2023 Boise ISSA Keynote Speaker, Sponsored by Matrix Networks
Evin Safdia is a seasoned technology professional with a diverse background that includes IT Infrastructure & Operations, Sales, Enablement, and Marketing. Evin holds an MBA from Nova Southeastern University and a BS in Information Technology from the University of West Florida as well as various industry certifications from Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, Citrix, and other vendors.
With his extensive experience in information technology, Jeremy knows how to leverage his skills to solve problems and help organizations achieve their goals. His specialties include SASE, SD-WAN, LAN/WAN network design, wireless network design, IP routing and switching, firewall administration, and both Microsoft and Linux server administration.
As the CTO at Matrix Networks, Jeremy works hard with the sales and operations teams to ensure clients receive the best technology solutions for their environments. He's not just a problem-solver, he's also a creative thinker who knows how to make even the most complex tech issues seem like a breeze.
When he's not busy being the IT superhero that he is, you can find Jeremy indulging in his love for pizza, video games, and sci-fi movies. Just don't expect him to share his pizza with you!
So, if you need help with your network, don't hesitate to call on Jeremy Ness, aka Network Jesus. He'll have your IT problems solved faster than you can say "LAN/WAN network design"!
I have spent the past 15+ years working for Fortune 500 companies in the Incident Response (IR) role. Beginning as the sole incident responder monitoring an IPS, I went on to create worldwide teams capable of responding to a variety of incidents with prebuilt playbooks and ad hoc capabilities. I have worked with a variety of companies ranging from Financial Services, Government and Technology.
Throughout my career, I have gained extensive experience in all aspects of incident response, from initial detection and assessment to containment, eradication, and recovery. I am also experienced in conducting forensic investigations of security incidents.
As a team player, I am passionate about helping organizations protect themselves from cyber attacks and have helped many mitigate the damage from these attacks. I am also a strong advocate for the use of automation in incident response and have developed several tools and scripts to help automate tasks. Because everyone should work smart, not hard.
My goal is to help organizations become more resilient to cyber attacks by providing them with the tools and information they need to respond effectively to incidents.
In a career spanning 30 years, Michael has served as a Cybersecurity Policy Advisor for Washington State, Vice-Chair of the State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Government Coordinating Council (SLTTGCC), Chief Information Security Officer for the City of Seattle, and Managing Consultant for VeriSign Global Security Consulting.
In a previous life, he developed algorithms for hyperspectral remote sensing as an Ocean Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
For over 25 years Alan Leavell has been a leader in the IT Services space. He joined eSentire in August 2022 as a Senior Solutions Architect supporting clients in the Western US and Canada. Prior to joining eSentire Alan spent 23 years at Lumen Technologies leading in a wide variety of roles including Architecture, Engineering and Sales Management.
Alan holds a Master degree in International Management from the University of Denver, is an avid snow skier, a below average golfer and enjoys traveling with his wife of 29 years when time allows.
Adam is a solutions architect specializing in cyber security and cloud technologies. He has a background in both IT consulting and management, having primarily worked with the highly regulated healthcare and banking industries.
Adam utilizes his background to design holistic solutions that match business and technical requirements. He has provided consulting on a range of topics including infrastructure automation, network segmentation, cloud architecture, and secure identity.
Karen Nguyen joined Forescout Technology in 2018 and is now a Principal Systems Engineer supporting the US west coast and global companies. Before joining Forescout she’s worked in the security industry for 12 years starting her career in cryptography and advancing within the defense industry to analyze and design solutions to protect sensitive information on government assets.
At Forescout, her emphasis is on network security – applying all the knowledge, methodologies, toolsets, and strategies in protecting systems as a whole to the intricacies and real-world challenges of protecting an increasingly connected network of devices.
Sandy Dunn Advisory CISO ShadowScape.io She has over 20 years’ experience in Cybersecurity in a
variety of roles including CISO (healthcare and startup experience), IT Security Architect, Security
Engineer, Information Security Officer, Senior Security Strategist, and Competitive Intelligence.
She has a master’s from SANS in Information Security Management and is an Adjunct Professor at BSU in
their Cybersecurity Program. Her certifications include a CISSP, SANS GSEC, GWAPT, GCPM, GCCC, GCIH,
GLEG, GSNA, GSLC, GCPM, Security +, ISTQB, and FAIR. Currently she serves on the board Institute for
Pervasive Cybersecurity at Boise State University.
She has two children, a wonderful husband, too many horses and lives outside of Boise Idaho.
Scott Berger, Systems Engineer III in Fortinet's PAC-NW Sale group, has over 30 years in the IT and Cybersecurity fields, with the last 14 focusing on Security. As an Enterprise Architect, he has managed and deployed solutions across the full gamut of IT infrastructure services including servers, networks, virtualization, storage, and of course, security.
His experience designing large data centers from the ground up has given him a wealth of real-world experiences to draw on. As strong advocate for virtualization, Mr. Berger understands the complexities of modern converged infrastructure and the need for integrated security for the evolving threat landscape of today’s networks.
Steve Riley is a Field CTO at Netskope. Having worked at the intersection of cloud and security for pretty much as long as that’s been an actual topic, Steve offers that perspective to field and executive engagements and also supports long-term technology strategy and works with key industry influencers. A widely-renowned expert speaker, author, researcher, and analyst, Steve came to Netskope from Gartner, where for five years he maintained a collection of cloud security research that included the Magic Quadrant for Cloud Access Security Brokers and the Market Guide for Zero Trust Network Access.
Before Gartner, Steve spent four years as Deputy CTO of Riverbed Technology and held various security strategy and technical program management roles at Amazon Web Services for two years and at Microsoft for eleven years. Steve's interest in security began all the way back in 1995, when he convinced his then-employer that it would be a good idea to install a firewall on their brand new internet connection.
An engineer with an analyst heart, and a passion for improvement, leading technical solution efforts is my primary function. 15+ years spent in technical capacities, beginning in the Army and spilling out into the private sector for the last 10 years, I find that every day presents a new and interesting challenge. I enjoy looking for creative solutions to these puzzles, and building a stronger cyber community during the process.
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