Speakers

Jason Alcock is Director of Federal Cloud Security Engineering for VMware Inc., leading the security engineering team in the delivering of FedRAMP and DoD compliant infrastructure and development support for security implementations for VMware cloud services. Jason has extensive experience in vulnerability management, security event monitoring, log aggregation stacks, security frameworks, compliance work (FedRAMP, DoD/CMMC, PCI, HIPAA, ISO27001), and cloud services at the global datacenter level. He holds many qualifications and certifications, including CISSP-certified.

Guy Cavallo was appointed CIO of the Office of Personnel Management in July 2021. Before
becoming the current Federal CIO, Clare Martorana selected Cavallo as her Principal Deputy
CIO in 2020. At OPM he leads the Agency’s enterprise information technology services for both federal employees and retirees. He also is leading its modernization program, launching OPM’s major cloud initiative in the spring of 2021. In his short time as OPM CIO he already has been selected as one of the 2021 Leading Data Executives in North America by CDO Magazine and won the FedScoop 50 award for Federal IT Leadership.

Before joining OPM, he previously served as the Deputy Chief Information Officer at the Small
Business Administration (SBA). He was a key leader in SBA’s leveraging the cloud to quickly
implement the CARES Act Payroll Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan
programs. Those programs distributed over $450B in a short period of time to America’s small
businesses and citizens. For leading these successful programs at SBA, he has been selected for both the Federal 100 award and has twice been selected for the FedScoop 50 award for
Federal IT Leadership.

Prior to joining SBA, Mr. Cavallo returned to the federal government from the private sector and served as the Executive Director for IT Operations at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). At TSA he oversaw the worldwide technology and telecommunications infrastructures, operations, and support for more than 65,000 TSA staff. He led TSA’s initial cloud implementation and other modernization efforts.

Before joining TSA, Mr. Cavallo served as a Senior Government Advisor at the Microsoft
Corporation for over 9 years. At Microsoft he assisted government organizations across the US in modernizing the delivery of their citizen services. His largest impact project was as the
National Co-Lead on Microsoft’s solution for managing the new grant reporting requirements of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. With his knowledge of government operations and processes, he provided the leadership to build a solution that utilized Microsoft technologies that many government agencies already owned, making the solution available to them at no or minimal additional licensing costs.

Mr. Cavallo is a highly desired IT industry speaker and has received many technology
recognition awards throughout his career. In addition to the awards he received at the SBA, he
received seven major customer service awards and Microsoft, and he received his first Federal 100 award as the IT Director of the Corporation for National Service for consolidating three separate organizations into the new agency.

Mr. Cavallo’s career has been almost evenly split between the public and private sectors, always leading the implementation of the latest technologies to improve the delivery of government services to citizens.

Mr. Cavallo received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan.

Adam Clater is a Chief Architect in Red Hat’s North America Public Sector organization. He has worked internationally with federal agencies, integrators and Red Hat partners & Communities to promote and define the use of enterprise open source solutions.

Adam has experienced first hand the evolving role that I.T. has played in the federal government for more than two decades, starting with his role as a Systems Administrator at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 1997.

Prior to joining Red Hat, Adam was a senior architect, system administrator and lead for a variety of commercial and government agencies.

Tamara Elliott is head of Federal Sales at Duo, now part of Cisco Security. Her career has focused on helping traditionally laggard industries- like consumer retail, higher education, and government- adapt to the most disruptive technologies of the modern era, including big data, mobility, and online/remote work. Tamara lives in the District of Columbia with her spouse and two daughters.

Jennifer R. Franks is a Director in GAO’s Information Technology and Cybersecurity team. She oversees engagements that primarily focus on emerging cybersecurity issues and assessing an agency’s ability to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its sensitive data and computing infrastructure. Ms. Franks also leads the Center for Enhanced Cybersecurity, which provides technical support to GAO’s cybersecurity engagements. Her multi-disciplinary teams actively review agencies’ computer security vulnerabilities across their enterprise-wide computing environment by assessing program management compliance and technical controls recommended for the agencies to follow in accordance with federal guidance and leading practices. In addition, Ms. Franks leads reviews in the areas of IT management and operations, data protection, privacy, and cybersecurity issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, at GAO, she also facilitates agency new hire, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) courses. Ms. Franks earned a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University in information security policy and management, and a bachelor’s degree from Hampton University in computer information systems.

James is a veteran security professional with Gigamon and has worked with some of the largest companies pre and post breach. He has provided guidance to organizations on methods to build out secure Access and Visibility plans during these times of consistently evolving network and security landscapes. As a Field CTO at RSA Security James spent his time speaking to executives about building a mature cybersecurity posture and what it takes to achieve usability and compliance. James is a standing member of the High Tech Criminal Investigations Association and volunteers with police investigations in high tech crimes.

Brian Merrick started his career as a commissioned officer in the US Army in
1996. In 2005, he left the Army and worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers as a
financial management consultant and an IT project manager working with private
industry and the Federal government. In 2008, Brian joined the Department of State working for the Bureau of Information Resource Management as the Deputy Manager for the IT Cost Center Working Capital Fund supporting the Department’s desktop computing operations. Brian then became the Deputy Executive Director for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in 2010 providing management support, including HR, financial, procurement, IT and general services. In 2012, he became the Director of the Office of Digital in the Bureau of International Information Programs, which provides cloud-based web solutions, and interactive digital programing to 275 embassies. In 2014, Brian became the Senior Advisor to the Deputy Chief Information Officer for Foreign Operations in the Bureau of Information Resource Management supporting global IT infrastructure operations. He then served as the Director of the Office of Innovative Infrastructure providing wireless and cloud based products and services across the Department. Brian is currently the Director of the Cloud Program Management Office, working to modernize IT across the enterprise. Brian holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Wright State University and a Master of Science in Leadership from Olin Business School, Washington University. In addition, he holds certifications as a Project Management Professional, Certified Information Systems Auditor, Certified Information Security Manager, Federal IT Security Institute Manager, Certified Defense Financial Manager and Certified Government Financial Manager.

Robert Richardson is an information technology security specialist with more than 10 years of experience in the public and private sector. Currently working as Director of Security Operations for the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) within the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC). BIS’ mission is to advance U.S. national security, foreign policy, and economic objectives by ensuring an effective export control and treaty compliance system and promoting continued U.S. strategic technology leadership. Mr. Richardson is responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations of the security operations program and working closely with the Department to advance IT security across the agency. Mr. Richardson is BIS’ representative on several department level working groups related to the transition to cloud infrastructure and implementation of Executive Order 14028.

Adviser to the CIO in planning and coordination of IT vision, strategy and architecture 25+ years of experience in Information Technology, including Enterprise Architecture, Solution
Architecture, IT Transformation, Enterprise Modernization, Cloud Computing, IT Innovation,
Emerging Technologies

Chris Usserman is a Director of Security Architecture and subject matter expert with Infoblox. Chris brings over 30 years’ experience in the U.S. intelligence community, and applies that experience by helping clients understand and incorporate cyber business intelligence to mature client cyber security programs. Chris’ focus is on the U.S. Government, and extends that public/private partnership to enhance the security posture of multiple sectors and communities of interest. Chris has been invited to speak on the subject of DNS and cyber security at global conferences. Prior to Infoblox, Chris was Senior Director, Applied Intelligence as well as Director, Government Programs at iSIGHT Partners (FireEye) for over three years. Chris was also a Lead Research Scientist at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Laboratories and served 14 years in the U.S. Air Force.