2016 Role Models
Lieutenant General Rhett Hernandez, USA (ret.)
Lieutenant General Rhett Hernandez retired in September, 2013, following 39 years of distinguished service in the United States Army. He led key organizational transformation initiatives for the Army during periods of significant crisis. His last active duty assignment was as the first Commander of Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER), where he was responsible for the daily operations, defense and risk management of all Army networks. He was also charged with conducting, as directed, the full range of cyberspace operations. In addition to building a cyber force of more than 17,000 people, he led the development of a wide range of concepts, plans and programs to minimize cyber risk and ensure Army operations. As the Army’s lead for all cyberspace activity, he was responsible for cyber doctrine, training, leader development, organization, materiel and people. He developed strategic direction, requirements and an acquisition approach for all cyberspace operations in the Army. Previously he served as the Deputy Chief of Staff, Army Operations; Chief, U.S. Military Training Mission, Saudi Arabia; and Commanding General, Human Resources Command.
|
Linda McCarthy
Linda McCarthy has 20 years of executive-level security experience, identifying market opportunities, developing solutions, consulting, social media outreach, professional services, sales, writing, publishing, and education. Her executive leadership positions include Sr Director of Internet Safety, Symantec, VP of Systems Engineering, Recourse Technologies, and Manager of Security R&D, Sun Microsystems. Under the Office of the CTO at Symantec, McCarthy researched and developed new business opportunities and funded new initiatives such as the Internet Security Threat Report, Symantec Press, and Symantec’s Safety Outreach for Teens initiative. After leaving Symantec and noting that every family needs access to internet security information, McCarthy began partnering with industry leaders like Microsoft and Facebook to make expert internet security content she developed available for free on their sites. By 2013 McCarthy’s books and guides were translated into nine languages and have been downloaded over 3 million times. Microsoft has donated over one million dollars of McCarthy’s eBooks to the public, including Digital Drama and An Online Reputation that Counts.
|
Veda Woods
Veda Woods serves as the International Consortium for Minority Cybersecurity Professionals’(ICMCP) Executive Director and is currently the Director for Cybersecurity, Resilience and Strategy for a global Fortune 500 financial firm. Before assuming her current roles, Veda was the Chief Information Security Officer and Deputy CIO for the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, an independent bi-partisan federal agency with an accountability mission to help identify fraud, waste and abuse of data related to the $840 billion stimulus bill and the spending oversight of Hurricane Sandy funds.
|
Kate Tweedy
Kate Tweedy began her career defending the DoD's networks at the National Security Agency, recruited through Indiana University of Pennsylvania's National Center of Academic Excellence program. She then worked in the manufacturing and financial sectors gathering experience in a variety of areas including cryptography, vulnerability management, firewalls, intrusion detection and incident analysis. Currently, Kate manages the Cryptographic Services and Integration team at PNC Bank. She earned her BS degree in MIS/Information Assurance from IUP and her MS degree in Computer Systems Management from UMUC. Kate holds several certifications, including CISSP, GPEN and GFWC, and is working toward her EC-Council Certified Encryption Specialist certificate.
|
Tina C. Williams
TCecure’s Founder and President, Tina C. Williams – Esq., CISSP, PMP, is a long-time participant in, and advocate of, the security and intelligence industry. She was a Meyerhoff Scholar and a University Scholar at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), receiving a B.S. in Computer Science. Ms. Williams also holds a M.S. in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a J.D. from the University Of Maryland School Of Law. In addition to her role as TCecure’s Founder and President, Ms. Williams is an Adjunct Instructor for UMBC’s Master of Professional Studies in Cybersecurity program, a member of the Maryland Bar, and a member of the NICE365 Industry Advisory Board of Directors.
|
CPT Brent Chapman
CPT Brent Chapman is Chief Technology Officer, Army Element of the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) in Silicon Valley, California. Prior to joining DIUx, he was a Research Scientist at the Army Cyber Institute and Instructor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at West Point. A former Signals Intelligence Analyst and Network Engineer, he is currently a member of the United States Army Cyber branch. Brent has industry certifications in incident handling, computer forensics, and network security, and is also an Amateur Radio Technician Class licensee. He holds a BS from West Point and MS from Carnegie Mellon University, both in the fields of information technology and security. A mixed-race professional of Indo- and Afro-Guyanese descent, Brent was active in the National Society of Black Engineers and Cultural Affairs Seminar while in college and is a current Association for Computing Machinery Professional Member.
|
Ira Lacy
Ira Lacy is the Lead Cyber Security Instructor for the Huntsville City School System. In addition to his teaching duties, he handles a wide array of duties critical to Huntsville’s celebrated Cyber Education program for 9-12th grade. Ira holds multiple industry-recognized certifications such as Cisco CCNP, CCNP Security, CCNA, CompTIA IT Fundamentals, Network+ and Security+.
Prior to teaching, Ira spent nearly 20 years as a Network Security Engineering contractor supporting NASA’s LAN, WAN, Data Center, and IT Security services, where he continues to be well-respected. |
Junior Role Models
Elizabeth Hernandez
Elizabeth Hernandez is a non-traditional student, pursuing a Bachelor's of Computer Science degree in cyber security with the University of Idaho. She also has a BFA in sculpture and two young children. She applies the processes of logical thought, executing to design principles, and understanding higher level interactions of systems to her current studies in cybersecurity, noting that these area all processes she first learned as a sculptor.
|
Joshua Sherfield
Joshua Sherfield is a Computer Science Master’s student at Norfolk State University, having received his B.S. in Computer Sciences from Norfolk State in 2014. A native of West Chester, PA, he is slated to receive his M.S. in May, 2016. After graduation, Joshua will work for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His hobbies are tinkering with operating systems, casual bike riding, and playing video games.
|
Jinfang Xu
Jinfang Xu is pursuing a Masters degree in Computer Science with security focus, at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. She earned her first undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Veterinary Medicine, where she became interested in computing advances related to gene sequencing and associated bioinformatics topics. Her current technical interests include location provenance, ATM security, and application security design. Besides coding, she enjoys hiking and sci-fi movies.
|
Atimise Omobolanle
Bola Atimise is a junior at Dakota State University, majoring in Network and Security Administration. She earned her first degree in IT from the University of Phoenix, and has studied computer engineering at the New York Institute of Technology, where she earned industry certifications (CompTIA Networking and CCNA.) At this point she relocated to South Dakota to fulfill her goal of becoming a Network Security Engineer. She is currently employed as a Penetration Tester at CAHIT, a Health IT company affiliated with Dakota State University.
|