All posts in DC Metro 2014

Governor Terry McAuliffe Terence “Terry” McAuliffe is the 72nd Governor of Virginia. He is a successful businessman, entrepreneur, and dad who has lived in Virginia for more than 20 years. He previously served as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005, was co-chairman of President Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign, and was chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. In politics and business, McAuliffe has worked with people from all walks of life and different political backgrounds. Since becoming governor, he has focused on working in a bipartisan way to help grow Virginia’s economy, expand access to health care, and increase educational opportunities for students. Governor McAuliffe is also dedicated to ensuring that Virginia is open and welcoming to all.  That is why on his first day in office, he signed Executive Order Number 1, which prohibits discrimination in state government based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Terry and his wife Dorothy were married in 1988. They’ve attended St. Luke Catholic Church for two decades and have been involved in every sport, activity, and competition imaginable with their five children Dori, Jack, Mary, Sally, and Peter. The Governor attended Catholic University and Georgetown Law School.  

 Aaron Higbee Co-Founder & CTO, PhishMe, Inc.

Aaron is the Co-Founder and CTO of PhishMe, Inc. directing all aspects of development and research that drives the feature set of this market leading solution. The PhishMe method for awareness training was incubated from consulting services provided by Intrepidus Group, a company that Aaron Co-Founded with Rohyt Belani in 2007. Aaron remains on the board of directors for Intrepidus Group to ensure it focuses on forging new service lines and attracting motivated researchers and consultants.

Before PhishMe and Intrepidus Group, Aaron served as Principal Consultant for McAfee’s Foundstone division where he was a lead instructor and known for his ability to mentor and develop junior consultants into expert penetration testers. Prior to his seven years of consulting experience, Aaron worked for large Internet Service Providers handling security and abuse incidents, subpoena compliance, and datacenter security. Aaron’s biggest achievement is building industry recognized Intrepidus Group and incubating PhishMe out of it. He enjoys the diverse personalities in the information security community and is known for building creative environment’s needed to promote rich personal and professional development. His creative touch is evident in the unique way he recruits and retains talent and his style further extends itself into his leadership role at PhishMe. Aaron is a speaker at regional conferences and associations as well large conferences such as BlackHat, DefCon, Shmoocon, etc. His expert opinion is a valuable resource for many media outlets interested in security.

Debora A. Plunkett Information Assurance Director, National Security Agency

Debora A. Plunkett currently serves as Director of the Information Assurance Directorate (IAD) at the National Security Agency, where she leads efforts to protect and defend United States (U.S.) national security systems.  In this role, she is the focal point for cyber security, cryptography, and information systems security for our nation’s critical systems. With over 28 years of U.S. government service, she has held leadership positions in both the signals intelligence and information assurance missions at NSA.  In addition, she served as a Director on the National Security Council at the White House for the Administrations of both President Clinton and President George W. Bush, where she helped shape national policy and programs in support of critical infrastructure protection and cyber security. Ms. Plunkett earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Towson University and a Masters in Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University. She is a graduate of the National War College where she was awarded a Master of Science in National Security Strategy. She also completed the ODNI Intelligence Fellows Program. Ms. Plunkett has received numerous awards and recognition, to include the rank of Meritorious Executive in the Senior Cryptologic Executive Service which was awarded by President George W. Bush and the Rank of Distinguished Defense Intelligence Executive which was awarded by President Barack Obama. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Ms. Plunkett enjoys serving in her church and spending time with her family.  She is an avid sports fan and an accomplished genealogist.

Larry Letow CEO and President, Convergence Technology Consulting LLC Larry Letow is the CEO and President of Convergence Technology Consulting LLC.  As CEO and President, Mr. Letow has led the company to strong growth in each of the 9 years he has been at the company.   He first joined Convergence Technology Consulting in 2004 as Chief Operating Officer; he was promoted to President in 2006 and became CEO in 2012. Prior to joining Convergence Technology Consulting, Letow served as Sr. Vice President/Partner of Infinity Consulting Group, where he held overall responsibility for the Southeast Region, including corporate operations and marketing.  Letow also served as the Sr. Vice President of Operations and Business Development at Vericom Systems, Inc. Letow currently serves the technology community in many capacities.  He is presently Co-Chair and Founder for the National Cyber Security Hall of Fame and Co-Chair for GovConnects.  He serves on the Board for the Governors Workforce Investment Board, State of Maryland Cyber Task Commission and the State of Maryland 2.0 Cyber Maryland Board.   He is Chairman-emeritus of the Tech Council of Maryland after serving 3 years in that role. His philanthropic activities include serving on the Board of Visitors for Towson University and the Foundation Board for the University Systems of Maryland.  He is also the acting Chairman for the Little Things for Cancer and serves as Chairman-emeritus for Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. Pervious accolades have included being named a finalists, the past two years, for Executive of the Year for the GovCon Awards and being recognized as the 2008-2009 Corridor Person of the Year and Howard County 2009 Tech Legend.  

Michael H. Nance CISO, Cyber CTO, LM Senior Fellow Lockheed Martin – Information Systems & Global Solutions  Michael Nance is the CISO and Cyber CTO for the Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions (IS&GS) Civil. Mr. Nance was appointed to this position in November 2008.  Mr. Nance also serves as the principal investigator and leader in the research and creation of advanced Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) and Adaption Sciences for the entire corporation.  IS&GS employs approximately 30,000 people worldwide and reported over $10 billion in sales in 2013. Celebrating its 100^th year of operation, Lockheed Martin is the largest provider of information technology to the United States federal government. Mr. Nance joined Lockheed Martin in 2003; prior to his current Senior Fellow position, Mr. Nance oversaw engineering teams in the classified design, implementation, and testing of trusted ground, airborne, and space-based systems. He has over three decades of experience in information technologies, and is an expert in computer network infrastructure and cyber space operations.  Before joining Lockheed Martin, Mr. Nance was Vice President of Information Security and a CISO in the banking sector.  He also helped in the creation of NTech Group, an engineering consulting practice where he held the position of Chief Technology Officer.  Mr. Nance’s government experience includes 14 years with the United States Air Force, working in telecommunications and cryptographic systems. Mr. Nance is a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP) and an Information Systems Security Management and Architecture Professional (ISSMP / ISSAP).  He received a Masters in Information Systems and a B.S. in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix.  He is currently working on his Doctorate of Science (DSc) in Information Assurance from Capitol College. He is active in STEM and in the information technology community, including with the InfraGard organization and various related councils. Additionally he is a Board member of several organizations and universities.

Eric Rosenbach Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs, United States Department of Defense CURRENT ASSIGNMENT: Eric Rosenbach was appointed the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy on 26 September 2011. In this capacity, he supports the Secretary of Defense and other senior Department of Defense leaders by formulating, recommending, integrating, and implementing policies and strategies to improve DoD’s ability to operate in cyberspace.