly enjoys the educational opportunities that hide within an area of security too commonly viewed as a chore.

Born in Scotland, Domenick began his career at the age of three, on the stage of Glasgow’s legendary Metropole Theatre. Known for his high-energy vocals and consummate showmanship, he also plays Guitar, Piano, Alto Sax, Soprano Sax, and many more instruments. He is a lyricist, and composes & arranges music. Just some of his extensive credits include:
• Touring with Foreigner, the multi-platinum rock group
• Many concert appearances (including Carnegie Hall), and recording, with The Buddy Rich Big Band_
• co-starring with Helen Reddy on Broadway in the long-running hit musical Blood Brothers
• Producer, author, musical arranger and star of VINYL ~ The Classic Rock Experience with co-star Denny Laine (Moody Blues, Wings)
• Starring as Tony Sorrento in 125th Street, a musical in London’s West End
• Two years on CBS TV’s Days Of Our Lives in a recurring role as Simon Prescott
• Numerous appearances as guest artist with Liberace, in Las Vegas and on world-wide tours, including an engagement at the London Palladium
• Co-author, lyricist, singer and musician for the Buena Vista TV show SING ME A STORY, on the Disney Channel
• Studio singer and musician on many sessions in Los Angeles, including the soundtrack to the animated feature film THUMBELINA with Barry Manilow
• Guest Star appearances with Helen Reddy, Petula Clark, Carole King, Stevie Wonder, Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross, Mel Torme, Stan Getz, Joe Williams and many more
• Producer, co-author, composer, lyricist and musical/vocal arranger of A Sense Of Freedom, an original musical
• An on-going 30 year relationship as Celebrity Headliner with Royal Caribbean & Celebrity Cruise Lines
• Celebrity Headliner and numerous appearances at the Hilton Casino, Suncoast Casino, Excalibur Casino, The Cannery Casino, The South Point Casino, and The Sahara Casino in Las Vegas
• Starring along with Clint Holmes, Susan Anton and Martin Nievera in VOCAL SOUP at both the Suncoast and Orleans Casinos, Las Vegas
• Conceiving, writing, arranging, orchestrating and co-starring with Leigh Zimmerman at the St James Theatre in London in the show A LOVE AFFAIR FROM A2Z

Brenda Kane is a Special Agent and full-time Recruiter and Applicant Coordinator for the Minneapolis Division. Her area of responsibility is Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, and is responsible for the recruitment of all FBI positions. Brenda has been with the FBI for 12 years. Her first assignment was Public Corruption/Civil Rights in the Detroit Division. Upon return to the Minneapolis Division in 2015, Brenda worked Counter Terrorism, Cyber Terrorism, and Domestic Terrorism, as well as plays an active role as an Evidence Response Team member. Brenda holds a Bachelor's Degree in Forensic Science and Criminal Justice and a Masters of Business Administration.

Colleen Peña is a Special Agent with the FBI and works cyber investigations in the Minneapolis Division. Her squad investigates crimes such as ransomware, SIM swapping, and business email compromises. Colleen has been with the FBI for over 5 years and was previously assigned to the San Francisco Division. Prior to working at the FBI, Colleen was a Probation Officer in the Investigations Unit drafting Pre-Sentence Reports for Court. Colleen holds a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice with minors in Psychology and Forensic Science, a Master's degree in Forensic Psychology with a Cybercrimes emphasis, and her Juris Doctor Degree.

Judy Hatchett is the VP Chief Information Security Officer at Surescripts. She sets the vision, develops plans and oversees the execution of Surescripts’ Enterprise Information and Physical Security, Business Continuity and Risk Management Programs to ensure comprehensive, high-quality and effective risk and information security management in support of business goals. With 15 years in cybersecurity, she has held leadership roles overseeing global teams for governance, cybersecurity and HIPAA compliance and identity management in both the manufacturing and retail industries.

Tina is a highly accomplished Senior Information Security & Compliance Executive and Entrepreneur with more than 17 years of success in the retail, banking, technology, and medical device industries.

Tina is currently the Sr. Director of Information Security at Sleep Number Corporation and has also held executive cyber security leadership positions at Best Buy, Inc., Shutterfly, Inc. and Target Corporation. She built and led her own consulting firm, Beacon Information Security, LLC, a multi-industry cyber security advisory and consulting service. Tina specializes in cyber security and privacy program building and maturation, cyber security risk management, enterprise security policies, security awareness, phishing programs, mergers & acquisition security evaluations, and recruiting/building high-performing and diverse teams.

Tina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Behavior & Management from St. Scholastica and a Master of Business Administration from Augsburg University. In addition to holding an MBA, Tina maintains active CISSP and other security certifications and is a part-time adjunct Cyber Security instructor at Dunwoody College in Minneapolis.

She is currently the Vice President of the Minnesota Affiliate of WiCyS (Women in CyberSecurity) in addition to a Think Tank member for the Cyber Security Summit, a large conference in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area going on its twelfth year and was the keynote speaker at “Cyber Now – Birmingham, AL” in April 2018. She has been featured as a speaker at a number of highly attended conferences, including GSX Las Vegas, ISC2 Security Congress, Secure 360 Minneapolis, Secure World, Cyber Security Summit, and the Minnesota Continuing Legal Education Conference.

Marie Igtanloc is a District Sales Manager at CyberArk where she helps organizations drive security excellence. For the past 10+ years, Marie has advised companies with SaaS solutions to provide risk mitigation, assist in driving growth and strengthening resiliency; all to prepare for the unexpected. More recently she has focused on solving Cybersecurity challenges as network perimeters have dramatically changed and organizations are compromised in creative ways. Marie and her team assist in adding layers of defense to complement a company’s current investments, meet insurance and compliance requirements, and ultimately secure human and non-human identities. As a leader, Marie is passionate and feels responsible for creating the space to foster a diverse workforce. She is active mentor, helping women break into technology, become part of a strong network community and build impactful careers.

Through his 20 years of security and technology experience, Jeff Peal lived on the front lines of cybersecurity operations as an individual contributor/security practitioner working his way to leading the development of varying Information Security programs as the Information Security Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Jeff is an instructor at Dunwoody Technical College and a Community Faculty at Metro State University and holds board positions with Cloud Security Alliance and MN Cyber.

Experienced Data Analyst with a demonstrated history of working in e-commerce and research industries. Skilled in Microsoft Power BI, Oracle, R Studio, and Python.

Currently working as a Product Security Engineer. Also serving as an Executive Coordinator for the Cyber Security Summit's Healthcare & Med Device track in Minneapolis, MN. I love connecting clients & corporations using innovative solutions and ideas.

Specialized focus/ interest in various topics - Cyber Risk (Governance, Management and Communication), Security Incident Response, Physical Security, Disaster Recovery, Business Strategic Alignment, HCI, UX Design, Game Design & Dev, Mobile App (Development & Security)

As an emerging professional in the Computers & Technology field, I am passionate about technology and harnessing its raw power in business management solutions. Meticulous about Communication and Leadership Enhancement. I have completed numerous projects along with acquiring new skills from several organizations. From taking hands-on Computer Management Courses to Communications and Linguistics, I choose to constantly redefine who I am and who I strive to be.

I am a recent graduate from Saint Johns University in MN. I graduated with a degree in Computer Science and took this internship in hopes of getting more involved in Cyber Security.

40+ years in industrial instrumentation controls, and automation
20+ years in cyber security of industrial control systems
Authored Protecting Industrial Control Systems from Electronic Threats ISBN: 978-1-60650-197-1
Authored Cyber Security Chapter Electric Power Substations Engineering
Authored Cyber Security Chapter Securing Water and WasteWater Systems
Co-Author Cyber Security Policy GuideBook
Patent: Steam Turbine Fuzzy Logic Turbine Controller
Patent: Field-Mounted Fiber Optic Sensors for Long-Term Strain Monitoring in Hostile Environments
Patent: Security System, Device, and Method for Operational Technology Networks
Testified to 5 Congressional Hearings
Authored more than 100 articles on instrumentation, controls, and control system cyber security
Provided more than 100 presentations on instrumentation, controls, and control system cyber security
ISA Fellow
IEEE Senior Member
Ponemon Fellow
US Expert to IEC TC65 WG10 - Industrial Process Measurement, Control and Automation
US Expert to IEC TC45A - Nuclear Plant Cyber Security
Managing Director ISA67 Nuclear Plant Standards
Managing Director ISA77 Fossil Plant Standards
Managing Director ISA99 Automation and Control Systems Security

Specialties: instrumentation, controls, and automation
cyber security of industrial control systems across all process industries

Jerrod Montoya is a leading cybersecurity attorney in Minnesota who helps companies take strategic and decisive action to mitigate legal risk regarding all aspects of cybersecurity. He has over a decade of experience at the intersection of law and cybersecurity including various work on legal, cybersecurity, privacy, and compliance issues in the energy sector. Jerrod has experience as Deputy CISO and Project Manager for a premier Software as a Service (SaaS) provider in the energy industry. He is also the past-President for InfraGard Minnesota Members Alliance, a non-profit public/private partnership with the FBI focused on Critical Infrastructure protection.

Jeff is a data protection and privacy leader, CISO, board member and cyber product adviser with 20+ years of experience in security, privacy, fraud and risk management across multiple industries. He is a frequent speaker at global security and risk conferences, author and active member in the community.

Jeff holds an MBA from the University of St. Thomas with a focus in the risk leadership, is a founding member of the UST Risk Leadership Advisory Board. Certs include: CISSP, CISA, OpenFAIR.

His focus is building security programs that allow organizations to meet their objectives through effective decision making and prioritized security investments by truly understanding their risk in terms of probability of financial loss.

Andrew is an Information Security Analyst with Freddie Mac. His primary focus is analyzing risks related to assets, threats, and impacts using an industry leading quantifiable methodology (FAIR). Along with analysis Andrew is tasked with helping develop a repeatable and worthwhile cyber risk management program that empowers the organization to make risk informed decisions.

Trusted Advisor - Passionate about people development & team building - Sales leader with consistent record of customer success, team excellence, and stretch results. A genuine individual who excels at cultivating strong relationships, committed to strong ethics and diversity. Business professional adept at fostering customer confidence & brand loyalty, selling in a highly competitive environment, and rapidly moving from challenge to solution.

Gretchen Block is the Sr. Vice President of the Optum Global Technology Enterprise Risk Governance Program and the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for UnitedHealth Care.

In 1995, Gretchen began her career in healthcare by working for John Deere HealthCare. Her roles included IT asset management, computer operations and security. In 2006, she joined Optum as part of the acquisition of John Deere HealthCare with UnitedHealth Group. She currently leads the enterprise policy, risk governance, supplier management, access management and security operations teams supporting the enterprise. She has been part of the Enterprise Security organization working with risk governance, compliance management and threat management in support of the broader cybersecurity program.

Gretchen also serves as the CISO for UnitedHealth Care (UHC) supporting the respective lines of business within UHC, delivering on secure technology platforms for health benefits to its members, simplifying the health care experience and delivering on access to high-quality care.

Ben is a 25 year veteran in the cybersecurity industry with a passion to protect enterprise organizations. He has spent his career establishing security programs for companies of all types and sizes, from 500 to 50,000. Ben has held just about every technical security role, from AV, firewall, SIEM, and DLP management, security architect, and CISO roles.

Prior to joining Zscaler, Ben was the VP/Head of Cybersecurity (CISO) for Coats, a global manufacturer of industrial thread. This was a newly created role which allowed Ben to build a program: from by policies, creating and refining processes, to choosing technology controls. Ben is passionate about engaging with both security practitioners and business leaders on the value of digital transformation and preparing businesses to defend against threats. Much of his time is spent focusing teams on the fundamental practices or basics and doing them well before pivoting to more advanced solutions.

Justin is the head of Bugcrowd's Trust and Security Team; helping organizations build and launch crowdsourced security programs. With a deep background in Application and Endpoint Security, Justin enjoys working strategically on reducing risk and maximizing security ROI via practical security practices across large enterprises and governments.

Sean S. Costigan is the Director of ITL Security and a Professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. He is an expert in emerging security challenges and a sought-after speaker on matters of technology and national security. His current focus is on the nexus of cybersecurity capacity building and new challenges. He is the lead for NATO’s cybersecurity curriculum and is widely published on national security matters relating to information security and hybrid threats. In addition to his work for the Marshall Center, he is presently serving as the Senior Adviser to the NATO/PfPC Emerging Security Challenges Study Group, where he heads cybersecurity education efforts; Publisher of Defense Press; Adviser at Multivariate, and an Associate at the consultancies of Vision Foresight Strategy and i-Intelligence.

Dinos leads cybersecurity education within the Irish Defence Forces Joint Command & Staff Course. Dinos is Senior Lecturer, Abertay University Division of Cybersecurity, and a NATO / Partnership for Peace Consortium (PfPC) Defence Education Enhancement Programme instructor. Dinos is a PfPC editorial board member of Connections, a co-author of the NATO/PfPC Cybersecurity Reference Curriculum, and the new Hybrid Threats and Hybrid Warfare Reference Curriculum. He is a member of PfPC Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Working Group developing blended and hybrid learning for NATO and Partner Nations. He is a British Standards Institution qualified Lead Auditor, Information Security Management Systems (ISO 27001).

Rois Ni Thuama PhD is a doctor of law and subject matter expert in corporate governance, cyber governance and risk management. She is Head of cyber governance for Red Sift; one of Europe’s fastest-growing cybersecurity companies.

She works with key clients across a wide market spectrum including governments, legal, finance, and banking, to spread a contemporary understanding of cyber threats, risks, liabilities, and resilience across diverse audiences and stakeholders to drive effective change. Recognised expert in the field of cyber governance, cybercrime & fraud prevention, this has resulted in invitations to present at the International Fraud Prevention Conference, NYPD Cyber Crimes & Counter Terrorism Symposium, World Savings Bank Institute, European Savings Bank Group, South East Asian Central Bank Group, UN Information Communications Technology, to name a few.

This summer Dr. Ni Thuama has contributed to the revision of NATO's cybersecurity curriculum as part of the Partnership for Peace Consortium's (PfPC) Defence Education Enhancement Program housed at the Austrian Defence Academy in Vienna. In August, she rejoined some of the the PfPC team as a panelist at The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Future Conflicts Conference in Washington D.C., United States.

As guest columnist with PCPro, Rois contributes content that is focused on significant cyber threats, the latest trends, and risk management. She is known for her straightforward and consistent communication style that keeps the landscape clear and delivers actionable insights for businesses.

Jeremy has held various roles ranging from Engineer to Consultant to Owner. Titles aside, he prides himself on being a leader with a people-first approach and a passion for building inclusive, emphatic company culture of those with a constant hunger to learn.

Jeremy’s philosophy for success is “Resist the temptation to settle for what works, and instead, create what transforms” Jeremy is building just that Treadwell Agency. To create an unparalleled service in client delivery, Jeremy and team have built a culture of industry leading team members that showcase and develop digital positioning tools that intentionally transform any organization and brand.

Rich leads the strategy function at Veza. This includes driving long-term direction and key new initiatives across product, go-to-market, growth, competitive position, and marketing. Rich previously led product management across all products at Okta from 2014 to 2018 through their IPO. He also led the product management team for Data Loss Prevention at Symantec and managed several products at security startups Vontu and IronPort Systems. He began his career in management consulting at Mitchell Madison Group, earned his Ph.D. in materials science at Caltech and his undergraduate degree in physics from Stanford. Outside of work, Rich enjoys long walks on his treadmill desk and helping his boys ruthlessly prioritize their Lego purchases.

BG Terin Williams is the Vice Director of Operations (Cyber) for the National Guard Bureau. She was previously the 91st Cyber Brigade Commander.

Judy Hatchett is the VP Chief Information Security Officer at Surescripts. She sets the vision, develops plans and oversees the execution of Surescripts’ Enterprise Information and Physical Security, Business Continuity and Risk Management Programs to ensure comprehensive, high-quality and effective risk and information security management in support of business goals. With 15 years in cybersecurity, she has held leadership roles overseeing global teams for governance, cybersecurity and HIPAA compliance and identity management in both the manufacturing and retail industries.

Jeff is a data protection and privacy leader, CISO, board member and cyber product adviser with 20+ years of experience in security, privacy, fraud and risk management across multiple industries. He is a frequent speaker at global security and risk conferences, author and active member in the community.

Jeff holds an MBA from the University of St. Thomas with a focus in the risk leadership, is a founding member of the UST Risk Leadership Advisory Board. Certs include: CISSP, CISA, OpenFAIR.

His focus is building security programs that allow organizations to meet their objectives through effective decision making and prioritized security investments by truly understanding their risk in terms of probability of financial loss.