Meet our international speaker panel to date – Las Vegas 2024
Allen Ohanian M.S Cyber security, MBA, B.S. Computer Science, Ph.D. Candidate Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Mr. Ohanian is a highly accomplished and experienced Information Security Officer with 25 years of experience in information technology, cybersecurity, and defense strategies in both the private and public sectors. He currently serves as the Information Security Officer for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), the largest child welfare institution in the nation. At DCFS, Mr. Ohanian has successfully architected and implemented cybersecurity and privacy programs from the ground up, interwoven cybersecurity into the business culture, and created a security-conscious enterprise. He has also achieved the organization’s mission of service excellence through outstanding leadership, governance, strategic planning, business acumen, and cost-saving transformation initiatives. Mr. Ohanian is an innovative and visionary leader who has chaired the Countywide Risk Management Cybersecurity Team responsible for developing and implementing administrative, technical, and tactical strategies to assess and reduce cybersecurity risks to County information assets. He is also an innovation advisory council member of various Cybersecurity taskforces and workgroups. As an accomplished keynote speaker and panel member, Mr. Ohanian has participated in numerous national and international private and public sector conferences. In addition, he serves as a Ph.D. Dissertation Committee Member for Cybersecurity using Artificial Intelligence at Center for Information Systems & Technology Claremont Graduate University. Mr. Ohanian’s accomplishments in improving organizations’ cybersecurity posture have led to various excellence awards, including multiple Information Security Officer of the Year awards.
Brian von Kraus graduated Boston College in 2000 with a BA in Philosophy and joined the United States Marine Corps. He served fifteen years in various infantry, reconnaissance, and special operations units with multiple deployments prior to retiring in 2015. Upon retirement, he founded FireWatch Solutions to provide risk management support to non-profit organizations operating in high-risk areas throughout Africa. He then expanded domestically offering physical security services to private sector clients in the United States. Seeing the ever-growing requirement of cybersecurity in all aspects of society, he developed FireWatch’s capability to offer holistic physical security and cybersecurity solutions to clients in the US and abroad. Brian earned a Masters in Business from University of California, Los Angeles and a Masters in Information and Cybersecurity from University of California, Berkeley.
A French and Swiss citizen, Dimitri Chichlo started his career in Ukraine in 2004, then moved to Switzerland in 2009, working mainly for international financial institutions in the fields of operational risk and cybersecurity. In 2017, he completed an Executive MBA at INSEAD. In 2019, he joined the Supervisory board of Ukreximbank, the third largest and state-owned bank in Ukraine, as vice-chairman and chair of the Operations and Digital Committee, where he remained until May 2023. In 2020, he founded his consultancy practice in cybersecurity and digital transformation, AndSecure. Since February 24th, 2022, he is actively involved into providing humanitarian support to Ukraine. He currently lives in Geneva.
Chuks is a certified high-impact leader (Cambridge institute of sustainability and leadership (CISL), a Certified digital risk expert (Harvard University), an enterprise risk management expert (University of Cape town), from Data to decision expert (Imperial College, London), Digital Supply chain and logistic expert (IMD), a Digital investigation and forensic computing expert, (University College, Dublin), a telecommunication and internet engineering expert (University of Applied Sciences, Project Management profession (PMP – PMI Institute, USA), Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH – EC-Council). His Leadership Roles include USA Today Bestselling author – Game on Leadership that lasts, Judge of the top 100 global CISO, 2021 top 100 global CISO , Global Chief Information Security and compliance officer, Brenntag Se, Non-Exec Board Member CyberVolt, Co-Chair DACH-CISO, Evanta, a Gartner Company, Co-founder: Conscience Matters. Over 20 years of experience in balancing agility with governance while building innovation, people, processes, and a technology-focused digital security ecosystem. Engaged in providing transformation and strategic leadership in managing information security risks with regard to adaptive and proactive threat intelligence insights, risk appetite/tolerance adaption, technical and organizational countermeasures, etc. as the enterprise’s digital boundaries become blurred.
FC is a renowned ethical hacker and social engineer, as well as global keynote speaker and author. He has been working in the cyber security field for over 25 years and has helped thousands of banks, governments and other organisations advance their security. FC is Co-Founder of the cyber security company Cygenta, where he tests weaknesses in physical, personnel and digital controls to help organisations be more secure. When he is not legally breaking into companies, FC takes audiences on an eye-opening journey into the hacker’s mindset. He has delivered over 50 keynotes including CPX360, CERN and Intersec. He has shared his expertise in mainstream media, including the BBC and ITV, as well as popular industry podcasts such as Darknet Diaries (EP66). He has also been featured in printed media around the world educating people about cyber security from a hacker’s perspective. FC demystifies security with his expertise, humour, and passion. His bestselling book ‘How I rob banks’ was published in June 2023. An avid reader and polymath, FC enjoys trying out new hobbies such as woodworking, pottery, and homespun science experiments. All whilst lacking musical talent, despite his best efforts.
Respected and leading CISO, awarded the CISO of the year for 2019 in Luxembourg, Sentinel CISO Global 2020, EU CISO 2020, and recently Ambassador of the year 2021 in Luxembourg. Versatile and innovative Cybersecurity professional with emphasis on cyber security risk management, policies and procedures creation, IT/IS security, IT Operations, audit, risk mitigation, business process improvement, IT governance. Passionate about participation and encouragement of women in cybersecurity and in STEM programs.
Prior to current role, served as the Senior Operational Risk and ISO manager for another EU Institution. Earlier in career, managed IT Audit and Compliance for Sobey’s, one of the two national grocery retailers in Canada and Audit, Corporate Development, M&A and growth strategies and IT Audit for George Weston, one of the Canada’s largest publicly traded food processing and distribution companies.
Dr Jessica Barker MBE is a best-selling author and international keynote speaker.
An award-winning leader in the human side of cyber security, she has delivered face-to-face awareness sessions to over 70,000 people in over 25 countries. Named one of the top 20 most influential UK women in cyber security, she is the go-to cyber expert for media including the BBC, Sky News and Wired magazine.
Jessica has delivered over 80 keynotes, including NATO, the World Government Summit, and RSA. Her speaking engagements bring the sociology and psychology of cyber security to life. She serves on numerous industry boards, including the UK Government Cyber Security Board. In June 2023, Jessica was awarded an MBE for services to cyber security by King Charles III in his first Birthday Honours.
Known for her ability to engage everyone from senior executives to ethical hackers, she brings energy, enthusiasm, and fun to cyber security. Jessica is co-Founder of the cyber security company Cygenta, where she focuses on her purpose to advance cyber security awareness, behaviour, and culture in organisations around the world.
The author of the bestseller ‘Confident Cyber Security’ and co-author of ‘Cybersecurity ABCs’, she helps audiences around the world understand why people are the heart of cyber security.
When Jessica is not working, she loves learning and over the years she has taken classes in everything from horse riding to singing to circus skills. Born in the North East of England, she now lives in Las Vegas, USA, with her husband FC and their cat Bubble.
Kevin Gowen serves as Chief Information Security Officer for Synovus and is responsible for information and cyber security, fraud, financial crimes, and physical security. He was named Chief Information Security Officer in 2015. Gowen earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He was a recipient of the James H. Blanchard Leadership award, was named Tech Exec Networks’ Information Security Executive of the Year in 2022, was a finalist for Technology Association of Georgia’s Technology Executive of the Year and received HMG Strategy’s Global Leadership Award as Mid-Cap CISO of the Year in 2023. Gowen is an alumnus of Leadership Columbus and serves as a board member of the National Technology Security Coalition along with serving on multiple advisory boards and in industry group leadership roles.
As Head of Global Intelligence & Security Programs, Ned oversees all aspects of security for Transocean, a world leader in ultra-deep water and harsh environment offshore drilling. Closely supporting senior leadership, Ned is tasked with proactively mitigating geopolitical and security risks to operations worldwide. Prior to Transocean, as Geopolitical Risk Manager at American Airlines, Ned designed and implemented the geopolitical risk and security intelligence program. Ned has also served in a variety of leadership positions within the US State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC).
Ned previously worked at Royal Dutch Shell, the Inter-American Development Bank, the US Congress, and Morgan Stanley. Ned received his B.A. in Political Science from McGill University in Montreal and his M.A. in International Affairs from American University in Washington, DC. He also studied at the Universidad de Salamanca in Salamanca, Spain. His graduate coursework focused on European energy security and Islamic extremist terrorism in Europe. He is fluent in Spanish and proficient in French.
Nick Gerteisen is a highly experienced cybersecurity leader with 15 years of expertise in developing and optimizing cybersecurity organizations. He has a strong background in management, cross-functional team leadership, and data analysis. Nick is an IT leader with experience in wide range of both technical and non-technical IT Silos. Specific areas of expertise include Enterprise Cyber Security, Medical Device Cyber Security, Secure SDLC, Risk Management, IT compliance activities (SOX 404, HIPPA, GDPR, etc), Enterprise IT service delivery, program management, physical and virtual infrastructure, networking, and SQL oriented databases (development, querying, and management). Prior to his current role, Nick was Deputy CISO, at Smith and Nephews, and before that Director, Global IT Services & Deputy Chief Information Security Officer with the Insulet Corporation and he was also a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University.
Head of Poste Italiane CERT. It works in the field of information security and network for more than twenty years’ experience gained in international environments.
In the security area he was involved in encryption design and network security, also working in complex infrastructure like mobile and 3G networks.
He has collaborated with several magazines in the computer industry as a journalist contributing to the dissemination of issues related to security and legal technical aspects.
Teaching Security, since 2005, at the Master in Network Security of the Sapienza University.
Member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) since 2004 and promoter of technological innovation, collaborates with several start-ups in Italy and abroad.
After completing a degree in Computer Science (focus on programming and AI), Nick started his career as a software developer, working in the telecommunications, pharmaceutical and gaming industries. He then spent the next 8 years in the Royal Air Force serving as an IT Engineer (Cyberspace) Officer, working across the globe to provide secure IT services, including a role as the Head of IT for UK Forces at Kandahar Airfield. He then moved into the financial services sector working with Worldpay, delivering large cyber security projects (their largest PCI DSS assessment), before leading the security function at a UK FX provider (A Joint Venture between the Bank of Ireland and the Post Office) – the 5th largest FX wholesaler globally. Most recently he has taken the appointment as the CISO for a SaaS tech company, providing employees benefits and wellbeing services. Nick likes to keep current with cyber security trends by attending industry events and recently completed a part-time MSc in Information Security from Royal Holloway, University of London. Outside of work he likes to keep active with the gym, cycling and reading.
Paul Colnan is the CISO at ION Markets, where he oversees the risk, security, compliance and privacy teams. He has 15 years of cyber security experience, including advising some of the world’s largest brands and he works with the board to enable secure and trusted commerce. He has an ‘ethical hacker’ background, which helps him tackle complex security issues, but he also cares about driving effective change through clear leadership and communication. Paul has been a CISO in various sectors, including fintech, logistics, and manufacturing, and before joining ION, he was an Executive Director at JP Morgan Chase, where he held security roles in retail banking, M&A and cloud platform security teams. Paul likes aviation and is pursuing his private pilot’s licence in his spare time.
10 year Al CEO and Founder. Former CEO/Co-Founder of Agolo: a natural language processing pioneering work in Summarization and Graph Creation backed by Google and Microsoft. U of Chicago and Columbia Business School.
Dr Leivesley, newrisk.com is an international communicator for media during events that are catastrophic in nature, including cyber, terrorism, natural disasters, infrastructure and nuclear war risks. She has a breadth of experience on cyber security of the built environment and has served as a member of the Technical Committee advising on Code of Practice-Cyber Security in the Built Environment for the British IET.
She has experience in running disaster recovery units and leading reforms of government emergency and safety services. Her prime focus is on the protection of life and critical infrastructure from extreme threats including cyber, terrorism and nuclear war.
She has worked with global USA corporations on cyber and physical risk strategy for catastrophic incidents using exercises with Boards and facilitating executive meetings. In 2021 she has presented to the Baker Institute, Rice University on vulnerabilities in the energy sector and nuclear conflict risks in the South and East China seas. In 2015 she presented to the Electrical Infrastructure Security Council’s conference in the Capitol Building on Black Swan energy risks. Dr Leivesley has led many international science meetings on resilience, nuclear conflict mitigation, Covid-19 mitigation and planetary defence against hazardous near-earth objects
Dr Leivesley has been a commentator on many international television news outputs including BBC World Service describing live international and UK incidents and all major forms of threat – cyber, terrorism, aviation, Polonium-210 and Novichok poisonings, Chechen terrorist Beslan child hostages, security issue with Iran, DPRK, USA Presidential security, Covid-19, and unexplained incidents such as MH370 leading to media stories in all countries on novel concept of cyber hijack as new risk in civil aviation.
Dr Leivesley had Scientific Advisory training during the Cold War from the British Home Office to work on national survival from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons effects and held an appointment for operations in civilian nuclear bunkers. She holds a PhD, London University on catastrophic risk across all industry sectors, awarded in field of Economics. She is a specialist in CBRN for the British Register of Security Engineers and Specialists RSES, a Member for 25 years of the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators (IABTI), a Member of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, and a Member of the Australian College of Education.
More than two decades of professional experience in information management and governance, with particular focus on information security, risk management and assurance for large multilateral public sector organizations with global presence. Actively contributing to inter-organizational working groups for establishing policies, standards, and guidelines in the area of information security, personal data protection, awareness programs, risk analysis and metrics. Conducting research in cryptography, data protection regulation, and risk management. I’ve started professional career in information technology in the year of the release of Mosaic Web browser, Intel Pentium CPU, Microsoft Windows NT, Debian Linux, Doom computer game… Since the Internet bubble, teaching computer science and telecommunications courses as adjunct faculty at Computer Science Department of Webster University in Geneva. Actively contributing to academic program advancement as a member of the Scientific Committee for Advanced Studies in Information Security at the Department of Management Studies of the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences at the University of Geneva. Advocating advancement in information security as an author in journals and as a speaker at professional conferences.
Will Lin is a serial builder of organizations like Forgepoint Capital, a Venture Capital firm dedicated to startups protecting the digital future; the Security Tinkerers, a non-profit dedicated to creating opportunities for the cybersecurity industry and its next generation of leaders; and The VC Field Guide, a Wiley-published book on the fundamentals of Venture Capital. Today Will is Venture Partner at Forgepoint Capital, co-founding a new security company and starting a new security think tank dedicated to researching and advancing the state of the art in cybersecurity. He is a Visiting Fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. He also is a contributor to SecurityWeek, Dark Reading and was named a Venture Capital Journal Rising Star, and is an avid connector in the cybersecurity entrepreneur, investor, and practitioner ecosystems. Will holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, and found his calling at the intersection of IT and entrepreneurship after starting businesses to help pay for college. When not in the office, you’ll find Will on the hunt for up-and-coming restaurants or talking about startups at home with his VC spouse.
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