Speakers

MG (ret.) Joseph Brendler is a senior executive and thought leader with more than 30 years of experience managing large organizations specializing in delivery of information technology, networks, and cybersecurity solutions. Prior to starting his consulting business, MG Brendler was Chief of Staff for the United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) and prior to that the Director of Strategic Planning, Policy, and Partnerships for USCYBERCOM. In those roles, he participated in the oversight of operations and the development of US military cyber doctrine and of DoD and national cyber policy. Prior to those assignments, he served as US Army Director of Architecture, Operations, Networks and Space under the Army CIO/G6. He was Chief of C5ISR, US Forces J6, and NATO Forces CJ6, for ISAF, in Kabul, Afghanistan. MG Brendler also served as the Chief of Staff for the Defense Information Systems Agency.

Steven Hernandez is an information assurance expert serving the past twenty years in a variety of contexts and missions. He has worked on the front lines in operations centers and led research teams attempting to balance security, privacy, and mission delivery considerations. Transforming risk management in international manufacturing, healthcare, non-profits, and governments at the federal, state, and local levels is extensive through his professional portfolio. Leading tactical, day-to-day security operations as well as guiding and influencing broad security initiatives such as the US government’s FedRAMP program across large organizations with international presence are areas he’s frequently called upon to support. Presently he is the Chief Information Security Officer and Director of Information Assurance Services at the U.S. Department of Education. Steven also serves as the co-chair of the US Government Federal CISO Council and government chair of the ACT-IAC Cybersecurity Community of Interest. Prior to his position at Education, he held a variety of roles at the Office of Inspector General, US Department of Education including CTO, CIO, CISO, Senior Official for Privacy and Chief Services Engineering Officer. He is an inaugural member of the United States Scholarship of Service Hall of Fame. He served on the Board of Directors for the International Information Systems Security Consortium (ISC)2, served on the U.S. (ISC)2 Government Advisory Board for Cybersecurity (GAB), judged for the Government Information Security Leadership Awards (GISLA) and contributed to its Executive Writers Bureau. Mr. Hernandez is the lead author and editor of the third edition of the (ISC)² Official Guide to the CISSP CBK, the (ISC)² Official Guide to the HCISPP CBK, and several published works regarding international information assurance.

Admiral Michael Rogers is the former director of the National Security Agency (NSA), the former chief of Central Security Service, and the former commander of US Cyber Command. One of the most-knowledgeable intelligence professionals and cyber security experts on the lecture circuit, Rogers assumed those posts in April of 2014 and retired in June of 2018, marking 37 years of service. An MIT technology seminar fellow and former Harvard senior executive in national security, Rogers’ presentations are packed with insights gleaned from his recent experience at the highest levels of the US government. He served under both Presidents Trump and Obama and oversaw the NSA and Cyber Command responses to both the Snowden leaks and Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election. He also put the NSA through its largest reorganization in 20 years and led the creation and operationalization of the nation’s cyber mission force, culminating in the elevation of Cyber Command to the senior-most command level in the DOD.

Grant Schneider is a recognized leader in the cybersecurity sector with extensive experience driving organizational change, improving program maturity while reducing costs, developing policy and governance structures, and driving enterprise-wide technology modernization initiatives. Having served as the U.S. federal chief information security officer (CISO) based out of the White House and on the White House National Security Council (NSC) as senior director for cybersecurity policy, Grant is uniquely positioned to assist clients in navigating the strategic, operational, and risk management needs of large-scale global technology environments. 

Brandon Wales is the first Executive Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), serving as the senior career executive overseeing execution of the Director and Deputy Director’s vision for CISA operations and mission support. He is responsible for leading long-term strategy development, managing CISA-wide policy initiatives and ensuring effective operational collaboration across the Agency. 

From August 2017 to December 2019, Mr. Wales served in multiple positions the DHS Secretary’s office. He started as Senior Counselor to the Secretary for Cyber and Resilience, where he served as the Secretary’s senior advisor on cybersecurity, emergency management, incident response and building a more resilient nation. In January 2019, he was asked to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff (Acting), developing and advancing the Department’s strategic priorities. In June 2019, Mr. Wales assumed the role of Chief of Staff (Acting), assisting the Secretary in overseeing the Department, ensuring close coordination across its operational components and managing interagency relationships. 

Prior to the joining the Secretary’s office, Mr. Wales was the Director of the DHS Office of Cyber and Infrastructure Analysis (OCIA). OCIA provided integrated analysis of cyber and physical risks to the Nation’s critical infrastructure. 

From 2009-2014, Mr. Wales was the Director of HITRAC, an all-hazards analytic resource for public and private sector partners covering the full-array of risks facing the infrastructure community. As the Director of HITRAC he also oversaw the Department’s advanced modeling, simulation, and analysis program, leading a team of researchers conducting ground-breaking and forward-leaning analysis of some of the Nation’s most complex infrastructure challenges. 

During his time at the Department, Mr. Wales has been called upon to support a variety of Department-wide initiatives. When the Department began working on the first Quadrennial Homeland Security Review in 2009, Mr. Wales was asked to lead the review of the counterterrorism and cyber security mission areas. Following the release of Executive Order 13636, Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, in February 2013, Mr. Wales led the effort to identify critical infrastructure at potential catastrophic risk from cybersecurity incidents. 

Prior to joining the Department in 2005, Mr. Wales served as a national security aide to United States Senator Jon Kyl and as a Senior Associate at a Washington-based foreign policy and national security think-tank. 

Mr. Wales received his Bachelor’s degree from George Washington University and his Master’s degree from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

John Zangardi is an internationally recognized IT, cybersecurity, and data analysis leader and executive. John is a regular conference speaker and has had the honor of testifying before US House and Senate committees on topics such as IT modernization, cybersecurity, supply chain management, and space.

Sean Berg is the senior vice president and general manager for Forcepoint’s global governments and critical infrastructure business, carrying its P&L responsibility and leading the growth strategy. He is expanding Forcepoint’s leadership in the cross domain government security markets and delivering capabilities across its human-centric security product portfolio to support both domestic and international government organizations. Berg brings more than 25 years of experience in both the military and private sector to Forcepoint.

Previously, Berg was vice president of sales for the global governments and critical infrastructure business. Prior to joining the company in May 2017, Berg was vice president, public sector for Polycom, where he led sales and strategy for all U.S. federal agencies, as well as state and local, education and healthcare. Before that, Berg spent 15 years at Dell, most recently as the executive director of the company’s Defense and Intelligence business. Earlier, Berg spent six years as an infantry officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Berg holds a master’s degree of business administration from the College of William and Mary; and gained a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of South Carolina.

Michael Crouse, is a Forcepoint User Protection Specialist promoting a paradigm shift for cyber security focused on dynamic user protection and adaptive risk mitigation. He works closely with top company decision-makers and lends key influence in helping them improve employee security behavior by changing the way people think about security; developing new cybersecurity policies, procedures, and technical approaches; and generating real-time, actionable data derived from employee behavior and industry baselines.

Michael possesses over a quarter-century of experience supporting Commercial and Federal Organizations starting with the National Security Agency (NSA) and expanding his diverse career with various stops along the way. He is a proud alumnus of the University of Akron and Johns Hopkins University along with Program Management Certifications from Program Management Institute and Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute focused on Insider Threat.

George Kamis is the chief technology officer for government markets at Forcepoint. He works closely with Information Assurance industry leaders, government executives and the Forcepoint executive management team to help guide long-term technology strategy and keep it aligned with federal and industry requirements. By leveraging his wealth of over 25 years of experience in cyber and cross-domain solutions, he has helped lead the company to the forefront of cross-domain systems product development. Prior to his role as CTO, he served for 10 years as vice president of engineering at Trusted Computer Solutions and ran both the Professional Services and Development organizations. Raytheon acquired Trusted Computer Solutions in 2010.

Prior to Trusted Computer Solutions, Kamis worked for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Center for High Assurance Computer Systems, and developed multilevel secure systems for the Navy. He is an active member of the Technology Committee for the Fairfax County Federal Credit Union, and consults on information technology and cybersecurity related matters.

Kamis earned a degree in electrical engineering with honors from West Virginia University and holds active memberships in both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA).

Matt Moynahan is the chief executive officer for Forcepoint. He joined in 2016, bringing more than twenty years of security, cloud services and technology industry leadership, ranging from product development to sales to general management. Throughout his career, Moynahan has been steeped in nearly every facet of security, including digital rights management, encryption, application security, network security, web and email security, and insider threat.

Under Moynahan’s leadership, Forcepoint launched a bold new approach to cybersecurity, centered upon enabling customers to focus on what matters most: understanding people’s behaviors and intent as they interact with critical data and IP wherever it resides. Moynahan also championed Forcepoint’s acquisition of the Skyfence CASB (cloud application security broker) business, furthering the company’s ability to protect data anywhere, including within cloud applications.

Dr. Larry Ponemon is the Chairman and Founder of the Ponemon Institute, a research “think tank” dedicated to advancing privacy, data protection and information security practices. Dr. Ponemon is considered a pioneer in privacy auditing and the Responsible Information Management (RIM) framework. Security Magazine named him one of the “Most Influential People for Security.”

Ponemon Institute conducts independent research, educates leaders from the private and public sectors and verifies the privacy and data protection practices of organizations in a various industries. In addition to institute activities, Dr. Ponemon is an adjunct professor for ethics and privacy at Carnegie Mellon University’s CIO Institute. He is a fellow of the Center for Government Innovation at the Unisys Corporation.

Myrna Soto is the Chief Strategy and Trust Officer for Forcepoint. A strategic business and technology leader, Soto drives and champions the company’s enterprise vision, strategy and programs to protect people, critical data and IP both within the company and for thousands of Forcepoint customers around the globe.

Petko Stoyanov is the Chief Technology Officer, G2 for Forcepoint. Petko brings two decades of experience in Cyber Security, Anti-Tamper, Program Management and Go-To Market Strategy to the company.

Prior to joining Forcepoint, Petko served as McAfee’s Chief Technical Strategist for Public Sector
and was responsible for leading the development and strategy for McAfee’s government technology roadmap, FedRAMP efforts, and enabling sales technical resources. At McAfee, Petko worked with government and commercial enterprise C-Level customers and served their Trusted Advisor and focused on architecture and risk-based outcomes by leveraging value and metrics-based methodologies.

Eric Trexler is Vice President of Sales, Global Government, Forcepoint.  Eric has more than 21 years of experience in the technology industry with both the public and private sectors including the DoD, Civilian, and Intelligence components.  Prior to joining Forcepoint, Eric was the Executive Director for Civilian and National Security Programs at McAfee, formerly Intel Security. Prior to joining McAfee in 2010, he managed multi-million dollar accounts at Salesforce.com, EMC Corporation and Sybase, Inc.

Eric served as an Airborne Ranger with the United States Army for four years, specializing in communications. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and an MBA with a concentration in strategy, both from the University of Maryland at College Park.