CIO & CISO Think Tank

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.

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.

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.

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.