SecurityScorecard Leadership, Board, and Advisors

Jeff Alvarez is the Chief People Officer at SecurityScorecard. Jeff Alvarez is a Chief People Officer who specializes in strategies harmonizing processes, people, technology and leadership to take organizations to the next level in growth and profitability. He has over 20 years of experience leading People Teams. He partners with the C-suite to scale the business, and devise custom, futuristic solutions that address multiple business areas and resolve modern day challenges. His expertise spans several disciplines including: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Learning and Development, Talent Acquisition, HR Operations, Employee Experience and more.

Jeff is from the SF Bay Area and has honed his craft working for Netflix, TrueAccord, and most recently Spin (Ford Motor Company.)

In his time away from work, Jeff enjoys drawing, painting and holds a second degree black belt in Taekwondo.

Sachin Bansal is President at SecurityScorecard who works closely with the CEO to run the company, and oversees multiple internal and external-facing teams, including legal, corporate operations, government, insurance, and professional services, all with P&L responsibility.

He has been with SecurityScorecard since September 2019, and has built and scaled the company’s legal department and created a new government business line (including government relations). He has twice served as the interim head of HR, and was the interim chief of staff for 2022. Sachin has played a key role in the company’s recent transactions including SecurityScorecard’s first M&A in 2022 of a Professional Services business, and its $180 million Series E round in 2021.

He routinely briefs senior government leaders (including at the White House), is a frequent speaker (such as in Davos, as part of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting), writer, and media commentator, having been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global, and more. He has been named a “20 Under 40: Influential Leaders to Watch.”

Sachin graduated magna cum laude from Duke University and magna cum laude from Duke University School of Law.

Christos Kalantzis is the CTO at SecurityScorecard. They are an experienced leader, technologist, blogger, and geek. They’re interested in big distributed systems, and how to build teams to implement and maintain them.

Christos grew up in Montreal, Canada, where they started their career as a DBA for companies such as Matrox, CGI, Sync, and InterTrade. They moved to Silicon Valley where they built and led engineering teams for FireEye, Tenable, Netflix, and YouSendIt. They have worked on Cloud storage solutions for YouSendIt, before the term “Cloud” was popular. They are also focused on solving at-scale run-time databases using sharded RDBMS and NoSQL products. They are an Apache Cassandra MVP.

Sam Kassoumeh is the co-founder of SecurityScorecard. With extensive experience as both a cybersecurity practitioner and leader, Kassoumeh’s experience has been pivotal in the growth and development of the company as well as establishing the ecosystem risk management space. Kassoumeh’s passion for internet security started in his teens and propelled him into key cybersecurity roles including as head of security and compliance at Gilt Groupe and worldwide InfoSec lead at Federal-Mogul. Sam holds a BBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Eric Larsson is the Chief Financial Officer of SecurityScorecard. In his capacity as CFO Eric is responsible all aspects of financial reporting and analysis while partnering with the C-Suite to drive strong commercial results. He has more than fifteen years of experience leading finance and operations in the software industry working in both public and privately backed organizations.

Eric is from the New York City area and has worked at multiple Technology companies including IBM, Nice, and most recently Kaseya. He holds a Bachelors Degree from Fordham University and an M.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame

Matthew McKenna, Chief Sales Officer at SecurityScorecard, has over 15 years of experience commercializing emerging technologies in the supply chain management and cybersecurity space. Prior to SecurityScorecard, Matthew functioned as the Chief Operating Officer of SSH Communications Security, where he led large scale Fintech deployments in the areas of access control and cryptographic services. Matthew holds a BA in German Language and Literature and an MBA from the Helsinki School of Economics.

Jason is an accomplished executive with a proven track record in driving growth and leading strategic initiatives. As the Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at SecurityScorecard, he oversees the strategic and marketing functions of the company. With over 20 years of experience in the technology industry, Jason has successfully built and scaled high-growth companies, ranging from early-stage startups to publicly traded firms.

Prior to his role at SecurityScorecard, Jason held key positions at renowned cybersecurity and technology organizations. He served as the Chief Marketing Officer at BlueVoyant, a leading cybersecurity services firm. Before that, he was the Chief Operating Officer at IntSights, a threat intelligence company that was acquired by Rapid7. In his first tour of duty, he served as CMO of SecurityScorecard during the company’s early growth stages. Jason also led marketing efforts at NS1, which was acquired by IBM, and held senior level positions at SSH Communications Security (NASDAQ: SSH1V) and Q1 Labs, acquired by IBM.

Jason’s educational background further complements his professional expertise. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Colorado State University and a Master of Arts degree in Liberal Studies from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Dr. Aleksandr Yampolskiy, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SecurityScorecard, is a globally recognized cybersecurity innovator, leader, and expert. Since SecurityScorecard’s inception in 2014, he has led the company with a vision to create a new language for measuring and communicating risk. SecurityScorecard is now one of the world’s most trusted cybersecurity brands, with tens of thousands of customers—including half of the Fortune 100 and nine of the top 10 U.S. banks—and over 600 employees. The company has earned the Gartner Peer Insight Customers’ Choice award and been named a Leader in the Forrester New Wave. In 2021, Yampolskiy was named E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 New York Award winner and Cyber Defense Magazine’s CEO of the Year.

Prior to founding the SecurityScorecard, Yampolskiy was a CTO at BlogTalkRadio, the largest online talk radio and podcast hosting platform, whose technology he scaled to over 30M+ visitors each month. He was also a CISO at Gilt Groupe, where he managed all aspects of IT infrastructure security, fraud, secure application development, and PCI compliance. Yampolskiy has led security teams at Goldman Sachs and Oracle, among other companies where he built authentication and entitlement infrastructure for trading.

Alex has published numerous articles, won the Public Key Cryptography Conference Test of Time Award for his verifiable random function invention, holds numerous patents, and is a published book author of The Perfect Scorecard: Getting an ‘A’ in Cybersecurity from Your Board of Directors. He holds a B.A. in Mathematics and Computer Science from New York University and a Ph.D. in Cryptography from Yale University.

Bailey Allread is the Chief of Staff at SecurityScorecard and is responsible for making sure all cross-functional operations run smoothly and efficiently. Mrs. Allread has years of experience in people and business operations, as well as a background in commercial litigation and legal procedures.

Bailey joined us during our M&A with LIFARS, prior to which she owned the internal operations for a growing software company in Denver, Colorado, where she developed strategic training initiatives and built roadmaps for ongoing talent acquisition. She was also one of the first recruiters on a brand-new Talent team at Publicis Media, where she led candidates through her fresh and redesigned hiring process. Her two years as a litigation paralegal gave her the foundation for a career in executive management and employee relations.

Bailey brings enthusiasm and passion to everything she does, and is off to a great start as she dives into the world of Cybersecurity.

Bill is a confident, forward-thinking senior executive with decades of expertise in developing profitable, repeatable, and scalable processes and innovative business strategies to maximize revenue and growth in multiple information technology, information security, and manufacturing environments . This highly influential leader is strongly rooted in the ability to oversee large, complex, cross-functional initiatives and has led multiple teams including sales, legal, marketing, operations, delivery, human resources, and project management.

In his recent role as Optiv’s Vice President, Sales Go-To-Market and Partner Alliances, Bill was responsible for all partner go-to-market activities, partner relationships and field partner business processes. He is able to leverage leadership, negotiation skills and relationships in order to establish competitive positioning and go-to-market strategies to extend partnerships and reach core audiences.

Prior to joining Optiv, Bill was an owner of Comm Solutions Company, a 2017 Optiv acquisition, where he served as Chief Operating Officer. Through his dedication to profitability and scalability, he enabled Comm Solutions’ rapid growth by recruiting key personnel and developing efficient processes.

In addition to being a United States Marine Corps veteran, Bill serves as an operational and business advisor to several organizations.

Steve Cobb is SecurityScorecard’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) bringing more than 25 years of leadership consulting surrounding IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, incident response, and cyber threat intelligence. Since joining SecurityScorecard in 2023, Steve has been responsible for providing strategic IT consulting and delivering increased organization efficiency and security for our customers.

Prior to SecurityScorecard, he was a Senior Security Engineer with Verizon Managed Security and a Senior Escalation Engineer with Microsoft. Steve serves on several CISO boards and is a frequent presenter at conferences such as InfoSecCon, Cyber Defense Summit, and others. Steve attended UNC-CH, but left early to start his own IT company, and ultimately received his degree in Business from East Carolina University. Steve and his wife have two daughters and a son.

Krischel is a proven high performing sales leader accomplished in driving revenue and consistently exceeding sales objectives. Passionate about building world-class sales organizations, recruiting and developing top talent while delivering tremendous growth and profitability to meet corporate initiatives. 20 years of solution selling and management experience focused on large account acquisition, selling to C-suite, and penetrating new markets.

Ingrid Cruz is VP of User Experience at SecurityScorecard and oversees the end-to-end product experience. She works closely with the product, engineering, and customer-facing teams to identify and build delightful experiences for SecurityScorecard’s customers.

Ingrid is a curious problem solver and a designer at heart. She specializes in helping companies transform complex, technical products and experiences to maximize growth and adoption. She has extensive hands-on product design experience and has developed and led design practices at hyper-growth startups and large global corporations—always fostering a culture of innovation and a high bar for design.

Before joining SecurityScorecard, Ingrid led Product Design at FullStory, where she established a new product strategy practice based on customer insights. Previously at Ivanti, she initiated and led an experience upgrade across a portfolio of 50+ highly technical products. She regularly speaks on the topic of User Experience and recently co-authored the book ‘97 Things Every UX Practitioner Should Know ’ by O’Reilly. She also helped build Product Hive, a community of 8,000+ design and product professionals.

Owen Denby is the General Counsel of SecurityScorecard and leads the company’s legal function. Owen’s team supports SecurityScorecard’s business units, operations and strategic initiatives on a global basis. Owen joined SecurityScorecard from Rally Health, a high-growth healthcare technology company. Prior to Rally Health, Owen advised a variety of emerging growth and Fortune 500 companies on corporate law matters for leading international law firms in New York, London and Washington, D.C.

Adam Eisenman, Vice President of Public Sector Sales, is responsible for SecurityScorecard’s government business, including all go-to-market functions. Adam has nearly 20 years experience in high-growth venture backed software companies, with a focus on the Public Sector market.

Adam joined SecurityScorecard in March of 2022 from Rave Mobile Safety, where he led a sales and government affairs function, which helped lead to an acquisition by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) and later Motorola.

Flora is a growth marketing leader with over 15 years of experience leading global demand (campaign strategy, paid media, digital, ABM, field marketing), web strategy, customer marketing, and marketing operations. Demonstrated success driving revenue growth at both start-ups and public tech companies. Player-coach who can think strategically while also being a strong personal contributor with the ability to “roll up sleeves” and execute.

José is Portuguese and lives in Lisbon, but has been working in international markets for a long time, with a special focus on Latin America. He has a degree in sales and business management, with 20 years’ experience in digital transformation and cybersecurity companies. In his current role, his focus is on supporting SecurityScorecard growth in Latin America, Spain and Portugal, which he has been doing for more than 8 years in this industry. José has been with SecurityScorecard since the beginning of 2019, where he started as Regional Director for these markets, where he began to grow SSC from the ground up to what is now the undisputed leader in the region, having also been Area Director for Southern Europe and Latam in 2022.

Oli Garstin is the Vice President of Operations & Corporate Development at SecurityScorecard. Prior to SecurityScorecard, Oli was as an Investment Banker at J.P. Morgan within the Technology coverage group. Oli began his professional career as a Marine Corps Infantry Officer. Oli holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Economics from Boston University.

Shiho Hashimoto is the Vice President, International Marketing at SecurityScorecard. Shiho is a seasoned leader with 20+ years of experience in marketing in the cybersecurity and technology industry all across EMEA and APAC regions. Shiho has a proven track record of helping organizations get to the next level and further. Prior to joining SecurityScorecard in 2021, she worked for Hatch Entertainment, a subsidiary of Rovio Entertainment, where she led the launch of mobile cloud gaming worldwide together with 5G launch partners including Samsung, Vodafone, Verizon, Sprint, and NTT Docomo. Prior to that, she led the international marketing team at SSH Communications Security, a world leader in identity access management and cryptography. Shiho is a cosmopolitan who was born in Japan, raised in New York and settled down in Finland. She speaks fluent Japanese, English and Finnish. She enjoys working with people from all over the world. Shiho holds a BA in International Business from Aoyama Gakuin University in Japan and an MBA from Aalto University in Finland.

Albert Kuo is the VP of Sales in APAC at SecurityScorecard. Albert Kuo has over 25 years experience scaling successful enterprise class software companies in the Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ) geography while based in Tokyo, Sydney, Hong Kong, and currently in Singapore.

He has been GM & VP of APJ Field Operations for multiple cybersecurity vendors (ArcSight, HP Enterprise Security Products, Blue Coat, SailPoint, ExtraHop, Azul), and has worked at BEA Systems as APJ Leader of Global & Enterprise Accounts and Global Partners, and at TIBCO Finance as Greater China GM.

He previously worked on Wall Street as a fixed income derivatives sales trader, and holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, and MBA from Columbia Business School.

Jeff Laskowski currently serves as the SVP & GM Professional Services within SecurityScorecard, the leader in cybersecurity risk rating and third-party risk management solutions. In this role, Jeff has accountability for managed services, proactive red-teaming, incident response, and cybersecurity consulting serving customers worldwide. His global team expertly leverages the SecurityScorecard platform allowing organizations to manage their own attack surface, maintain compliance, and evaluate third-party and supply-chain risk.

Prior to this role, Jeff led the Global Professional Services team for Absolute Software, an industry leading enterprise security solution and benchmark in endpoint resilience, visibility, control and secure zero-trust access. Additionally, he has served as Director for Mandiant Consulting, where he led a regional cyber security strategic consulting team focused on executive advisory services, security program assessments, cyber exercises, incident response and cyber defense transformation services across leading commercial companies and government agencies.

He brings a uniquely skilled expertise to understand, adapt and ultimately maximize a customer’s security capabilities to avert the worst effects of modern cyber incidents. Over his career, Jeff has served in a variety of technical leadership, engineering and solution architecture positions. He possesses over 30 years of IT leadership, technology consulting and software development experience, has served as CTO of two companies and has always maintained specific expertise in emerging technologies and cyber security. He received his B.S. in Computer Science from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA and currently resides in the greater Washington, DC area.

Jeff Le is VP of Global Government Affairs and Public Policy leading SecurityScorecard’s engagement with public sector stakeholders and serves as the company’s Washington Head of Office.

Jeff has served at the highest levels of public policy and politics at the local, county, state, federal, and international levels. Prior to joining SecurityScorecard, Jeff led government affairs for Conduent, a government services leader in the healthcare, transportation, and digital payments space; Rhino, a fintech startup working to give renters everywhere greater financial freedom through affordable insurance options; and as U.S. State and Local Public Policy Lead for VMware, a digital technology and infrastructure company, and managed the company’s gubernatorial, state, county, and local relationships across the Western Hemisphere.

Jeff previously served as Deputy Cabinet Secretary for California Governor Jerry Brown where he oversaw homeland security, privacy and cybersecurity, emerging technology, military, veterans, intergovernmental, and tribal affairs. As Governor Brown’s Deputy Director for External and International Affairs, Jeff interfaced with domestic stakeholders and convened foreign dignitaries on behalf of the state.

In state and local public service, Jeff currently serves as Commissioner to DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Asian American Commission and as an appointed and confirmed Board Member at the Maryland Advisory Council on Health and Wellness and the Maryland Assistive Technology Loan Program Board of Directors, which helps residents with disabilities and their families qualify for low-interest loans to purchase equipment that will help them live, work, and learn more independently and equitably.

A recognized thought leader in political advocacy and representation with non-resident fellows at the Truman National Security Project and the Atlantic Council, his analysis and opinions have been featured on MSNBC, broadcast television in 40 states, as well as in print at POLITICO Magazine, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, FOX News, The Hill, Washingtonian, Roll Call, Bustle, Forbes, and local and regional newspapers in 35 states.

Bennett Morrison is a seasoned product and strategy leader with over a decade of experience in the B2B SaaS industry. Bennett was the first Vice President of Product for SecurityScorecard, and is currently serving as the Senior Vice President of Product Management and Strategy. Bennett excels in developing innovative products and strategies that drive business success and customer satisfaction. His expertise spans customer-driven strategy and customer-centered marketing, with a proven track record of leading product teams to create solutions that delight users and generate solid business results. Bennett’s career highlights include roles such as Chief Product Officer at Stella Jobs, where he launched multiple successful products and guided the company to a successful exit, and Vice President of Product at Laika, where he spearheaded a new product architecture that contributed to significant revenue growth and a successful funding round.

Throughout his career, Bennett has been recognized for his achievements with honors such as the President’s Achievement Award and a Star Performer Award. Bennett’s diverse experience includes leading product management and strategy at renowned companies like Oracle, Watermark, and American Express, where he has consistently demonstrated his ability to drive product innovation, streamline processes, and deliver exceptional results. He holds an B.A. from NYU and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Nimay serves as SVP of Product, leading product management, growth, GTM and AI initiatives at Security Scorecard. He has over 20 years of experience in product and commercialization leadership, having successfully scaled and exited multiple PE and VC backed companies. He led Product and Growth at Series E Martech Forrester Wave leader Jivox and served as Head of Product for Blackstone backed Cloudreach. In addition, he scaled out Factset’s EMEA operations as the fastest growing region during his time leading its International operations in the Middle East.

Nimay holds an MBA from INSEAD and a GSP in AI Robotics from NASA and Google backed Singularity University. He is a TEDx and SXSW speaker on the DIY Equation, a methodology of productizing global humanitarian projects using exponential technologies. He is a published author of 6 research papers in AI and was invited to become a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow in 2019. He is passionate about the topic of True North Leadership and teaches it at 1440 Multiversity with Bill George (ex CEO of Medtronic and HBS Professor) and Scott Kriens (ex CEO of Juniper Networks).

Alex Rich is the Vice President of Channels and Alliances at SecurityScorecard. He has been with the company for five years, and previously held roles in Customer Success and Sales. Prior to SecurityScorecard, Alex was an OEM Customer Success Manager at Sisense, and a Technical Program Manager at Booker Software. Alex began his career as an Investment Banking Analyst in CitiGroup’s Healthcare division, and was a co-founder of NY-based startup, Atmospheir.

Ryan is the Senior Vice President, Threat Research and Intelligence where he oversees the threat research, collections, and intelligence teams. Prior to SecurityScorecard Ryan was at McAfee Corp where he led and contributed to nation state threat research and analysis.

He is also the former Chief Corporate Evangelist at Panda Security, where he managed the US strategic response for new and emerging threats. Ryan is widely recognized as a security, intelligence expert throughout the country.

Larry Slusser currently serves as the VP, Global Head of Professional Services Delivery at SecurityScorecard, the leader in cybersecurity risk rating and third-party risk management solutions. In this role, Larry ensures world class delivery for all service lines, including Managed Services, Technical Cyber Security Services, and Cybersecurity Consulting.  In addition to overseeing all Professional Services delivery worldwide, Mr. Slusser runs SecurityScorecard’s Incident Response Team, leading all ransomware and extortion negotiations for our customers.

Mr. Slusser served as an Officer in the United States Air Force for 6 years, and has held P&L responsibility for several Fortune 500 companies. He also ran a successful printing and manufacturing business for 7 years. Graduating with a Master’s in Cybersecurity, Mr. Slusser successfully transitioned to cybersecurity. SecurityScorecard’s clients and Partners find Larry’s combination of business leadership experience and cybersecurity knowledge a valuable asset, whether in a time of crisis, or helping to prepare their cybersecurity defenses through SecurityScorecard’s cyber resilience and emergency preparation services.

A former astrophysicist, Bob spent most of his career in the medical imaging sector where he served in executive leadership roles ranging from R&D Manager to CEO in a number of private and public companies. He has led R&D teams developing state-of-the-art CT, digital x-ray, and breast imaging systems, and a host of other imaging modalities. Confronting challenges in image analysis, pattern recognition and classification exposed him to machine learning techniques and led to his migration into Data Science. Bob holds a BS and PhD in physics from MIT and 11 US patents.

Matthew has founded two companies and played a strategic role within 4 others. Matthew has deep knowledge in multiple technology segments including: security/cryptography, high performance computing, data, large distributed systems and machine learning.

Matthew has contributed significant functionality to many open source projects including: Kubernetes, Kops, Apache Cassandra, Apache Spark, Cascading/Cascalog, and Mono/Xamarin.

Rodney brings over 2 decades of experience in technology and over 13 years of experience in talent building and running talent and technology teams, systems and processes. Rodney is an esteemed Global VP of Talent with a distinguished track record of building and refining teams and systems that drive efficiency and innovation. His hands-on approach and straegic vision have resulted in significant cost savings and improved operational outcomes.

Throughout his career, Rodney has been a thought partner to hiring managers, providing expert insights into talent market and sourcing strategies. He has successfully managed teams, developed cutting-edge recruiting sytems, and implemented effective talent management practices. Rodney is dedicated to delivering high-quality outcomes, fostering a culture of inclusion, and leveraging technology to ensure SecurityScorecard attracts and retains world-class talent.

Rich Wenning is the Senior Vice President of Sales for the Americas at SecurityScorecard. In this capacity, he leads a team of direct, channel, and technical sellers focused on transforming the way organizations understand, mitigate, and communicate cybersecurity risk to their boards, employees, and vendors.

Rich has over 20 years of industry experience, and he’s held a variety of senior leadership positions with Nozomi Networks, CyberArk, Palo Alto Networks, IBM, and Cisco Systems. He has a passion for building a culture of learning, empowerment, and engagement, reinforcing the right traits, values, and behaviors that lead to client success. A native New Englander, and avid baseball fan, Wenning has served on the Board of Directors for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and the Customer Advisory Board at Inwood House. He is a graduate of Northeastern University, and he received his MBA from Fordham University. Rich lives in a suburb West of Boston with his wife and two children.

Jeffrey Wescott is a seasoned engineering leader with over two decades of experience in building and leading high-performance software teams. Before Joining SecurityScorecard, Jeffrey held notable leadership roles at companies like Lattice, Splunk, Change.org, and IronPort Systems. Jeffrey drives innovation and technical excellence across all software engineering functions.

Jeffrey’s expertise includes performance management, organizational design, and strategic planning, coupled with a deep technical background in software engineering. He holds a B.S. from Bucknell University in Computer Science & Engineering.

Jeff is an experienced finance executive with more than a decade of experience driving growth and scaling operations in startup environments. History of raising money from sophisticated investors, with experience guiding an organization though the IPO process and beyond. Expertise in the creation of financial models, and OKRs/KPIs necessary to drive growth, with a proven ability to lead finance, operations, technical, and HR functions.

Sam Kassoumeh is the co-founder of SecurityScorecard. With extensive experience as both a cybersecurity practitioner and leader, Kassoumeh’s experience has been pivotal in the growth and development of the company as well as establishing the ecosystem risk management space. Kassoumeh’s passion for internet security started in his teens and propelled him into key cybersecurity roles including as head of security and compliance at Gilt Groupe and worldwide InfoSec lead at Federal-Mogul. Sam holds a BBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Dr. Aleksandr Yampolskiy, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SecurityScorecard, is a globally recognized cybersecurity innovator, leader, and expert. Since SecurityScorecard’s inception in 2014, he has led the company with a vision to create a new language for measuring and communicating risk. SecurityScorecard is now one of the world’s most trusted cybersecurity brands, with tens of thousands of customers—including half of the Fortune 100 and nine of the top 10 U.S. banks—and over 600 employees. The company has earned the Gartner Peer Insight Customers’ Choice award and been named a Leader in the Forrester New Wave. In 2021, Yampolskiy was named E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 New York Award winner and Cyber Defense Magazine’s CEO of the Year.

Prior to founding the SecurityScorecard, Yampolskiy was a CTO at BlogTalkRadio, the largest online talk radio and podcast hosting platform, whose technology he scaled to over 30M+ visitors each month. He was also a CISO at Gilt Groupe, where he managed all aspects of IT infrastructure security, fraud, secure application development, and PCI compliance. Yampolskiy has led security teams at Goldman Sachs and Oracle, among other companies where he built authentication and entitlement infrastructure for trading.

Alex has published numerous articles, won the Public Key Cryptography Conference Test of Time Award for his verifiable random function invention, holds numerous patents, and is a published book author of The Perfect Scorecard: Getting an ‘A’ in Cybersecurity from Your Board of Directors. He holds a B.A. in Mathematics and Computer Science from New York University and a Ph.D. in Cryptography from Yale University.

Andres Andreu, the Deputy Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Hearst and a renowned cybersecurity leader, holds prestigious credentials including CISSP and ISSAP, and is a Boardroom Certified Qualified Technology Expert (QTE). With a diverse career traversing federal government, corporate sectors, and entrepreneurial ventures in cybersecurity, he is a mentor, startup advisor, and acclaimed author.

From his government tenure he transitioned to the corporate realm. Andres made a mark at Ogilvy and Mather as a partner and Chief Application Architect, later consulting for high-profile entities like the United Nations. As a founding member and key executive at Bayshore Networks (acquired by Opswat in 2021), and former CISO at 2U, Inc./edX, his expertise has been pivotal in shaping cybersecurity landscapes.

Author of “The CISO Playbook”, “Professional Pen Testing Web Applications”, contributor to “97 Things Every Application Security Professional Should Know”, and articles with various magazines, his work extends beyond writing to inventing, with patents in cybersecurity innovations. He advises the Forgepoint Capital Cybersecurity Advisory Council and serves on multiple advisory boards.

A Cuban immigrant and proud American citizen, Andres balances his professional achievements with a happy marriage and four wonderful kids. He is an international-level certified Judo coach with USA Judo and an artist. Andreu’s multifaceted career and personal achievements highlight his profound impact on the cybersecurity field and beyond.

As an active Investor and CEO of Christian and Timbers, 4Xs Forbes Midas list, Jeff Christian has advised and placed many of the top CEOs in Cybersecurity. For over 30 years Jeff has helped investors, BoDs, and leadership to build companies that strengthen our National Security and Cyber readiness.

Sandy Climan is CEO of Entertainment Media Ventures. Sandy has held senior executive roles across the entertainment industry, including the senior management team at CAA, Corporate Executive Vice President and President of Worldwide Business Development for Universal Studios, and executive positions in production and distribution for MGM. His productions include “U2 3D,” the first digital live-action 3D film, and “The Aviator,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese, for which he was awarded a Golden Globe and a British Academy Award. His production involvement includes the cybersecurity-related films “War Games” and “Sneakers”.

He has been an active venture investor and advisor, and has served as a bridge between Hollywood, Silicon Valley, the financial industry, and global corporations. In the world of cybersecurity, he serves as Chairman of THG Ventures, which is focused on the promotion of and training in ethical hacking. He serves on several charitable boards, including the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and the American Cinematheque.

Tom Doughty served as Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Prudential, retiring from the
role in June of 2023. As CISO since 2006, Tom oversaw Prudential’s global information and cybersecurity
program, including infrastructure level protections, security-related Policies and Standards, and security
operations in a highly regulated, cloud-enabled business environment.

Within Prudential, he led efforts in business-focused security support, including a constantly evolving threat
and vulnerability management program protecting the operating environment. Tom interfaced directly with
Prudential’s Board and senior team, aligning management focus with emerging exposures. Externally, he
spearheaded relationships representing Prudential’s Information Security Program as a cross-industry leader,
collaborating with peer companies, government, law enforcement, and intelligence sources to assimilate best
practices and improve the collective security climate. Tom provided primary oversight and management of
Information Technology related regulatory liaison and response during a period when Prudential operated as
the only designated non-bank Systemically Important Financial Institution (SIFI).

Prior to Prudential, from 1993 to 1998, Tom served as a Military Intelligence Officer in the United States Army,
achieving the rank of Captain. During this time, he specialized in Electronic and Information Warfare, including
emerging intelligence processing technology platforms.
Tom is currently Chief Information Security Officer at Generate Biomedicines, overseeing the Cybersecurity
and Enterprise IT programs for the emerging growth biotech firm advancing fundamental shifts in therapeutic
development driven by machine intelligence.

Tom received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point
(1993), and an MBA with dual focus in Finance and Information Technology from New York University’s Stern
School of Business (2003). He maintains a current Top Secret / SCI security clearance.

Grant Geyer has had a successful career as an operator in the cybersecurity industry for over 20 years. Currently, he oversees Claroty’s product management, engineering, and research organizations, and is responsible for the company’s product strategy and development. Prior to this, he worked as an Executive-in-Residence at Scale Venture Partners, where he assisted the firm in analyzing cybersecurity markets and ventures. Geyer held the role of Senior Vice President of Products for RSA, responsible for both traditional and SaaS product offerings. Before RSA, Geyer served as Vice President at Symantec, which he joined through its acquisition of Riptech. Earlier in his career, Geyer served as a Military Intelligence officer for the U.S. Army. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a M.S. in Engineering Management from the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Igor has worked as Global Enterprise Technology Architect and then Information Security Architect in March & McLennan ( 1997-2006) along with the following positions:
CISO of New York Law Department – (2006-2016)
CISO of New York City Retirement System ( NYCERS) – (2019-2019)
CISO of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University – (2019 – Present)
Certifications: RHIA, CISSP, CISA, CDPSE. ITIL, RIMS-CRMP.

Brian currently serves as the Vice President and Chief Security Officer (CSO) for a large energy company with assets and operations in 25 states. He is responsible for the company’s physical and cybersecurity, privacy, intelligence, and business continuity units. In 2018, Brian was appointed by the President of the United States to serve as the sixth Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection, at the Department of Homeland Security. Brian also served as the first Executive Assistant Director for Infrastructure Security at the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Brian has spent time during his career in the US Marine Corps and various private sector agencies with the goal of protecting the United States from security threats.

Aaron Hughes is Senior Vice President and CISO at Albertsons Companies. In this role he is responsible for enabling the business and securing the infrastructure, digital assets, and payments for a network of over 2200 supermarkets operating under 20 brands across the United States serving 30 million customers per week and driving $60B in annual revenue. Previously he was Vice President for Information Security and Deputy CISO at Capital One where he led the team providing security services across all of the Capital One lines of business to include Card, Financial Services, Commercial and Retail Banking as well Enterprise IT, Digital Products, and Data Initiatives.

Mr. Hughes is also the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy where, as the Senior DoD cyber official, he was the primary interface with the broader USG, Congress, the public, and foreign governments for all defense related cyber policy matters. His office was responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of cyber policies, strategies, operations, and plans for the Department of Defense.

In addition to his full-time employment, Mr. Hughes is a Colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve currently serving as a Senior Advisor to the Commander USCYBERCOM and on the board of directors of two highly successful companies, SentinelOne and Advanced Technology International. He received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia, MS in Telecommunications and Computers from George Washington University, and MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Melanie Hughes is a transformational leader who has held a variety of C-suite roles over the last 20 years. She is a seasoned operational and human capital executive with experience across Technology, Financial Services, Media, and Retail. She is also a global citizen, having lived in six countries in Europe, North America, Asia, and Latin America.

Most recently Ms. Hughes was CHRO for Moody’s Corporation, overseeing the entire Human Capital function and driving culture and organizational realignment to support a firm-wide strategic change initiative. She oversaw a successful CEO transition, helped lead the company successfully through the pandemic, and evolved the culture to a standard that achieved “Most Loved Companies” award by Newsweek.

Earlier in her career Ms. Hughes joined Gilt Groupe in its infancy and supported its growth to a $1 billion valuation; she was responsible for operations including sales operations, offshoring, creative/studios, real estate, facilities, and building the executive team. In a prior role at Tribune she was responsible for Human Capital, driving culture change as the company emerged from bankruptcy; restructuring the company through a spinoff of the publishing business; doubling the size of the broadcast business through acquisition; and building the digital arm of the media organization. Ms. Hughes joined DoubleClick at the height of the dot- com boom, building the talent infrastructure, managing through the restructuring in response to the technology crash, and changing the culture to facilitate the success and regrowth of the of the company—resulting in the initial sale to Hellman & Friedman and eventually Google.

Over the last 20 years Ms. Hughes has managed the Governance & HR committees of her company’s boards, setting the agenda through times of growth, change, and disruption. She is highly experienced in the boardroom and has been a trusted advisor to Committee Chairs. Until recently, she served on the Moody’s Foundation board, and she currently sits on the advisory board of Security Scorecard, Mattermost and Contemporary Leadership Advisors. Her executive coaching practice focuses on CEOs and CPOs and incorporates strategy and team-building for the C-suite. Ms. Hughes has also worked on philanthropic initiatives in Nicaragua (where she has a residence), setting up educational and dental programs for the community.

Ms. Hughes holds an BSc. (Hons.) degree in Psychology from Brunel (London) and an MBA from INSEAD (France). She enjoys playing competitive backgammon and sailing, which is a passion.

Andrew Jaquith is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Scotiabank US Technology. Andrew’s 25-year career as a CISO, CTO, executive, and cyber practitioner spans startups (with two successful exits), Fortune 100s, and global financial services firms. Prior to Scotiabank, he was the CISO of Covington & Burling LLP. He has served as a Managing Director in technology risk and cybersecurity for Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, respectively. He serves as an Board Advisor to SecurityScorecard and as a member of the Technical Advisory Board of Panaseer. Andrew graduated from Yale University.

John Katko is an accomplished leader who served Central New York in Congress from 2015 until his retirement in 2022.

Early in his career in Congress, John became a strong voice on the House Homeland Security Committee. In 2020, he was selected to lead House Homeland Security Committee Republicans. As Ranking Member, John led efforts to secure the border and prioritized a robust focus on cybersecurity, as well as transportation and airport security. Additionally, John served eight years as a member of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee.

While serving New York’s 24th Congressional District, John achieved significant legislative success, with 98 bills passed the House and 45 signed into law. Through his advocacy, John delivered millions of dollars to his district in Central New York.

John has strong relationships in New York and Washington across the political spectrum. He is well-respected for his work across the aisle and was consistently ranked among the most bipartisan members of Congress by the nonpartisan Lugar Center. As Chair of the Republican Governance Group, John was responsible for expanding political engagement with results-oriented Members of Congress.

Prior to serving in Congress, John spent nearly twenty years as a federal organized crime prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, prosecuting hundreds of complex criminal cases including organized crime, drug and human trafficking, murder, and political corruption. He has extensive experience on the U.S. Northern, Southern, and Maritime borders. Additionally, he served as a litigator with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and as an anti-trust and commercial litigation attorney in private practice.

John and his wife Robin live in Camillus, New York and enjoy spending time with their three adult sons.

Julie Liegl has spent over 20 years marketing in the technology industry. Most recently, she was the Chief Marketing Officer, responsible for all aspects of Slack’s marketing, including product marketing, customer acquisition, demand generation, brand, brand design, events, and content marketing.

Prior to Slack, Julie spent 13 years at Salesforce, most recently as the Executive Vice President of Global Marketing, where she and her teams were responsible for the success of Dreamforce, driving demand generation and the market positioning of Salesforce’s cloud products.

Julie received her BA and MA in English from Stanford University and her MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Marshall Lux has been a financial services consultant and practitioner for 30 years. He began his career at McKinsey where he served all manner of financial service firms across a variety of subsectors and functional areas. Lux led McKinsey’s and Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) private equity practice. He has extensive relationships across private equity firms. He left McKinsey after approximately 25 years to become the Chief Risk Officer for Chase (all consumer products globally) during the 2008 financial crisis. He then joined BCG, where he was a Senior Partner for 5 years, and in particular, helped build a private equity practice.

Lux continues to be an active advisor to BCG. He sits on several private equity boards and advises companies ranging from consumer credit, wealth, insurance, and cybersecurity. Lux has a broad network of financial services C-suite executives with whom he has worked on some of their most important issues. He has also diligenced many of the largest private equity deals that have been done. Along with his client work, he has also done 35 probono assignments and has served on a number of not-for-profit boards, including the Harlem Children’s Zone, the New York Historical Society’s Chairman’s Council, the New York Tenement Museum, Junior Achievement, and Reading is Fundamental.

Lux is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is active at the New York Historical Society. He was a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and he continues to do research there. He is also a Senior Advisor to the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation and a Senior Fellow to the Program on International Financial Systems, both at Harvard Law School. His overall writings have concerned the unintended consequences of Dodd-Frank on financial services. He has written papers entitled: “The State and Fate of Community Banking,” “What’s Behind the Non-Bank Mortgage Boom?” and “Out of Reach: Regressive Trends in Credit Card Access.” All papers have been cited in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, among others. In late 2017 he released a paper entitled: “When Markets Quake: The Past, Present, and Future of Online Lending.”

Lux also teaches private equity at the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton Business School. He has spoken broadly, including at the House Small Business Committee, the Federal Reserve, and various universities and trade groups. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Online Lending Policy Institute. Lux’s board, advisory, and academic work consume most of his time.

Lux attended the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University and graduated Summa Cum Laude. He also attended Harvard Business School where he was a Baker and Ford Scholar. He was the first person in his family to attend college.

Ray Mabus served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy from 2009 to 2017, the longest tenure as leader of the Navy and Marine Corps since World War I. As Secretary he revolutionized the Navy and Marine Corps, opening all jobs to women, aggressively moving to alternative energy as a warfighting measure, building more than twice as many ships during his term than in the preceding eight years and developing the Gulf Coast Restoration Plan after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It was during his watch that Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden. Among many awards, he received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Social Responsibility Award and was chosen as one of the top fifty CEOs in America by GlassDoor, the only government person picked. From 1988 to 1992, Mabus served as Governor of Mississippi, the youngest elected to that office in more than 150 years. Mississippi experienced record growth in jobs, education, tourism and exports.

Mabus was United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 1994- 1996. Today, Mabus is on the board of two public companies as well as a public benefit education company and is the founder of a consulting organization. He also serves on the boards of the Environmental Defense Fund and Jose Andreas’ World Central Kitchen and the advisory board for the National Medal of Honor Museum. Secretary Mabus is a native of Ackerman, Mississippi, and received a Bachelor’s Degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Mississippi, a Master’s Degree from Johns Hopkins University, and a Law Degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. Mabus served in the Navy as an officer aboard the cruiser USS Little Rock.

Kevin is a global information security executive, currently with Cigna as the CISO, US Healthcare and Managing Director of Assurance. Prior to Cigna, Kevin was the Vice President of Information Security at Marriott International. He has extensive leadership experience with information technology service providers such as Sungard, AT&T, and Verizon.  He has led global organizations responsible for cyber security, business continuity, and business operations.

Harry D. Moseley is a (Senior) Advisor to the Deutsche Börse, DRATA, Replicant, Schelllman, Security Scorecard, Stripes and Journey, a Board Advisor to Arrangr, Bite Investments and Roam, a Board Member of Rewards Network, and, a member of Baypine’s Digital Advisory Board.

He has almost five decades of experience in technology, having held several senior leadership positions: Global CIO for Zoom Video Communications; CIO for KPMG US; CIO and Partner at Blackstone; CIO of Global Investment Banking/Co-CIO for Credit Suisse First Boston, and CTO for UBS Americas.

Harry was inducted into CIO Magazine’s Hall of Fame, recognized as one of the world’s top 100 CIOs by Computerworld, twice honored by Irish Magazine as one of its Annual Wall Street 50, awarded the 2020 Leadership CIO of the Year by InspireCIO, the 2022 CIO and IT Leader of the Year for the Private Sector, was a 2022 Irish America Business 100 Honoree and awarded the HMG Global Leadership award in 2023. Additionally, Harry has given numerous presentations including a TEDx talk about working and living in the virtual world.

He is originally from Dublin, Ireland, and is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin with degrees in Engineering, Computer Science, and Mathematics. He lives in New York with his wife Rachel, their dog Hershey (Goldendoodle) and has three children in three time zones (San Diego, Baltimore and Zurich).

Glen Pendley is the CTO at Tenable. Glen has over 20 years of experience in software engineering and cybersecurity. Glen has held multiple senior roles at Tenable, including SVP and Deputy CTO, helping to lead them to a successful IPO. Prior to Tenable, Glen was the CTO at SecurityScorecard, he was also the Director of R&D and Product Management at McAfee for over three years. Glen started his career in the United States Marine Corps, where he spent four formative years honing his leadership skills.

SINET accelerates investments and innovation of early-stage, emerging growth, and publicly traded Cybersecurity companies into global marketplaces by connecting them to industry and government Risk Executives and Chief Information Security Officers, venture capital, and private equity firms. SINET brings together the world’s highest level of executive Cybersecurity professionals during workshops, conferences, and Public Private Partnership dinners, and on SINETConnect, their invitation–only, highly curated virtual platform that connects buyers, sellers, and investors, and is changing the way trusted business dealings operate today and into the near future.

SYN Ventures invests in disruptive, transformational early-stage Cybersecurity solutions whose objectives are to reduce technology risk to protect our nation’s critical infrastructures. Our primary investments are at the “A” and “Seed” rounds.

Previously, Mr. Rodriguez served 22 years as a Special Agent with the United States Secret Service where he held numerous executive leadership positions within the Presidential Protection Detail, Protective Intelligence, Inspection, Criminal Investigation Division, and the Counter Assault Team (CAT). His executive protection experience spanned 10 years at the White House serving Presidents Ronald W. Reagan, George H. Bush, William J. Clinton, and numerous Heads of State. He serves on several Cybersecurity Advisory Boards and has been called upon to advise private industry and federal governments as they build private sector outreach initiatives with corporations and the entrepreneurial and venture capital communities.

Jim Routh is currently on the Boards of Savvy Security, Accountable Digital Identity Association and the Global Resiliency Federation. He is the former Board Chair for the Health Information Sharing & Analysis Center (H-ISAC) where he served for five years and former Board member for the Financial Services Information Sharing & Analysis Center (FS-ISAC). He has presented to Boards and Board Committees (Technology & Governance, Audit Committees) for many public and private companies as the CISO or CSO, providing cyber security updates and education designed for board members over the past twenty years. Jim brings to the boards a vast business and technology background and is considered a digital and cyber security industry expert and thought leader. He has prepared and delivered several customized education sessions to Board members for the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) based on leading cyber security practices. Jim is currently an advisor for Transmit Security, Wiz, Devo, Netskope, Armis, Virsec, Securiti, Gurucul, Data Theorem, Saviynt, Legit Security, Picnic, Reveal Security, Calypso, and Graphite Health. He serves in an advisory capacity and investor for cyber specific venture funds including: Syn Ventures, CyberStarts, Security Leadership Capital, Ballistic Ventures and Rain Capital. Jim is an ICIT Fellow and an Adjunct Faculty member for NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

Jim has a long history in technology and cyber security as a leader and management consultant. He was formerly a cyber security leader for many large companies including:
-MassMutual- CISO, May, 2019-Dec. 2020

-CVS Health- CSO, Nov., 2018- April, 2019

-Aetna- CSO, May, 2015-Nov., 2018- CISO, May 2013-May, 2015

-JP Morgan Chase- Global Leader for Software & Mobile Security, Feb., 2010- May 2013

-KPMG- CISO, July 2009-Dec. 2009

-Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)- CISO, March 2005- May 2010

-American Express- CISO Jul., 2003- Sept. 2004; VP Information Risk Management Aug.
2001-Sept. 2003; VP IT July 1998- Aug. 2001

While at Aetna, Jim developed one of the most mature converged security programs in the private sector. Prior to that he served as an IT leader at American Express and a management consultant for over a decade for financial service firms.

Jim is a known icon in the cyber security industry. The awards he has received include the Santa Fe Group/Shared Assessments Lifetime Achievement Award, CSO Hall of Fame, ISE Luminary Award, SINET Impact Award, Evanta Break Away Leadership Award, Information Security Executive of the Year Award (twice), BITS Leadership Award. He has published numerous white papers including:
-https://www.fsisac.com/insights/data-science-is-foundational-for-cyber-programs

-https://www.fsisac.com/insights/rising-tide-of-cloud-computing

-https://icitech.org/the-growing-obsolescence-of-passwords/

-https://icitech.org/leaders-as-educators/

-https://icitech.org/software-bill-of-materials/

Jim is recognized as an industry leader in digital transformations and innovation in cyber security practices using data science as a foundation for unconventional cyber security controls and enterprise resilience. He offers a board of directors keen insights on the alignment of business strategy with digital transformation in the consumer marketplace.

Ken is the SVP of User Growth and Embedded Analytics at ThoughtSpot. Previously, he led the centralized User Growth and Analysis team at Google, where he’s focused on increasing user acquisition, engagement, and retention across all Google products and services. His team works with product teams across Google, providing analysis, best practices, tools, and services to optimize products and marketing campaigns for growth.

Prior to Google, Ken built the Analytics organization at Facebook, which included both the data scientist teams and the data engineering teams. He led the organization to deliver high-impact analyses across all Facebook products to optimize Facebook’s products and overall business.

Before Facebook, Ken was the VP of Analytics and Platform Technologies at Zynga, helping Zynga to become known for excellence in analytics, and helping to build the foundation for one of the world’s largest social gaming

A research fellow with MIT Sloan School’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, Michael Schrage’s research, writing, and advisory work focuses on the ‘behavioral economics’ of models, prototypes, and metrics as strategic resources for managing ‘innovation risk’ and opportunity. He is the author of award-winning ’The Innovator’s Hypothesis’ [MIT Press 2014], ‘Who Do You Want Your Customers To Become?’ [Harvard Business Review Press 2012] and ‘Serious Play’ [Harvard Business Review Press 2000]. His next book, ‘Recommender Systems,’ will be published this year by MIT Press as part of its ‘Essential Knowledge’ series. He’s run design workshops and executive education programs on innovation, experimentation, and ’strategic measurement’ for organizations all over the world.

His pioneering work in ‘selvesware’ technologies – he coined the word – designed to augment aspects, attributes, and talents of productive individuals. Current research efforts examine the interplay of ’network effects’-driven innovation, such as recommender systems, and human capital creation for the enterprise. His work exploring the ‘future of KPIs,’ digital ‘performance management’ dashboards and machine learning – in collaboration with Google, McKinsey, and the Sloan Management Review – builds on that theme, i.e. what happens when ‘essential metrics’ become ’software agents.’ This research – part of a global ‘Strategic Measurement’ initiative – is widely cited. These efforts have led to ‘future of workforce capability and design’ research in collaboration and co-sponsorship with Deloitte. He is particularly interested in the future co-evolution of ‘expertise,’ ‘advice’ and human ‘agency’ as technologies become ‘smarter’ than the people using them.

Consulting and innovation/experimentation/KPI clients have included Prudential, Pfizer, Microsoft, PwC, BASF, SNCF, ZF, Amazon, Mars, BT, Google, Raytheon, Edmunds, Embraer, among others. He’s conducted non-classified research for the U.S. Department of Defense [Office of Net Assessment] and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on cyber-conflict, complex systems procurement, and ‘other’ issues.

Previously, a Merrill Lynch Forum Innovation Fellow, he founded and was executive director of its Merrill Lynch Innovation Grants Competition for doctoral students worldwide. An angel investor in several digital media and machine learning start-ups, he’s been a featured and top trafficked blogger on the Harvard Business Review site. His work has been published in the Sloan Management Review, Fortune magazine (where he was a columnist), the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Nikkei Asian Review, the CACM as well as other peer-reviewed publications.

Joe is the CEO of Ukraine Friends, a nonprofit organization providing humanitarian aid to children trying to learn and grow in a war zone. He also advises several startups, does security consulting projects, and mentors security leaders. Joe was the first federal prosecutor based in Silicon Valley dedicated full time to prosecuting cybercrime, and worked on safety and security at eBay and PayPal before becoming the Chief Security Officer at Facebook (2008-2015), Uber (2015-2017), and Cloudflare (2018-2022). Furthermore, Joe has advised companies over the years ranging from AirBnB to DoorDash, and in 2016 he accepted and served an appointment from President Obama to his independent, bipartisan Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity.

Mark Weatherford is the Chief Cybersecurity Strategist at Coalfire and the Founding Partner at Aspen Chartered Consulting where he focuses on national cybersecurity policy issues and cybersecurity thought leadership.

Mark has held a variety of executive level cybersecurity roles including Chief Strategy Officer at the National Cybersecurity Center, VP & Global Information Security Strategist at Booking Holdings, SVP & Chief Cybersecurity Strategist at vArmour, Principal at The Chertoff Group, VP & Chief Security Officer at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, and the first Chief Information Security Officer for the state of Colorado. He was also appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008 to serve as California’s first Chief Information Security Officer and in 2011 he was appointed in the Obama Administration as the nation’s first Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Mark is a former U.S. Naval Officer where he served as the Director of Navy Computer Network Defense Operations, Director of the Navy Computer Incident Response Team (NAVCIRT), and established the Navy’s first operational red team.

Mark is an investor in cybersecurity start-ups, a Board Director, and on the Advisory Board of several cybersecurity technology companies where he has a successful track record in helping startups from founding to acquisition. Among his many professional awards, he is an inductee into the 2023 Global Cyber Security Hall of Fame, the 2021 International CSO Hall of Fame, and the 2018 Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) Hall of Fame.

Rus Yusupov is an American product designer and entrepreneur whose businesses include Vine and HQ Trivia. Rus began his career as a digital product designer at various digital firms including Razorfish and R/GA, before founding his own design and engineering consultancy, Big Human, in 2008. Based in NYC, Big Human’s clients include Google, Facebook, TDAmeritrade, Compass, Time Warner, OKCupid, Urban Dictionary, among others. In 2012, Rus incubated Vine out of the Big Human offices and within months sold the looping, short-form video service to Twitter. Vine turned people into stars. It transformed the world of comedy, the music industry and cultivated popular memes. It was imitated by larger competitors and was the first app to launch a generation of short-form video apps. After three years of overseeing Product for Vine at Twitter, Rus teamed up with his Vine co-founder to create HQ Trivia – and almost overnight, the show began drawing millions of concurrent players, generating significant excitement around its fun, novel concept and simple design. HQ’s pioneering format and massive audience has drawn large advertisers including Nike, Warner Bros., Amazon, Wendy’s, Target, Chevrolet among others. Rus has received several industry recognitions, including a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award, Variety Magazine Breakthrough of the Year Award, UJA Lydia Vareljan Leadership Award, PGA Digital VIP Award 2014, multiple Webby Awards and an Emmy Nomination. He is a graduate of LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and The School of Visual Arts, where he earned a BFA in Design. Rus lives in New York with his wife and daughter.