Robert Block, SVP Identity Strategy, SecureAuth
As a Senior Vice President of Identity Strategy at SecureAuth, Robert Block is responsible for executing on SecureAuth’s strategic vision of preventing the misuse of stolen credentials. Considered a thought leader in IAM with numerous focus areas, Robert will interact with customers, other vendors, and leading industry analysts on the transformation of the authentication industry being led by SecureAuth. Robert has over 19 years of results-oriented Information Technology experience – of which 15 years have been focused on Identity Management, Access Management and Access Governance solutions. Robert has an in-depth understanding of various Information Security and IT challenges and requirements across multiple industries, and has worked with a diverse set of clients ranging from Global Fortune 500s to privately held small businesses.
Robert Block has written several industry white papers and a number of blogs addressing a wide range of topics relevant to the Identity & Access Management Industry.
Eric DeLisle, Senior Sales Engineer, Forcepoint
Eric has been working in the information security industry for over 7 years providing best in class products and services to Enterprise Accounts. He currently serves as a Senior Enterprise Sales Engineer at Forcepoint. Eric is an active participant in the security community and holds a MS in Information Systems from the University of Missouri.
Bob Duplessis, First VP & Information Security Officer, Old Second Bancorp
Robert Duplessis is currently the Senior Vice President/Information Security Officer at Old Second National Bank. He is responsible for the overall Cybersecurity and IT Risk Management Programs and its alignment with the enterprise risk program. He has an extensive background in financial sector operational controls and developing programs in Information Security, Strategic Planning, Governance, Risk, Compliance, Business Continuity, Incident Response and Vendor Management. He holds various certifications in the Information Security industry (CRISC, CISM and CBVM) and has over 20 years of experience in managing operations, technology and security.
Rick Gutierrez, Information Security Senior Manager, Option Care
Full biography coming soon!
Rafal Los, VP, Solution Strategy, Armor
Rafal Los serves as the VP of Solution Strategy at Armor. He’s responsible for leading the various technical functions associated with designing, developing and delivering next-generation cloud security-as-a-service solutions to our clients. Rafal is also the Founder & Producer of the Down the Security Rabbithole Podcast. He previously worked as the Managing Director, Solution & Program Insight at Optiv Inc.; Principal, Strategy Security Services at HP Enterprise Security Services; and Senior Security Strategist at HP Software.AsSoftware. As an IT security professional, Rafal gained experience in some of the world’s most challenging business environments. His responsibilities included budgets, risk analysis, process creating and adoption, internal audit and compliance strategies. His professional experience has taken him from budding “.com” companies, to a security boutique shop, to one of the world’s largest and most complex enterprises – always meeting challenges head-on and with a positive attitude. He has been the catalyst for change in many organizations, building bridges across enterprises and developing permanent, successful strategies for growth and prosperity.
Jim Martin, Vice President of Security & Privacy, Maestro Health
Full biography coming soon!
Paul Mazzucco, Chief Security Officer, TierPoint
Paul Mazzucco came Chief Security Officer of Xand (now TierPoint) in October of 2011 after ten years of being a successful Security Entrepreneur and Defense Contractor. Paul is the principal owner in Cyber Holdings, LLC which successfully purchased, grew and divested three subsidiary companies ranging from Behavioral Health manufacturing to secure datacenter integration as well as an IBM hardware integrator. Paul also helped to spin off the Cobalt Computers manufacturer as a standalone corporation which grew into Pennsylvania’s largest IBM integrator serving the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Department of the Navy, NSA and the Department of Defense.
Paul was also granted Department of Defense Directive 8570 security training and clearance as a mandate for his GSA Schedule 70 Defense contracting. Paul has an Undergraduate degree in Marketing from Lehigh University but returned to school to study human behavior and cyber security. Paul did training and field work with the FBI and became an expert in hacking and system hardening and is now a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) answering to the FBI – Infragard Cyber Security Initiative as well as the United States Secret Service – Pennsylvania Electronic Crimes Task Force (PAECT) and the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (U.S. CERT).
Carlos Pero, AVP, Head of Cyber Application Security, Zurich Insurance
Carlos’ professional career has been entirely focused on the Web, starting in 1994 with Argonne National Laboratory and discovering NCSA Mosaic, and connecting things to the Internet such as their Advanced Photon Source electron accelerator before it was even possible to center text on a page. Other notable employers have been Chicago Tribune, PacifiCare Health Systems, Barbeques Galore, Cars.com, and Rand McNally, addressing the nascent topics of Web development, content management, online marketing, and e-commerce. After 20 years, Carlos joined Zurich Insurance and pivoted into Cybersecurity to protect Web sites instead of develop Web sites, because port 80 and 443 are the biggest vulnerabilities ever. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an M.B.A. from Concordia University. After having co-located his own email, Web, and database servers for many years, Carlos still enjoys crafting code in Python and Google App Engine in his spare time.
Jerry Sanchez, Cloud, Security, and Technology, SoftServe
Jerry Sanchez is a Cloud, Security, and Technology leader at SoftServe. For a decade Jerry was a CIO/CISO at Planview where we led the Cloud and Corporate IT operations. Planview is a global SaaS leader in Project and Portfolio Management software platforms for SMBs to the enterprise. He has more than 25 years of experience in IT at software companies. Prior to Planview, Jerry was at CyberTrader, an early Internet based equity trading firm that was acquired by Charles Schwab, where he became a Director leading the Active Trader division’s infrastructure, security, and operations. Early in his career he held various IT positions at software companies including Electronic Arts where he was part of the Ultima Online team that produced the first graphical MMO. He is an industry-acknowledged expert in Cloud Computing, Security, Enterprise Architecture, and Containerization.
Jody Schwartz, Director IT InfoSec & Compliance, Marsh ClearSight
Jody Schwartz is an IT Security leader with 20 years of experience securing diverse enterprises. He has built IT Security and compliance functions from scratch, served as an expert consultant in PCI compliance, created highly effective and efficient IT Security steering committees, and created easy to understand risk reporting for C-level executives.
Jody is currently the Director of IT Security & Compliance for Marsh ClearSight with responsibility for leading and directing the global information security governance program and operations. His core responsibilities include client data protection, regulatory compliance, and cyber security architecture by partnering with key business stakeholders to demonstrate the value of cyber security and achieve business goals.
Jody’s security vision is to follow the strategic direction of the business, but always utilizing risk focused lenses to identify potential exposures. He strives to empower his teams to exceed their goals and change the perception of cyber security to a trusted business partner.
He has held cyber security leadership positions at Deloitte, JP Morgan Chase, Acquity Group / Accenture, and Rewards Network. He has a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and has held a CISSP certification since 2002.
Annur Sumar, Chief Technology Officer, MaeTech, Microsoft MVP, Former Vice President of IT D&P
Annur Sumar is a Microsoft Cloud and Datacenter MVP and technology consultant in the areas of Infrastructure Design, Enterprise Content Management, CRM, Microsoft Azure, System Center and Cloud Technologies. Annur is an industry recognized leader and independent speaker around strategic service automation, technology driven process improvements, IT service alignment, engineering best practices and operations management. All of which are targeted in his presentations to helping businesses with complex IT environments lower Total Cost of Ownership and raising Return On Investments.
Prior to joining a Microsoft Partner Consulting firm, Annur served as a Vice President of Technology for Duff & Phelps. One of the world’s leading independent financial advisory firms serving client needs in the areas of valuation, investment banking, transaction advice, and dispute consulting. During his tenure at Duff & Phelps, Annur worked closely with Microsoft product teams and case study managers in providing invaluable feedback around how businesses such as his were able to benefit from cloud technologies that were molded into business solutions. As a Microsoft MVP and industry expert, Annur brings 10 years of experience to work actively with other MVPs and Microsoft Partners to provide industry insight and strategic direction.
Lyn Vallow, Senior Manager, IT Risk and Compliance, US Cellular
Lyn Vallow is the Senior Manager of IT Risk and Compliance for US Cellular, and has worked in many facets of IT for the past since 1994. A two-time graduate of DePaul University’s School of Music, she taught music for more than a decade, and also taught computer information systems classes at Triton College for 20 years.
Lyn changed her career focus to IT audit, vendor security risk in 2006. Working in many industries in these roles such as advertising, banking, finance, manufacturing, and marketing, she continues to actively advocate for information security wherever it is needed. In her present role at US Cellular, she ensures that customer credit card data is protected according to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, as well as securing FCC-mandated telecom Customer Proprietary Network Information.
Jason Wankovsky, CTO & Vice President of Consulting Services, Mindsight
Jason is currently the Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Consulting Services at Mindsight, an IT Services and Consulting firm located in the Chicago area. Jason is responsible for driving the technology vision of the organization. He is also focused on the creation and delivery of high value managed services for clients across multiple industries. Jason leads the solution architecture team that is responsible for delivering optimal technology services and solutions that enable the businesses of clients.
Jason has 20 years of experience in IT management and executive leadership, with expertise across all technologies and platforms, including public, private and hybrid cloud. Prior to Joining Mindsight, Jason was Vice President of Solution Architecture at OnX, an IT Solutions provider.
Michael York, Director, Cloud Operations, Easterseals
Michael York is a values-driven, results-oriented technology executive with a broad range of business and technical expertise throughout a variety of industries over the last 22 years. In addition to technology leadership, his executive experience includes sales, operations, marketing, finance, and consulting for world-class organizations.
Expert in design and delivery of high-performing secure cloud and on-premise solutions with multi-million-dollar budget responsibilities. Skilled in information security, risk, DevOps, and governance, along with reporting to C-Suite and Board of Directors. Michael holds a MBA focused in Marketing/Finance and a multitude of technology certifications.
Michael’s Specialties: Operational Strategy, Cloud Security, SecDevOps, and Compliance Frameworks including: NIST, SOC2, HITRUST, and FedRAMP.