June 14 2023

We are updating this page regularly –> please keep checking!

Mark Weatherford

Mark Weatherford is the Chief Security Officer at AlertEnterprise and also serves as the Chief Strategy Officer and a member of the board at the National Cybersecurity Center.
Mark has held a variety of executive level cybersecurity roles including Global Information Security Strategist at Booking Holdings, Chief Cybersecurity Strategist at vArmour, Principal at The Chertoff Group, Chief Security Officer at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, and the first Chief Information Security Officer for the state of Colorado. He was also appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008 to serve as California’s first Chief Information Security Officer and in 2011 he was appointed by the Obama Administration as the first Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Mark is a former U.S. Naval Officer where he served as the Director of Navy Computer Network Defense Operations, Director of the Navy Computer Incident Response Team (NAVCIRT), and established the Navy’s first operational red team.
Mark is an investor, a Board Director, and on the Advisory Board of several cybersecurity technology companies where he has a successful track record in helping startups from founding to acquisition.

J. Cleve Adams

● 6 Time Tech Transactional CEO – Specializing in M&A Advisory and Execution
● Voted one of the Top 50 Non-Technical Entrepreneurs in Tech Industry History.
● Multi-time VC/PE backed software CEO managing companies from pre-revenue to over $2.3 Billion.
● CEO of six companies: four acquired, two IPO’s. Average return to investors is 21x.
● 11 Transactions total.
● Started, built, and managed the largest company in the SaaS/Cloud Cyber security software market from pre-revenue to a $1.3B IPO, the largest in San Diego county history. Company sold to Raytheon for $2 Billion.
● 24+ years of technology CEO experience, great experience in operations, sales and marketing experience in Cloud, Security software, Mobile, SaaS/Cloud, Mobile security, AI, ML.
● Built successful sales channel of 1100 resellers and distributors in 82 countries in Cybersecurity.
● Knowledge of corporate governance and General Management best practices
● Expertise in raising capital. Raised 12 rounds and over $300M from tier one VC/PE’s for multiple companies.
● Proven experience at developing profitable strategies and implementing vision
● Excellent Organization and Leadership Skills
● Strong Analytical abilities and problem-solving skills.
● Public speaker circuit
● Master’s degree in business administration

EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS

Pepperdine University – Presidential and Key Executive MBA
• Pepperdine University Board of Advisors • University of California Irvine Technology Council
• The Founders Institute Mentor • UCSD Connect Program Advisor • Cal State Fullerton, UCSD, SDSU Lecturer

Robert Wood

Robert Wood is a seasoned security pro and currently a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of a large healthcare enterprise. With experience across many technical security disciplines, management consulting, he leads operations, security engineering, privacy, compliance, and counterintelligence efforts, leading his team and culture to stay ahead of the game in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Previously, Mr. Wood built and managed security programs in the tech sector of several startup organizations. He also served as a Principal Consultant at Cigital where he advised and supported enterprises on their software security programs. He also founded and led the red team assessment practice, helping organizations identify and manage risks from every angle.

Gregory Carpenter

Dr. Carpenter is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts in London and was selected the National Security Agency’s Operations Officer of the Year in 2007.
He serves on the Board of Directors for ATNA Systems and is a Senior Advisor for ARIC, Inc. He formerly sat on the Board of Advisors for EC-Council University and the International Board of Advisors for the Mackenzie Institute.

Charity Wright

Charity Wright is a threat intelligence analyst with over seventeen years of experience in the US Army and the National Security Agency, where she served as a Chinese Linguist and Intelligence Analyst. She has been analyzing cyber threats in the private sector since 2015, with a focus on Chinese state-sponsored threats and dark web cybercrime.
Charity now researches Chinese state-sponsored threats, malign influence operations, and strategic intelligence at Recorded Future. Charity lives near Dallas, Texas with her 2 kids and 3 dogs.

Mikhael Felker

Mikhael Felker is head of security & privacy engineering at Verily Life Sciences and has over 15 years of security, privacy, risk and compliance experience working at both startups and several Fortune 500 companies.
Felker received his M.S. in information security policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University and B.S. in computer science from UCLA. His written work of 50+ publications has been featured in Forbes, ACM, IEEE Security & Privacy, ISACA Journal, ISSA Journal, podcasts, case studies and a number of online magazines.

Dr. John D. Johnson

Dr. Johnson has held leadership roles in cybersecurity in government, consulting and industry since 1996. John has served as Enterprise Architect, CEO/founder, CTO and CISO for small companies to very large global enterprises.
He is currently serving as CEO of Aligned Security where he provides vCISO advisory services. John serves on several industry advisory boards, is Chair of the IEEE Cybersecurity STC and is Founder/President of Docent Institute, a non-profit educational charity focused on cybersecurity outreach for students, professionals and the public.
John has developed and taught numerous graduate cybersecurity courses since 2003 and has spoken at large conferences including Black Hat USA and RSA Conference and founded CornCon in 2015. His experience includes enterprise cybersecurity, risk management, blockchain, IoT and ICS.

Dutch Schwartz

Dutch Schwartz is a security strategist at one the world’s leading cloud service providers. He collaborates with dozens of the world’s largest enterprises and enables CISOs to accelerate cloud adoption that drives business outcomes. A sought-after thinker on strategy, culture, and cloud security he’s presented for ISSA, ISACA, the CISO Series, and the SANS Institute. He holds an MBA in Global Management, cybersecurity certificates from MIT Sloan School of Management and Harvard University, and is a former Army planning and operations officer.

Gal Shpantzer

Gal Shpantzer has been a full-time security consultant since the year 2000, providing (mostly good) advice to early-stage tech startups, security vendors, Ivy League universities, non-profits, and Fortune 50 clients.
Gal owns and operates a boutique consultancy focused on vCISO and Observability Pipeline services that enable modern, scalable, user-friendly, auditable, and forensically ready security programs. Gal leads security programs and projects that empower business and technical leadership to prevent, detect and respond to security incidents, including threats to confidentiality (sophisticated IP theft) and availability (DDoS, ransomware).

Sascha Schleumer

Sascha Schleumer is the Chief Information Security Officer for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and an advisory board member for ISSA-LA. Sascha has spent over 25 years in various IT roles, implementing security solutions, leading software development, and designing IT infrastructure. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and a CISSP certification.

Richard Greenberg

Richard, a well-known Cyber Security leader, evangelist, advisor, and speaker, brings over 30 years of management experience, including being a CISO for 15 years. He is an ISSA International Distinguished Fellow, is on their Honor Roll, and is president of the ISSA Los Angeles Chapter. He has been on the OWASP Global Bd, and led the OWASP LA Chapter for many years.

You may have heard Richard’s interview as a Cyber Security expert on Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy podcast:

Richard is the Founder and CEO of Security Advisors LLC, which offers security risk assessments and network and application penetration testing, allowing organizations to continuously assess their internal and external cyber risk posture and meet compliance requirements.

No stranger to the boardroom, analyst, and investor community, Laz is an early stage investor and advisor to some of the most innovative companies in technology and cyber security. He is a Tech Partner at Rally Ventures and advises companies about trends with technology, cyber security, and go-to-market strategies.