Speakers

Connie Matthews Reynolds is the Founder and CEO of ReynCon, a cybersecurity training and consulting provider. She is a passionate cybersecurity expert who has worked in the industry for over 19 years. ReynCon focuses on training and development in InfoSec/Cybersecurity domains. They work with companies to build comprehensive programs that drive positive change in the business and upskill their teams. Connie is a trailblazer in the Ohio tech industry and was recently named among 11 recipients of Verizon’s inaugural Ohio Trailblazers Award. She was named a finalist for the Cyber Security Woman of The World and Cyber Security Woman Volunteer of the World (2023). Connie currently serves as the President of Central Ohio ISSA, Co-Chair of the Leadership Team of ISSA International, and Advisor for Netskope, Breach Siren, and Accelerating Angels.

Rami Salahieh is the Program Chair for the Cyber Security & Information Assurance Programs and Assistant Professor of Cyber Security & Information Assurance at Ivy Tech Community College in Valparaiso, Indiana. He served as Co-PI on the NCAE-C FY2020 Cybersecurity Workforce Development Initiative from 2020-24. He also served as Voting Chair for Communication/Broadband Infrastructure for the State of Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity in 2022-23. Salahieh has received awards for Excellence for Outstanding Career and Technical Education in Cybersecurity in 2019, National Instructor of the Year in 2014-15 and 2005-06, and received the 2024 President Award for Excellence in Instructions by Valparaiso and Michigan campuses of Ivy Tech CC. 

Bia Hamed, Ph.D. is an advocate increasing the number of Minorities in STEM education and in the workplace.  Currently, she is a Program Manager for the SEMI Foundation, where she is building a more  diverse workforce pipeline for the semiconductor industry globally. Past accomplishments  include creating programming for middle and high school students in various areas of STEM  education. One of her programs, the Digital Divas Conference, has served tens of thousands of  middle and high school girls from SE Michigan since 2011. She developed a multitude of  outreach programs for K-12 students such as the Digital Dudes Conference, STEM Kits for Kids  program, after-school programs, all-girl esports teams, and producer of a television program on  PBS.org and the Detroit PBS named the Future of Me. In 2020, Bia founded the Office of K-12  STEM Outreach to institutionalize and magnify programming for students from urban and rural  communities on a university campus.  

Bia earned a doctorate in Philosophy of Education, finding better ways higher education can  recruit and serve all minorities entering STEM majors. In her spare time, she enjoys spending  time with family, reading, traveling, and cooking. Bia lives in Canton, Michigan with her son  Yacoub and her two cats Bissa and Tiger. 

Hussein Alrubaye is a Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft Corporation. His research focuses on using AI/ML to build tools and algorithms that detect regression in large-scale code. His recent work on pattern recognition relies on the detection of bad code patterns that introduce regression. The results of his work have been incorporated into Microsoft Windows Graphics Device Interface leak detection. Hussein has been a software developer for over 12 years with extensive experience in .NET, C++, and web security.

Don Boian, an accomplished technology leader and award-winning information  

security expert, has led diverse teams of information technology and security  

professionals. Mr. Boian established IT and Security programs at multiple companies  

and has implemented Risk and Compliance processes. He also serves on several boards  – lending his technology, security, and risk expertise to Technology Committees. He has  experience in the Biotech and Financial Services industries as well as his prior government Intelligence service. 

Prior to serving as the Chief Information Security Officer of Hound Labs – a Biotech 

startup in the San Fransisco Bay area, Mr. Boian was the Security Outreach Director and the CISO of Huntington National Bank. Boian spent 30 years with the National Security Agency and retired as  a Defense Intelligence Senior Executive working both offensive and defensive cyber operations. During his  tenure, he held many leadership positions including Associate Deputy Director for TechSIGINT and Ground  Capabilities, Chief Mission Control Capabilities, Technical Director for the Chief of Operations (J3) US CYBERCOM,  Signals Intelligence Directorate Cyber Lead, TAO Director of Operations and Chief of the Remote Operations Center.  

Active in the cyber security community, Boian serves on the board of the National Technology Security Coalition (NTSC) and leads their Strategic Direction Committee. The NTSC represents CISOs and Security Executives on  Capitol Hill by collaborating with Congress members and their staffs to craft realistic and effective legislation on  Cybersecurity and Privacy Bills. 

He has received numerous service awards including the Chairman Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award,  Dr. Louis Tordella Award, Meritorious Civilian Service Award, National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation, and  the Joint Meritorious Unit Award. Mr. Boian is also a cyber security consultant for the U.S. Department of Energy.  Boian received his MS in electronic engineering from John Hopkins University and holds a bachelor’s degree in  electrical engineering from THE Ohio State University.  

Fathi Amsaad, Ph.D. (Senior Member, IEEE) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) with a joint appointment in the Department of Biomedical, Industrial, and Human Factors Engineering (BIHFE) at Wright State University (WSU), Dayton, OH, USA. In December 2017, he received a Ph.D. in Engineering, with a specialization in Computer Science and Engineering, from the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department (EECS) at the University of Toledo (UT), Toledo, Ohio, USA. He is the director of the Semiconductor Microelectronics Security, Assurance, Resilience, and Trust (SMART) Cybersecurity Research Lab at Joshi Research Center (JRS 490). His research interests in Cyber and Physical System Security, focusing on Hardware-Oriented Security and Trust (HOST), include Microelectronic Circuits and Hardware Protection, Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems Security (CHEST), Secure and Trusted PCBs, Additive Manufacturing Security (AMS), Secure SoC Design (including memory, microprocessor), Zero Trust Security for COTS components like VLSI/ASICs/FPGAs, Microelectronic Counterfeit Detection, Chip and System Authentication, Design Cloning/Overbuilding/Reverse Engineering, and Hardware Side Channel Attack (SCA) Countermeasures and Vulnerability Analysis. For a full bio, please visit https://people.wright.edu/fathi.amsaad. 

Dr. Irfan Ahmed is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). He is also a VCU NIRA Scholar, a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and a Faculty Fellow of the VCU Cybersecurity Center. Before VCU, he was a Canizaro-Livingston Endowed Assistant Professor in Cybersecurity at the University of New Orleans (UNO), New Orleans, LA. Ahmed runs the Security and Forensics Engineering (SAFE) Research Lab at VCU. His research interests are broadly in cybersecurity, currently focusing on digital forensics, malware, cyber-physical systems, and cybersecurity education. He is a recipient of the ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, an Outstanding Research Award from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the UNO's Early Career Research Prize, the Dean's Faculty Fellow Award at the VCU College of Engineering, USCYBERCOM Commander Award, and USCYBERCOM Guardian Award. His research work has been supported in part by the NSF, NSA, DHS, DOE, ONR, ARO, ORAU, USCYBERCOM, and VA CCI, and has received three Best Paper Awards at DFRWS'22, ISC'13, and ICRC'11, three Best Student Paper Awards at DFRWS'23, DFRWS'22 and DFRWS'20, and three Outstanding/Best Poster Awards at CODASPY'16, ACSAC'23, DFRWS'24. For more information, please visit his webpage: https://people.vcu.edu/~iahmed3/. 

Luke McCormack currently serves as the National Director for the US Cyber Challenge.

He recently retired as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where he provided strategic direction, cyber security services, oversight to cross-component information technology efforts and IT Cloud/infrastructure services. He also served as the Vice Chairman of the Federal CIO Council. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Department of Justice Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Information Resources Management/Chief Information Officer. Previously, Mr. McCormack served as the CIO for DHS Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and held several senior IT management roles within US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Before joining the federal government, he served at various private sector companies including MCI and Ford Aerospace.

Mr. McCormack holds an MBA from the Smith School, University of Maryland, and holds key certifications from Columbia University and the National Defense University.

Mingyan Liu is the Alice L. Hunt Collegiate Professor of Engineering, a professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs of the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.  She received her Ph.D. Degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2000 and has been with UM ever since.  From Sept 2018 to May 2023, she was the Peter and Evelyn Fuss Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering.  Her research interests are in optimal resource allocation, performance modeling, sequential decision and learning theory, game theory and incentive mechanisms, with applications to large-scale networked systems, cybersecurity and cyber risk quantification.  She is the recipient of the 2002 NSF CAREER Award, the University of Michigan Elizabeth C. Crosby Research Award in 2003 and 2014, the 2015 College of Engineering Excellence in Education Award, the 2017 College of Engineering Excellence in Service Award, and the 2018 Distinguished University Innovator Award.  She is a Fellow of the IEEE and a member of the ACM.  

Mohamed Layouni is currently a Staff Researcher in Cybersecurity with General Motors. He obtained a PhD in computer science from McGill University (Canada), where he worked on anonymous credentials, private information retrieval, and privacy-preserving technologies in general. Following his graduation, he worked in various industries including Banking and Automotive. His current interests include cyber-security for constrained devices, privacy, post quantum cryptography, and their usage in automotive applications.

Bill Lucas is information security leader with over 15 years of experience in protecting the digital assets and data of various organizations. He has worked in the automotive, health care, and tech sectors, where he has developed and implemented effective security strategies and solutions to address complex and evolving threats. Bill’s areas of expertise include endpoint security, application security, cyber defense, and enterprise risk management. Bill holds a master's degree in information assurance with a focus on digital forensics and is a certified information systems security professional (CISSP). Bill’s passionate about staying abreast of the latest trends and innovations in the field of information security, and he enjoys sharing his knowledge and insights with others through speaking engagements, publications, and mentoring.

Usman Mansoor has a Ph.D. in Information Systems from the University of Michigan - Dearborn. He is presently a senior software development manager at Amazon working in cloud security. His role focuses on improving security by enabling zero-trust architecture in thousands of cloud services in Amazon's service-oriented architecture. Usman has 16+ years of industry experience ranging in cloud security, wireless communication, embedded systems, sensor networks, and electrical networks, and has worked at Harman International (Samsung), General Motors, and Motorola.  

Satoshi Hakozaki 

Jun. 2009 - Jun. 2019  ALPS SYSTEM INTEGRATION Co., Ltd.  (ALSI)

                  Director, Security Solution Division

Jun. 2019 - Present NetSTAR Inc.

                  President  

Jinya Nagakura

Apr. 2010 - Mar. 2015  ALPS ELECTRIC Co., Ltd.

                   Dept. Manager, IT Dept.  Strategy Planning for ALPS Global

Apr. 2015 - Jun. 2016  ALPS SYSTEM INTEGRATION Co., Ltd.  (ALSI)

                  Managing Director

Jun. 2016 – Present ALPS SYSTEM INTEGRATION Co., Ltd.  (ALSI)

                        President 

Yasuaki Arakawa

CTO

1997 Participated in HPC project as development engineer for Fortran90 compiler. Participated in the development of earth simulators and weather detection systems.

2003 Joined NetSTAR. He has been responsible for the development of URL filtering for almost 20 years.

Daniel T Ashby Vice President, Netstar 

As a consummate entrepreneur in the tech industry, Mr. Ashby has over 35 years of highly successful management experience in building high-tech companies with successful exits.  Mr. Ashby has successfully started and built technology companies that became market leaders in their respective segments of the industry, resulting in acquisitions by Akamai, Cisco, Oracle, BlueCoat Systems (Symantec), and a public offering.  Mr. Ashby’s background in managing domestic and international (both EMEA and APAC) sales, marketing and business development teams has proven to be highly valuable to the companies that he has been involved with during his career.  

During the course of his career, Mr. Ashby has been directly responsible for establishing revenue generating partnerships with over 250 technology and telco companies including Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Crowdstrike, Juniper, Check Point, McAfee, Trend Micro, Mimecast, Linksys, Clearswift, Buffalo Technologies, Vodafone Global, T-Mobile, 02, Telefonica, and Softbank, NTT, DoCoMo, EE, and Three, to name just a few.

Over the past ten years, Mr. Ashby has consulted and worked with ALSI/NetSTAR in building out their global OEM market, product/solution definition, and establishing and managing their global management team, resulting in NetSTAR becoming the global leader in OEM URL categorization, IP reputation, web and SaaS app categorization, and threat intelligence.  Mr. Ashby currently is the GM of the global operations.

Mr. Ashby studied and received his degrees in communications, computer science, and managerial economics at Brigham Young University where he was also a student athlete and school student body vice president. Mr. Ashby has been a frequent speaker at trade events and conferences as well as quoted in numerous industry publications throughout his career.