CIO & CISO Think Tank

Jonathan Waldrop is an experienced and passionate leader in cybersecurity and technology. He started his career on Active Duty in the Air Force as a communications and information officer and spent seven years in active service before transitioning to the Air Force Reserve. He is a participating reservist supporting Headquarters Air Force, Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Cyber Effects Operations. He has more than 15 years of experience across a broad range of technologies, industries, and government organizations. His current role at Insight Global is the Senior Director of Cybersecurity, where he has spent the past 6+ years building and developing the cybersecurity team, scaling the people, processes, and technology to support a company that has experienced rapid growth both from an employee, and revenue standpoint. He initiates projects to streamline business processes that are secure by design with a focus on usability and pragmatic security. Additionally, Jonathan has presented at security conferences on a variety of topics and frequently appears on podcasts. He earned a Master’s of Science degree in Management Information Systems and Services from the University of Maryland, and a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Meteorology from Florida State University. He also holds multiple certifications including CISSP, Qualified Technology Executive (QTE), and others. As a Veteran and participating member of the Air Force Reserve, he also works closely with the Veteran community, mentoring and guiding Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Coasties, and Guardians during their transition from active duty service, whether it was after 2 years, or 20 years. On the personal side, he is a runner, cyclist, reader, and all-around family man.

Aneesh Kumar is an innovative digital leader with a record in healthcare as well as in Silicon Valley. He currently serves as the Chief Digital Innovation Officer at Catalyst Solutions. In this role, he is helping transform Catalyst’s BPO (business process outsourcing) offerings to a business-process-as-a-service platform powered by industry knowledge and advanced analytics. As the Chief Product Officer at Elevance Health, he helped drive a $1B+ increase in sales for the company’s commercial division. He has created product organizations, processes, and culture from scratch at Gainwell Technologies and Cigna. At Accenture, Aneesh helped payers and providers with system transformation. He has also founded and grown two healthcare startups and has led teams of 2 to 2,400 professionals. Earlier, in Silicon Valley, Aneesh defined and delivered multi-hundred-million-dollar products at Apple and Openwave Systems.

Novelis is a producer of flat-rolled aluminum products and recycler of aluminum. They are based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Tom Klein is a 40+ year IT professional with 10 years of specialization in Digital Trust, IoT, and PKI. His experience includes running business groups for IBM, Microsoft, and AWS in both product and professional services. In addition, he has served as a senior go-to market specialist in PKI, IoT, and access management with several high-growth organizations. Tom has contributed to the FDA’s Cybersecurity Premarket Guidance for Medical Device Design and is currently speaking on the tenants of Digital Trust and Post Quantum Cryptography. He is passionate about business outcomes that represent customer value.

Ashok Narayan’s career in the technology sector spans over two decades, during which he has leveraged his expertise across a diverse array of industries, including telecommunications, manufacturing, supply chain, education technology, and financial technology, among others. Taking on technology leadership roles at various organizations, ranging from Fortune 10 companies like AT&T to mid-sized enterprises and innovative startups, he has successfully led the incubation, scaling, and maturation of numerous complex initiatives, navigating the ever-evolving technological landscape. Ashok's expertise encompasses a wide spectrum of technologies, from traditional client-server architectures to cutting-edge innovations in cloud computing, data analytics, artificial intelligence, generative AI, and the Internet of Things. However, Ashok firmly believes that the true foundation for a successful career lies in the cultivation of meaningful relationships. By building and nurturing connections with leaders, peers, vendors, customers, family, friends, and even casual acquaintances, Ashok has found the essential fuel that powers both his professional and personal triumphs. Family serves as the cornerstone of Ashok's approach to work and life, inspiring his dedication and balanced perspective. Beyond his professional life, Ashok is an avid reader, an enthusiastic tennis player, and enjoys solving escape rooms, traveling and hiking with his family and strongly believes that work-life harmony enriches one’s well-being.

Highly qualified IT Security Analyst & Adjunct Professor with 15+ years experience specializing in business continuity, disaster recover, IT security, and knowledge transfer. Applies methods for assessing and mitigating risk, analyzing impacts, and managing incidents. IT security experience including security auditing, governance risk and compliance, ITGRC implementation and business continuity planning.Highly qualified IT Security Analyst & Adjunct Professor with 15+ years experience specializing in business continuity, disaster recover, IT security, and knowledge transfer. Applies methods for assessing and mitigating risk, analyzing impacts, and managing incidents. IT security experience including security auditing, governance risk and compliance, ITGRC implementation and business continuity planning.

Sulabh Sood is currently working as Vice President at Lumen Technologies. He has been tasked to build the execution engine for global technology, IT, engineering, and product organizations. He is leading an organization to manage and direct Program Management, Business Operations, Program governance & prioritization, Budget management, IT Operations, IT Compliance, IT Vendor Management, Strategic outsourcing, and Agile Transformation Office. Before joining Lumen, Sulabh worked in global companies such as GE, Atos and in pre-IPO startups. Sulabh is an accomplished technology leader with diverse experience in digital transformation, cloud implementation, DevOps, GTM strategy, operations, and product & program management. He has led org-wide transformation by partnering with functions such as engineering, product management, customer success, commercial, marketing, finance, and HR. Sulabh firmly believes in establishing a culture of trust, customer obsession, learning, excellence, and holistic people development through inclusion. Sulabh started his career as a Software Engineer after completing Engineering in Computer Science. He gained valuable leadership experience while working with startup CEOs and VCs during his education at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi. He is also an alumnus of GE leadership programs. Sulabh has performed leadership advisory to the C-suite including the board of directors and has been a speaker at multiple leadership conferences. As a contribution back to his alma mater, he serves as Vice President for PAN IIT Alumni USA, Atlanta chapter.

Dr. Michael Owens is an innovative, collaborative, and distinguished leader with over 25 years of experience in startup, corporate, government, and military organizations. A transformation leader and sought-after speaker, Michael frequently keynotes on topics related to cybersecurity, cyberwarfare, and national security matters. As a cybersecurity executive, he has been at the vanguard of some of the most complex issues dealing with breach mitigation/recovery, threat intelligence sharing, and diversity within the tech and cyber industry. Michael is the president and CEO of the U.S. Global Center of Cyber Policy, where he leads the organization in providing federal, state, and local governments with non-partisan thought leadership and expert information and analysis on cybersecurity, cybercrime, and cyberwarfare trends, strategies, and policies from a domestic and international perspective. Prior to this, Michael led the Global Cybersecurity, Cybercrime, and Critical Infrastructure Program for EY within the Forensics, Investigations & Dispute division. In that role, he was responsible for the global strategic direction and standardization of threat intelligence, cybersecurity assessments, audits, and incident response services. Before this, Michael worked at Cisco Systems leading the Advanced Services, Public Sector service delivery team. During this time, he led cybersecurity, wired and wireless networks, and IT strategy engagements for government agencies in the U.S. southeast across and New York. Michael has extensive international and geopolitical experience with projects completed in over 100 countries. As an entrepreneur, Michael pioneered the practice of SMB MSP and fractional CIO/CISO services. Michael is an eight-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a current member of the US Marine Corps Cyber Auxiliary. He is a member of the World Affairs Council of Atlanta, a Political Partner with the Truman National Security Project, and serves on the State Advisory Committee for the US Global Leadership Coalition, the Evanta/Gartner Atlanta CISO Governing Body, and the Leadership Board of the Cybersecurity Collaboration Forum. Michael's educational background includes a bachelor’s from North Carolina A&T State University, a master’s degree from Georgia Institute of Technology, a doctorate from California Intercontinental University, and advanced certificates and executive programs from the U.S. Army War College and Harvard University. He resides in Mableton, Georgia with his two children.

David Levine is Vice President of Corporate and Information Security & CSO for Ricoh USA. In this role, he has responsibility for corporate security, investigations, operational security (cyber and physical), security policy, access management, eDiscovery and litigation support and HIPAA Compliance. Levine chairs Ricoh’s Security Advisory Councils and HIPPA Board of Directors, leads Ricoh’s Global Virtual Security team and is routinely engaged in customer opportunities to discuss risk and security. Levine has held a wide and diverse variety of positions during his 23-year tenure with the company, including IT engineering, project management, vendor management, Six Sigma and Technology Infrastructure and End User Services leadership, giving him a great perspective on technology, the business and security. Levine is an Atlanta Co-chair for Evanta's CISO Governing Body, a member of Argyle's CISO Advisory Board, a member of Forrester Research’s Security & Risk Leadership Board, Gartner's CISO Coalition and the FBI’s InfraGard Program. He is a quarterly contributor to CSO online. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Information Systems with minors in Computer Science and Business from Eckerd College.

Brian Hill is a mission-driven cybersecurity professional with deep knowledge of computer forensics and vast expertise in developing complex cybersecurity vision, strategy, and frameworks. A respected military veteran and former law enforcement professional, Brian has handled over 2,000 criminal cases, including theft of trade secrets and intellectual property, class-action lawsuits, homicides, and sexual assault investigations. Currently, Brian serves as the Director of the Security Operations Center at BlackCloak, where he leads a world-class team of cybersecurity analysts and manages 24/7 incident response and threat hunting for an executive digital protection service. In addition to his role at BlackCloak, Brian is an Adjunct Professor at Metropolitan State University, where he designs cutting-edge cybersecurity and forensics courses and serves as a technical instructor for the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) program. Brian is known for his articulate and engaging communication style and his passion for leading by example and training prosecutors, judges, and advocates on technology safety and abuse. He is a technology-savvy transformation catalyst and solutions architect, well-versed in identifying, evaluating, and reporting on the threat landscape and information security dangers while meeting all compliance requirements and standards. Brian’s notable career highlights include collaborating with Senator Al Franken to craft the pivotal Location Privacy Protection Act, serving as a technical advisor on “Good Morning America,” and building Minnesota’s first mobile digital forensic lab. Brian holds a Master of Science in Security Technologies with a minor in Cybersecurity from the University of Minnesota.

Brian is based in Philadelphia with 27 years of experience in Cybersecurity and Intelligence. He leads Deep Instinct’s Cloud Security initiatives, overseeing global infrastructure. Brian is a thought leader and technology evangelist with a wealth of knowledge on AI, Deep Learning, and Machine Learning. In his off time, when he’s not on some remote lake fishing or in his office competing in online CTF hacking competitions, he can be found on the lecture circuit giving talks around cybersecurity and state sponsored threat actors.

Aneesh Kumar is an innovative digital leader with a record in healthcare as well as in Silicon Valley. He currently serves as the Chief Digital Innovation Officer at Catalyst Solutions. In this role, he is helping transform Catalyst’s BPO (business process outsourcing) offerings to a business-process-as-a-service platform powered by industry knowledge and advanced analytics. As the Chief Product Officer at Elevance Health, he helped drive a $1B+ increase in sales for the company’s commercial division. He has created product organizations, processes, and culture from scratch at Gainwell Technologies and Cigna. At Accenture, Aneesh helped payers and providers with system transformation. He has also founded and grown two healthcare startups and has led teams of 2 to 2,400 professionals. Earlier, in Silicon Valley, Aneesh defined and delivered multi-hundred-million-dollar products at Apple and Openwave Systems.