SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Riad Amro, Global CISO, Chief Information Security Officer, Grant Thornton International Ltd.

An accomplished IT professional with over 20 years of diverse experiences in IT including Security leadership, Systems, project management and application development; I have deep expertise in the field of information security best practices and a mature compliance strong suit rooted in several frameworks including FISMA, NIST, PCI and HIPAA.

I am a business minded leader with a passion for security and building mature and sustainable security programs in alignment with organizational priorities, I look for the balance between meeting business needs and reducing the risk to the business, I focus my passion into advancing the business goals while building security controls and processes that give us an upper hand on the adversaries. I am a creative leader and have built teams and security programs that often exceed expectations. Years of experience working with federal and state agencies in a heavily regulated and contractual environment.

I bring excellent communication and interpersonal skills to build effective and productive relationships across all areas of an organization including bridging the gap between technical and executive level management. I also bring to bear my years of experience negotiating solutions to difficult challenges within the organization as well as with external vendors and customers.

Joseph Burkard, Chief Security Officer, Alight Solutions

Joseph Burkard serves as the EVP Chief Security Officer of Alight Solutions. Joseph started at Alight Solutions in July of 2018. Joseph currently resides in the Greater Chicago Area.

Jason Garbis, VP of Products a Co-Chair of the CSA Software Defined Perimeter Working Group, Cyxtera

Jason Garbis is Vice President of Secure Access Products at Cyxtera, a provider of secure infrastructure for today’s hybrid environments, where he leads strategy and management for the company’s security solutions. Jason has over 25 years of product management, engineering, and consulting experience at security and technology firms including RSA, HPE, BMC, and Iona.

Raul Gutierrez, Manager, Security Technologies Architects, Trustwave

Raul Gutierrez is the manager of Global Security Architects at Trustwave Holdings Inc. Raul is a 25+ year veteran to the industry and holds several technical and professional certifications. During his career, Raul has worked on all aspects of databases, including database administration, Data Modeling, Monitoring and Performance, and over the last Ten years at Trustwave has established himself as a subject matter expert on AppDetectivePRO and DbProtect, our market-leading database security, risk and compliance solutions. Prior to joining Trustwave via their acquisition of Application Security, Inc., Raul was the Principal Consultant at AppSecInc. In this role, he performed countless database risk assessments, advised companies on compliance and security policy development, and helped many of the company’s Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 clients successfully plan, implement and operationalize on our database security solutions. Today Raul is helping Trustwave build their internal teams and capabilities around Database Security globally.

Experience and Expertise:
Information Security Governance, Incident Management, Information Security Audit, Policy/Standards Development, Regulatory Compliance, Security Awareness Programs, Program Development, Insider Threat Mitigation, Operational Risk Management, and Project Management.

Eric Hansen, Head, Cyber Defense – Americas, Siemens

Eric Hansen joined Siemens in 1999 and is the Senior Director of the Cyber Defense Center (CDC) for the Americas Region. Eric’s team has global responsibility for providing monitoring, detection, and cyber threat “hunting” for the broader Siemens global IT infrastructure, supporting 365,000 employees based in 190 countries. Eric’s charge is the management of frontline resources for identifying and responding to a range of cyber security incidents, ranging from commodity style to advanced attacks against the Siemens enterprise.

Prior to his assignment to the CDC in 2016, Eric held a series of Divisional and Regional Information Security leadership positions. His experience, both within and external to Siemens, include management of corporate investigations, executive protection, business continuity, privacy/data protection, IT controls, data forensics, and e-discover roles.

Eric is a former United States Air Force officer, serving his country after receiving his undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University. Eric holds the CISSP and CIPP/US certifications.

Ray Hicks, Founder & CEO, 5th Column

• Ray is recognized as one of the key innovators and deployment leaders for new technologies & solutions within the US Government’s Justice, Defense, and Intelligence communities to which he maintains multiple special designations and clearances.

• While Director of Computer & Telecommunications Security at SAIC and Northrup Grumman Ray became the Chief Architect of the US Department of Homeland Security’s IT, Security and Application Infrastructure and created the first US “Computer Security Incident Response Center” (CSIRC).

• Ray is credited with pioneering foundational internet protocols and worked closely with regulatory bodies to define the world’s first secure protocol for IP “IPSEC” and went on to commercialize IPSEC at UUNET/MCI WorldCom. From there, he was recruited into the US Government’s, Justice, NSA and Defense organizations who needed his unique assets.

• Ray also founded Looking Glass Systems with Jeff Ahlerich, who was Ray’s deputy at DHS, in 2004 which gave birth to OPSWAT, The Oasis SDK, Looking Glass Networks and many other ventures that were spun out over course of time with Looking Glass Cyber Solutions continuing to operate today. Ray left Looking Glass in 2008.

• As CTO of Terra Echos, Ray oversaw the Idaho National Lab, Sandia National Lab, and US Naval Undersea Warfare Special Projects which led to an exclusive global licensing contract to commercialize  fiberoptic sensor technology developed at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center.

• Few individuals have Ray’s background and intelligence around IT infrastructure, network and application architecture and a history of leveraging it to yield solutions that continue to protect the United States and 5th Column’s clients.

Victor Hsiang, CISO, GATX

Victor Hsiang is an accomplished Information Security, Risk and IT Professional with over 19 years of experience working within the Financial Services and Healthcare sectors. He has an established track record of delivering successful IT and Information Security solutions that manages risk while supporting business requirements. His experience includes implementation of technology, security audits, risk assessments, information records management, privacy concerns, compliance and legal issues related to security, forensics, security practices and policy development. He currently leads the Information Security program at GATX Corporation.

Dave Klein, Senior Director, Engineering & Architecture, GuardiCore

Dave Klein is the Senior Director of Technical Evangelism for GuardiCore. With more than 21 years of real-world cybersecurity experience he works with GuardiCore teams, customers and industry thought leaders to address the challenges of securing modern hybrid cloud environments. Dave encourages CISOs faced with securing their organizations to adopt security solutions and best practices that work easily and seamlessly across heterogeneous hybrid cloud environments. Dave has spoken on a wide variety of cybersecurity topics including micro-segmentation, crytpojacking, hybrid cloud adoption, PCI compliance, educating on the stages of the cyber security kill chain, understanding interactions between the physical and cyber worlds as it relates to the radicalization and arming of domestic terrorists and using cyber forensics in real world criminal cases.

Fred Kwong, Chief Information Security Officer, Delta Dental Plans Association

Fred Kwong is currently the CISO for Delta Dental Plans Association. He is a highly recognized thought leader in security and is often asked to speak and chair at national/international security conferences. Fred serves on several advisory boards and is often asked to consult on matters of security and leadership. He currently holds the CISSP, CISA, CISM, PMP and ITILv3 certifications.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts in psychology and professional communications, Master of Business Administration in management information systems from Roosevelt University, and holds his Doctorate in organization development from Benedictine University.

Patrick Sullivan, CTO, Advanced Technology Group(Security), Akamai

Patrick is CTO of Akamai’s Advanced Technology Group(Security). In his 14 years at Akamai, Patrick has held a number of leadership positions including leading the Enterprise Security Architect team. Patrick and his teamwork with customers when they come under attack and designs security architectures to protect them from threats. In the course of helping to fend off so many attacks, he has gained unique visibility into attacks targeting many of the top Enterprises. With his unique ability to see Security issues as a critical component of a client’s business strategy, Patrick often speaks at security events and with clients around the world. Patrick holds a variety of security certifications including CISSP, GSLC, GCIH, GCFA, and GWAPT. Patrick holds an Electrical Engineering degree from Virginia Tech and holds a graduate degree from George Mason University and a Graduate Certificate from Stanford University. Prior to Akamai, Patrick held various leadership positions at DISA, AT&T, Savvis, and Cable and Wireless.

Bob Wolff, Director of Strategic Accounts, Tanium

Bob Wolff has been in IT Technology Sales & Management for over 20+ years working with large Enterprise accounts helping them with a wide variety of Solutions including IT Security, Web Infrastructure, Networking & Consulting. Bob has an MBA & BS (Public Law) from NIU and lives in the Northwest suburbs.

Katey Wood, Senior Product Manager, Illumio 

Katey Wood has over a decade of enterprise and legal IT experience. As a consultant at KPMG in eDiscovery and information governance, she has worked with Fortune 100, highly-regulated, and serial litigant corporations on global data privacy initiatives, M&A, and multidistrict litigation. Prior to Illumio, Katey worked at Nuix, a leading digital forensics and security software vendor serving global regulators, law enforcement, and financial services. As an analyst at 451 Research and Enterprise Strategy Group, she covered markets for the search, compliance, and storage markets for investors. She holds a double Master in Information Science and Information Systems from Drexel University, and a BA from Wellesley College. 

Al Zieba, Director of Network and Security, IDEX Corporation

Al Zieba joined IDEX Corporation in June 2017 as the Director of Network and Security to lead their global network, voice and security teams. IDEX is a global organization that manufactures highly engineered niche products in Health and Science, Fire and Rescue, Fluidics and Metering and a portfolio of other Diversified Products. Prior to that he had spent 20 years working in the Financial Software and Services industry as a IT and Security Professional at Eze Software Group and The Options Clearing Corporation. He holds a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science and a Masters in Telecommunications from DePaul University.