SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Michael Babischkin, Assistant Vice-President – Deputy Director of Information Security, Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago

Michael Babischkin is a 22 year veteran of the US Coast Guard. His diverse Coast Guard career has included assignments ranging from Search and Rescue boat crew member at Station Cape Cod Canal MA and radio communications operator onboard the US Coast Guard Cutter MIDGETT to IT Instructor, Assistant Information Systems Security Officer for the Coast Guard Great Lakes region to Assistant Branch Chief at the Coast Guard’s Telecommunications and Information Systems Command. Michael retired from Active Duty as a Chief Warrant Officer in 2014.

Since retiring from the Coast Guard Michael has worked at two different Fortune 300 companies leading the comprehensive transformation of their global cybersecurity incident response programs, building a security monitoring and incident program with an international footprint from scratch at one company and completely revising the organization and maturing the program of the other.

Michael was recently appointed the Deputy Director of Information Security at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago where he has been for the past three years. He lead’s the Bank’s Threat and Incident Response team and provides security expertise and leadership to the Bank’s strategic initiatives.

Rajib Bhattacharjee, Principal Advisor, Flashpoint

Rajib “Jeebs” Bhattacharjee is a Principal Advisor for the Flashpoint Intelligence Professional Services Team (FPS). FPS focuses on cyber extortion incident response, including ransomware. Jeebs currently leads FPS’s custom-designed training to include cyber extortion awareness training and executive decision tabletop exercises. Jeebs holds a master’s degree from Angelo State University in Global Security Studies. Jeebs’ professional experience includes 16 years in local Law Enforcement, Executive Protection, and Red Teaming. 

Adam Cole, Director of Security Operations, LifeOmic, LLC

Adam Cole is the Director of Cybersecurity at LifeOmic, Inc., where he has been for the past 3 years. On the side, he provides consulting services to customers who want to improve their security posture, implement good quality practices, and make sure they’re prepared for breaches.

He has spent over 10 years working in the cybersecurity industry. He has managed multiple small teams at start-ups and global organizations, as well as led companies through FedRAMP authorization, cloud migrations, and building security programs from scratch.

Ronelle DeShazer, Director of Information Technology & Security, Partners Enterprise Capital (PEC)

Ronelle has over 25 years of experience in Information Technology, Risk Management and Security. At PEC he is a member of the Enterprise Management Team and is responsible for Information Technology and Cybersecurity. Prior to joining PEC, Ronelle was Director of Information Technology at Valor Equity Partners where he was responsible for cybersecurity, business continuity and the service desk. Prior to joining Valor, Ronelle was Vice President of IT Operations for Ariel Investment, where he managed the service desk and cybersecurity. He also worked at Heitman LLC, as the Vice President of Global Infrastructure and he spent 15 years at CHS Capital LLC, as the Vice President of IT Operations, where he managed all aspects of technology. Ronelle earned a M.I.S.M. from Keller Graduate School of Management and a B.B.A from Benedictine University. He has certifications as a Chief Information Security Officer (CCISO), Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) and Certified in Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT). He is a member of the 2019 FBI Chicago Citizens’ Academy, InfraGard, ISACA, Disaster Recovery Institute International and High Technology Crime Investigation Association.

Josh Fazio, VP Solution Architects, SecurityScorecard

Josh Fazio is the VP of the Solution Architects at SecurityScorecard. Josh is a long time Law Enforcement professional with over 20 years of experience investigating electronic crimes. Josh also has many years of experience helping enterprise customers reduce risk and proactively improve their security posture.

Troy Griffin, Director of Information Technology & CISO, Eimer Stahl, LLP

Troy Griffin currently holds the dual roles of Director of Information Systems and CISO at a downtown Chicago litigation boutique law firm that concentrates on complex litigation for Fortune 100 companies.

In the course of his career, Troy has:

• Developed and implemented governance policies, procedures, controls and systems for SOC 2 Type II, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA compliance and client security and privacy requirements utilizing the ISO and COBIT frameworks.  Developed operations policies and procedures based on the ITIL framework. Extensive project management experience with PMI, Waterfall, Agile and Jazz project methodologies.

• Led major technology redesign efforts for large professional service firms with over 20 acquired entities, remote sites and data islands. Developed and implemented network operations and procedures and staffing delivering very high availability customer applications (99.99%+ availability). Implemented real-time, proactive monitoring of all network and application services to maintain a very high level of service delivery.  

• Performed thorough audit and assessments of organization’s technology processes, staff, standard operating procedures and technology practices. Used these assessments to realign and improve IT staff, processes and standard operating procedures to align with the organization’s strategic goals.

• Directed and improved operations, application management and service delivery through periods of major firm transformation. In one instance, the firm grew (in both headcount and revenues) by 40% over a three-year period, and in another, the firm grew more than 500% (organic and acquisition) over a five-year timespan in the US, UK, the Middle East, Japan and India

Alec Hirsch, Director of Privacy, Seismic

I have built over fifteen years of experience in the area of Data Protection and Privacy. I have a passion for helping companies establish and mature their privacy programs, so they can comply with the many privacy regulations here in the states and around the globe (e.g., GDPR, CCPA, CPRA, HIPAA, GLBA). I’m fortunate to have served as an advisor to management and executives across many sectors and the ability to share with them the valuable industry insights, and leading practices that they can leverage through their data protection and privacy journey.

I have also played roles in the Intellectual Property Management & Strategy function at BlackBerry (Research in Motion) where we pushed the analysis of patent data to provide answers to the difficult questions that challenged the business. Additionally, understanding and identifying the assets and secrets that were key to the business and protected appropriately. The experience I’ve collected at BlackBerry and beyond have become invaluable lessons. Today I work alongside my clients to first understand their environment and the issues they are challenged with to then assist in developing meaningful solutions that address their needs. I work closely with companies to build a better understanding to reveal the risks they may not be aware of and develop controls and measures to mitigate these risks associated with the protection of data.

Specialties: Data Protection and Privacy, GDPR, CCPA, Compliance, Risk assessment, Internal Audit, Intellectual Asset Management, Innovation, Intellectual Property (IP)

James Mountain, Director of Information Security, Palmer College of Chiropractic

James Mountain is an experienced leader with over 16 years in IT. His current role is the Director of Information Security for Palmer College of Chiropractic providing strategic leadership and direction for campus academic technology applications and initiatives. His past work experiences include private, public and government industries. He has been a CISSP since 2011 while he worked for the Department of Defense. His main areas of focus are security, risk management, and infrastructure stability.

Paul Rice, Security and Privacy Legal Director, ZwillGen

Paul Rice has extensive experience advising clients on a range of state and federal privacy and data security laws, state data breach statutes, information security and privacy governance, product security and privacy by design, incident response, vendor contracting, and internal investigations. Having served in a variety of technology, privacy, and information security roles, both as a consultant and in house, Paul leverages his experience and in-depth industry knowledge in order to provide results-oriented, business-minded, and practical advice to his clients. His unique background as an information security practitioner and later attorney aids him in counseling clients in a variety of roles, from the most technical to senior board members and everything in between.

Paul’s practice includes advising clients on a variety of matters related to information security, privacy and data protection, payments, fintech, data governance, and transactions. Paul assists clients with policy development, vulnerability disclosures, risk assessments, and incident response. He also helps clients comply with state and federal privacy and data security laws, including the CCPA and other emerging state privacy laws, GDPR, and FCRA. Paul also counsels financial companies on issues regarding SEC Reg SCI and the GLBA.

During his time in house, Paul worked for sophisticated financial services companies, serving internal business clients and assisting them with product security and privacy by design, information security and privacy governance, incident response, legal advocacy for emerging legislation, routine regulatory exam preparation and response, and information security transactional vendor management. He has structured and negotiated domestic and international information security and privacy terms for transactions with vendors, consulting companies, outside counsel, and financial companies, including clearing members and exchanges. Paul has also advised a variety of companies on all stages of incident response, including preparation, investigation and containment, analysis of data breach obligations, regulatory reporting, and post-incident review. Most recently, he helped co-write the novel and historic SEC Advance Notice filing requesting permission from the regulator to run core clearing, risk, and settlement operations within the cloud.

Prior to joining ZwillGen, Paul served as a Sr. Manager and Counsel for Discover Financial Services where he led the legal advisory aspects of GDPR preparedness, and most recently as the Assistant General Counsel for Information Security and Privacy at the Options Clearing Corporation where he was responsible for all aspects of enterprise-wide data, privacy, technology, and security legal matters. Paul is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional [CISSP # 52056]-(ISC)2].

Larry Slusser, Sr. Director Cyber Risk, Resilience, & Incident Response, SecurityScorecard

ALarry Slusser is the Sr Director Cyber Risk, Resilience, & Incident Response at Security Scorecard. In addition to leading our Professional Services Delivery Team, Mr. Slusser runs point on SSC’s Incident Response Team, who respond to ransomware and extortion negotiations. Mr. Slusser served as an Officer in the United States Air Force for 6 years and has held P&L responsibility for various Fortune 500 companies as well as run a successful printing and manufacturing business. Graduating with a Master’s in Cyber Security, Mr. Slusser successfully transitioned to cybersecurity. Security Scorecard’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.

Annur Sumar, Chief Technology Officer, Cloud Unity

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.

Ron Zochalski, CTO & CISO, Lake County, Indiana Government

CTO & CISO for Lake County Government – Superior Courts Juvenile Division on the zero trust journey to protect data, assets and buildings for current and emerging security threats. I have the ability to break down the financial and technical risks and issues to both technical and the non-technical professionals including the boardroom and get buy in. This is not an easy task.

Ron also has spent the last 12 years teaching at Indiana University Northwest teaching students to understand and use various technologies, Personal Finance and Business Administration.

Ron’s 20+ year journey started in Financial Services then to Automotive, Newspaper/Media, ECommerce, Supply Chain, Mobile and currently Government and Courts. It’s always the questions you don’t know to ask are the ones that give you an issue.