General C.Q. Brown, Jr. served as the 21st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—the nation’s highest-ranking military officer and principal military advisor to the President, Secretary of Defense, and National Security Council. He retired from the U.S. Air Force after nearly 40 years of dedicated service, having previously served as the 22nd Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force and becoming the first African American service chief in U.S. military history.

Earning his commission as a distinguished graduate of the Air Force ROTC program at Texas Tech University, General Brown became a command pilot with over 3,100 flying hours—primarily in the F-16—including 130 combat hours. He commanded at every level and held key leadership roles across the globe.

As Chief of Staff, he was known for his hallmark strategic approach, “Accelerate Change or Lose,” which focused on preparing the Air Force for future conflict. As Chairman, he emphasized warfighting excellence, bold modernization, and trust is the foundation of the military profession. Inspired by the Tuskegee Airmen and named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People, General Brown remains committed to making a positive impact and inspiring the next generation.

Dave Chatterjee, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Duke University and a globally recognized cybersecurity and AI governance expert. A former tenured professor at the University of Georgia, he is the creator of the empirically grounded Commitment–Preparedness–Discipline (CPD) framework, which helps organizations translate cybersecurity and AI strategy into resilient execution under real-world pressure. Dr. Chatterjee advises global enterprises and public-sector organizations on cybersecurity governance, AI risk, and operational resilience, and has served on CISO SWAT teams and advisory boards. He is the author of Cybersecurity Readiness: A Holistic and High-Performance Approach and the Amazon-bestselling techno-thriller The DeepFake Conspiracy. He also hosts the globally recognized Cybersecurity Readiness Podcast series and frequently contributes to policy, academic, and practitioner forums.

David Faraone is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Duke University and a Partner at Echelon Risk and Cyber. Prior to joining Echelon, David was a Senior Director at Palo Alto Networks Unit 42, leading the North America East Region Consulting Team. He is a highly accomplished cybersecurity consultant with deep expertise serving large organizations in areas such as CISO and board advisory support, cloud security strategies and safeguards, network security architecture and design, and zero trust security.

Jeffrey S. Chase is a Professor of Computer Science at Duke University in Durham, NC. His research with Duke's Network and Internet Computing Lab deals with efficient and reliable sharing of information and resources in computer networks ranging from clusters to the global Internet. Dr. Chase has published over 80 technical papers in refereed conferences and journals on topics including network storage, I/O prefetching, end-system networking, active storage, utility computing, Internet content distribution, massive-data computing, and automated management of large-scale server infrastructures. He has served on program committees for leading technical conferences in operating systems, distributed computing, file and storage technologies, and Web content delivery. Dr. Chase is an alumnus of Dartmouth College. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Washington in 1995. Before moving to academia, Dr. Chase spent seven years as a Senior Software Engineer at Digital Equipment Corporation.

Dr. Michael Roman is Executive in Residence at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering, where he directs the Applied AI-Cyber Lab and leads the development of the AI-in-Cybersecurity curriculum. With over 15 years bridging cybersecurity, defense, and advanced technology development, Dr. Roman focuses on translating breakthrough research into operational systems that solve real-world security challenges. He is also the founder of TwoTen Labs, a venture studio focused on commercializing exponential technologies. Dr. Roman earned his BS in Physics with honors from Wake Forest University and his Ph.D. in Physics from North Carolina State University.

Dr. Pardis Emami-Naeini is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Duke University and a Duke Science and Technology Scholar. Her research focuses on developing usable privacy and security solutions that empower individuals from diverse sociodemographic backgrounds to engage in safer, more informed interactions with technology. Her work has been featured by several media outlets, such as Wired, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, and has influenced key organizations, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Consumer Reports, and the World Economic Forum, in creating usable and informative security and privacy labels for smart devices. Dr. Emami-Naeini earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University in 2020. She received the 2024 Google Research Scholar Award and has been recognized as a Rising Star in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (2019) and a CMU CyLab Presidential Fellow (2019–2020).

Richard Biever is an information security leader and adjunct professor with over a decade of experience building and operating security programs in higher education and biotech, and over two decades of experience in information security. He currently serves as Senior Director of Information Security Policy, Risk, and Compliance at ElevateBio, where his work focuses on governance, risk management and regulatory compliance in a rapidly evolving technology environment.

Previously, Richard was Chief Information Security Officer and Assistant CIO at Duke University, where he led the development of a mature, risk-based security program grounded in the CIS Critical Controls. His work included leading NSF-funded research projects to improve threat detection and response and dynamic data analysis of security threats within research environments.

Richard is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, where he teaches graduate-level cybersecurity courses. His teaching emphasizes practical application of security frameworks, real-world incident analysis, and the intersection of emerging technologies—such as artificial intelligence—with enterprise risk and governance.

Stuart Benjamin is the William Van Alstyne Distinguished Professor of Law and co-director of the Center for Innovation Policy at Duke Law School. He specializes in telecommunications law, the First Amendment, and administrative law. From 2009 to 2011, he was the first Distinguished Scholar at the Federal Communications Commission.

Benjamin is a coauthor of Internet and Telecommunications Regulation (2nd ed. 2023, 1st ed. 2019) and Telecommunications Law and Policy (multiple editions), and has written numerous law review articles. He has testified before House and Senate committees as a legal expert on a range of topics.

Before he began teaching law, Benjamin clerked for Judge William C. Canby of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter; worked as an attorney-advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice; worked as an associate with Professor Laurence Tribe; and served as staff attorney for the Legal Resources Centre in Gqeberha, South Africa. He received his B.A. and J.D. from Yale University.

Brinnae Bent, PhD, is the Associate Director of the Society-Centered AI Initiative and Director of the TRUST Lab, and serves on the faculty in Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering, where she teaches courses on Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity. She bridges research and industry as both an accomplished researcher and applied machine learning practitioner, having led AI projects with the largest companies in the world across domains including health and wellness, sports, privacy, interior design, and energy. More importantly, she has built algorithms that have meaningful impacts - from helping people walk to noninvasively monitoring glucose.

Chris Bail is Professor of Sociology, Computer Science, Political Science, and Public Policy at Duke University, where he directs the Society-Centered AI Initiative and co-directs the Polarization Lab. He studies how artificial intelligence shapes human behavior in a range of different settings—and social media platforms in particular.

A Guggenheim Fellow and Carnegie Fellow, Chris's writing appears in leading outlets such as Science,  Nature,  the New York Times, and Harvard Business Review. His widely acclaimed 2021 book, Breaking the Social Media Prism, was featured in the New York Times, the New Yorker, and described as “masterful,” by Science Magazine. It also inspired Twitter to implement a major change to its policies designed to counter misinformation and polarization. His co-authored research on using generative AI for conflict mediation also inspired a new product on NextDoor. 

Bail has also written for the Sunday Op-Ed page of the New York Times, CNN, and The Washington Post Blog and appeared on NBC Nightly News, CBS, CNN, BBC, and NPR to discuss his research. His work has been covered by more than sixty media outlets, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, The Atlantic, Scientific American, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, Vox, Daily Kos, National Public Radio, NBC News, C-Span, and the BBC. 

August Moore is a hacker and an AI researcher, with a background in Russian history. He has written papers on the Ukraine conflict, Russian APTs, securing industrial control systems against cyber attacks, and how AI will change the way we think about security and privacy. He spent several years working on national security issues as a DoD contractor, and now works in the private sector on a Fortune 500 Red Team. In his free time, he rock climbs, bakes, and reads old books.

Art Ehuan is the Executive Director and Adjunct Professor of the Duke Master of Engineering in Cybersecurity program and the Duke CISO Executive Certificate program. He was previously a vice president of Palo Alto Networks, Unit 42 Security Consulting practice. He joined PAN after running the Global Cyber Risk Services practice at the global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal. Art was previously a CISO for a Fortune 200 financial/insurance services firm and has served as an interim CISO for an energy company, health care management organization, a manufacturing company and a government treasury agency.  For nearly two decades he served as a lecturer for the U.S. State Department’s Anti-Terrorism Assistance Cyber Training Program. Art previously worked as a Supervisory Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and a Special Agent for the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations. He has been retained as a cyber expert on prominent data breaches to include Heartland Payment Systems, Sony Pictures, Target, Anthem, Equifax, Capital One and Marriott.

Grant Versfeld works on cybersecurity and safety. Previously, he was a Security Engineer for Google Cloud Threat Intelligence, focusing on analysis and detection of large-scale threat actors. He also taught internal training programs that helped software engineers transition into security roles.

He is actively involved in developing the next generation of cybersecurity professionals, serving as a judge for the Atlantic Council’s Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge and mentoring students through the Texas Cybersecurity Clinic at UT Austin’s Strauss Center. Grant also volunteers with the Clinic to End Tech Abuse, where he provides technical services to survivors of intimate partner violence.