Featured Speakers
ARNIE BELLINI
Managing Partner, Bellini Capital + CyberBay Visionary
Emcee
General (Ret.)
Frank McKenzie
Executive Director, Cyber Florida + USF Global and National Security Institute
Keynote Speaker
SouniL YU
Chief AI Safety Officer, Knostic
Keynote Speaker
Peter Bellini
CEO, ConnectSecure
Cyber Innovators Panelist
Danny Jenkins
CEO and Co-Founder, ThreatLocker
Cyber Innovators Panelist
GAYLE SHEPPARD
Global Tech Director, Entrepreneur, Architect of Impact
Cyber Innovators Panelist
Session Speakers
Mike Asencio, M.S.
Director, Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
“AI + Human Collaboration: Empowering Leaders, Not Replacing Them”
troy barker
Solution Engineer, Chainguard
“Secure Foundations: Hardening the Open Source Software Supply Chain”
Elisa Bertino
Samuel Conte Distinguished Professor of Computer Science
Purdue University
“The Persistent Problem of Software Insecurity”
Badal Bhushan
Distinguished Engineer, Walmart
“Who Authenticated the AI? A Zero Trust Blueprint for Agent Identity in Autonomous Systems”
Bryson Bort
CEO + Founder, SCYTHE
“National Security IS Your Job”
George Burruss, PhD
Professor & Chair, USF Department of Criminology
Panel: “Is Cybersecurity the Foundation of National Security?”
samuel cordoba
Independent Researcher
“AI Applied to Operational Technology Environments: Safeguarding Critical Infrastructure in Real Time“
Jeremey Davis
Managing Director, CyberGlobal – Tampa
“Guarding the Homefront: Cyber Threats and Domestic Response“
John Ford
Founding Partner, Trifident
“Cybersecurity Crisis Preparedness for Executives“
Kyle Ford
Cybersecurity Specialist, City of St. Cloud, and Cyber Mission Specialist, US Coast Guard Cyber Command
“How I Weasled My Way into a Cyber Career”
bo gorham
Solution Engineer, Chainguard
“Secure Foundations: Hardening the Open Source Software Supply Chain”
Dr. Charles Harris
VP of IT, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
“Tech and the Bucs”
clark harshbarger
Former Director of Incident Response at CrowdStrike
“Democratizing AI in Incident Response: Bridging the Expertise Gap”
Deral Heiland
Principal Security Researcher (IoT), Rapid7
“Tomb Raiders – The Pilfering of Critical Data from the Graves of our Decommissioned IoT Technology”
Chris Hunter
Senior Non-Resident Fellow, USF Global & National Security Institute
Panel: “Is Cybersecurity the Foundation of National Security?”
Peter Lee
CEO, SimSpace
“Cyber Range in the Age of AI: Graduating to Training AI Agents and Human Operators, Testing Tools and Technologies, and Validating Controls and Processes”
Nia Luckey
Board Secretary, Information Systems Security Association
“Trust is the New Zero Day: Cyber Readiness in the Age of AI and Human Instability”
Palanivel Manoharan
Lead CyberSecurity Architect, Humana Inc.
“Agentic AI and Identity & Access Management: The Next Frontier in Cybersecurity”
Paul Marshall
Vice-President (Global Campus),
University of East London
“Training the Next Wave of Cybersecurity Experts”
santos martinez
Principal Product Manager Architect, Microsoft
“Securing Corporate Data in Mobile Apps with Microsoft Intune”
John Mauger
Principal and Founder, PORTS LLC
“Ballast, Berths, and Bytes – Securing the Bay’s (and Nation’s) Maritime Critical Infrastructure”
Patrick McDaniel
Tsun-Ming Shih Professor of Computer Sciences in the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Adversarial Machine Learning: A 10-year Perspective”
Dr. Mark McKinney
Dean of the College of
Computer & Information
Technology,
St. Petersburg College
“Training the Next Wave of Cybersecurity Experts”
Dr. Richard Munassi
Tampa Bay Wave Accelerator & CORE Managing Director
“Training the Next Wave of Cybersecurity Experts”
Jai Musunuri
Former Director of Incident Response at CrowdStrike
“Democratizing AI in Incident Response: Bridging the Expertise Gap”
Linda Nohn, PhD
Non-Resident Senior Fellow, USF Global & National Security Institute
Panel: “Is Cybersecurity the Foundation of National Security?”
Kwame Numapau
Director, Technology & Innovation, National Signals Bureau, Ghana
“Future-Proofing Africa: Empowering Youth Through AI and Emerging Tech for National Security”
Linda Olson
President/CEO, Tampa Bay Wave
Panel: “Tampa Bay Resources for Start-Ups”
Dr. Karen Panetta
IEEE Fellow, NAE, Distinguished Professor and Dean for Graduate Education, Tufts University
“SMAAHT: Sensor fusion for Multimodal data Arenas to improve AI for Homeland security Technologies”
GARRETT PENCE
Senior Cyber Engineer, Zetier
“Security Assessments on Black Box Binaries”
Valerie Perlowitz
CEO/Founding Partner, International Holding Company LLC (IHC)
“18 Hours to Save America: The Policy-Adaptive AI Revolution Transforming Critical Infrastructure Security”
Paul Perry
Member, Warren Averett, LLC
“The Human Firewall: Why Cyber Awareness Education is the First and Strongest Line of Defense”
Thomas Rogers
Co-Founder, President & COO, SkillBit
“Measure What Matters: Skills and the Cyber Employee Experience”
Dr. Sudeep Sarkar
Launch Dean, Bellini College of AI, Cybersecurity and Computing, USF
“Training the Next Wave of Cybersecurity Experts”
Tad Schnaufer II, PhD
Strategy & Resource Manager, USF Global & National Security Institute
Panel Facilitator: “Is Cybersecurity the Foundation of National Security?”
Chris Schwenk
Host, Tech Jobber Podcast/YouTube Page
“Optimizing Your LinkedIn for Inbound Job Opportunities”
Ryan Seymour
VP, Consulting & Education, ConnectSecure
“Protecting our Digital Borders”
Wes Spencer
Vice President, Cybersecurity Strategy, CyberFOX
Session title coming soon!
john strand
owner, Black Hills Information Security
Training: “Emulate, attack, detect, and defend with Rapid7’s Metasploit and anti-siphon security training”
jim thackston
President/CEO, Fortress1729, LLC
“Making Data Disappear: A New Paradigm for Data Security Using Fragmented Ciphertext”
Austin Turecek
Principal Security Consultant, GuidePoint Security
“Enhancing IoT System Security By Escaping Subject Matter Silos”
Allen Westley
Sr. Principle Cyber Intelligence, L3Harris Technologies
“From Neural Inference to Cognitive Exploitation: Why Mind Privacy Should Be a National Priority”
jennifer whelihan
Manager, Hillsborough County Economic Development Department
Panel: “Tampa Bay Resources for Start-Ups”