Paul Bivian, Director of Information Security, Kirkland & Ellis
Paul Bivian is the Director of Information Security at Kirkland & Ellis. With over twenty two years of IT and Information Security experience, Paul has worked in organizations across the financial, managed security, insurance, transportation, government and legal sector. Over 75% of his career has been focused around information security.
As Director of Information Security, he is responsible for oversight and management of the Governance, Compliance, Threat/Vulnerability Management and Incident Response programs. In his previous role as the CISO for the City of Chicago, he was responsible for measuring, communicating and responding to cyber risks for City of Chicago assets. He led the Information Security Office (ISO) in delivering and enforcing key objectives around strategy, framework, policy and procedures that align to the City’s needs as well as legislative, regulatory and industry best practices.
Consulting experience and expertise in key areas of information technology including:
● Information Security ● Security Policies ● Technology Implementation ●Production Support ● Strategic Planning ● Operations Management ● Project Management ● Staff Development ● Customer Satisfaction ● Promoting Change/Improvement ● Vendor Relationships
Certifications include:
Amy Bogac, Head of Information Security, CF Industries
Current role as Head of Information Security for CF Industries, reporting to CIO and operating as CISO Plus. IT Security program leadership and development in addition to IT leader over Global SOX Compliance program, Network Operations. Led IT Pandemic response in 2020. Executive sponsor for IT training development committee and Mentoring program.
Previously held the role of Director of IT Security Operations for the Walgreen Company, a member of Walgreens Boots Alliance, accountable for Incident Response, Vulnerability Threat Management, Security Engineering and Identity. IT career growth over 20 years of experience in Information Technology leadership roles securing the Kellogg Company, Hewitt Associates and Allstate Insurance.
Giving back to the community is a core value and has served on the Board of Directors for the Chicago InfraGard chapter, as the chapter Vice-President until 2018.
Holds a Bachelor’s degree from St. Xavier University and an M.B.A from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.
Mitch Christian, IT Security Director, Synergy Global Housing
I was born and raised on a small farm in Wisconsin. I owned my own business at the age of 19. In the early 90’s I went to work for Kimberly Clark as an Electrical Engineering Tech building out Diaper Machines and switched profession into IT starting out as a PC maintenance tech at Kimberly Clark working my way to overseeing the NOC for the corporation. I moved to a position with Grant Thornton starting out as a local IT manager and worked my way to National Director of IT. In 2008 I started my own company doing Cyber Security Consulting for small businesses and landed John Deere and Jimmy Johns as major clients doing compliance work and hardening systems. In 2016 I started for American Hotel Register as Global IT Security Lead and built out a global security program from scratch. In 2019 I went to work for Kivu Consulting as Director of Cyber Investigations leading more than 100 investigations and remediations of Ransomware incidents and litigation cases. Currently I am Global IT Security Director for Synergy Global Housing and CISO for Alpha Recon (a startup company making an app for Risk Management). I have a degree in Automated Manufacturing and one in Business Technical Management. I currently hold a CISSP and CISM. My family and I reside in Colorado and I am an active member of Infragard.
Todd Covert, Director Business Information Security Officer, Allstate
Results-oriented leader with 16+ years of experience in architecture, operations and information security including a broad range of information security domains.
Excellent combination of leadership, experience, and technical skills.
Proven ability to manage large, global, multi-phased technology projects and deliver results.
Highly motivated and dedicated with a passion for business enablement through technology.
Strong verbal, written, organizational, and project management skills.
Experienced in building high-performance teams in rapid-growth settings. Adept at turnaround and overhaul situations.
Capable of developing and motivating teams by building a culture of innovation, respect, enthusiasm and the pursuit of excellence.
Earned industry-recognized certifications which have been augmented by real world enterprise experience.
Areas of expertise include:
Specialties: Security Management, Strategic & Operations Planning, Service Management, Technology Management, Operations Management, Program & Project Management, Global Team Building, Business & Financial Management, Organization Development, Identity and Access Management
Jim Desmond, Chief Security Officer, Asurion
Jim Desmond is a career security professional and the Chief Security Officer at Asurion. Previously, he was the Chief Security Officer at Elevate, a financial technology firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. He has over 20 years of experience in technology & security leadership with a primary focus on financial services working for such companies as National City Bank (now PNC), Intuit, Merrill Lynch and Vantiv. Jim holds an undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University, a masters degree in Information Assurance from Norwich University and multiple security certifications including CISSP and CFE. He is an inveterate fan of all Cleveland sports, yes, even the Cleveland Browns.
Robert Floodeen, Director of Incident Response, Secureworks
Rob Floodeen is the Incident Response Consulting Director, EMEA. He is based out of the London office and heads the IR consulting practice in EMEA. Rob has 20 years of cybersecurity experience and ten years as an Information security instructor at Carnegie Mellon University, focusing on cyber forensics and incident response. Rob has extensive security expertise across multiple regulations and certifications. He was the editor of the International Standard for Information Security Incident Management (ISO 27035) and the Team Lead auditing federal networks and the Pentagon IDS Team. Rob holds a BS and MS in computer science and an MBA in Strategy and Business Systems.
Elizabeth D. Ogunti, CISA, CRISC, CISM, Chief Information Security Officer, JBT Corporation
Senior Manager of IT Security and Compliance, molded by 20 plus years of IT/Information security experience I have become a thought leader with the ability to translate technical jargon to a variety of audiences. This is a major benefit in building relationships with clients and stakeholders. Reliance on my experiences, successes as well as lessons learned, to overcome challenges and to bring knowledge, improvement, and success to my career and organizations.
Steven Sarembock, RVP, Secureworks
Steven Sarembock has twenty years of international Information Technology and Security experience as a Sales Leader, Account Executive, Sales Engineer and Technical Consultant.
Doug Wick, VP of Product, ALTR
Doug leads product and marketing at ALTR. With over 20 years of startup experience, he has broad experience managing product conception and development through to market success. His last role was as CEO of TradeLive, a startup marketplace for IT equipment, with previous executive roles leading product management, sales, and marketing.