CEO, Spark Security Solutions, Inc.

As the CEO of Spark Security Solutions, Inc, Ms. Skelly provides strategic business insights for cybersecurity. Skelly, a former Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician, and Chief, Comprehensive Reviews for DHS, has extensive experience which informs her role as an Executive woman in cybersecurity. Skelly has 20 years experience providing security and management solutions including personnel, physical, cybersecurity, crisis management, and intelligence. In addition, Ms. Skelly has spent several years focusing on the shorting the cyber skills gap through the use of AI and automated, gamified, cyber ranges. In 2019 Skelly was recognized as one of the Top 25 Women in Cybersecurity by Cyber Defense Magazine, The Software Report as Top 25 Women Leaders in Cybersecurity, and Top Female Executives, Women World Awards. Skelly mentors and coaches for Cyber Patriot, Girls Who Code and, was awarded Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu Mentor of the Year.

Twitter: @KeenanSkelly

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/keenan-skelly

Lead Security Architect - Azure Storage, Media, and Cloud Edge, Microsoft

Lee Holmes is the lead security architect of Microsoft’s Azure Storage and Cloud Edge group. He is author of the Windows PowerShell Cookbook, and an original member of the PowerShell development team.

Twitter: @Lee_Holmes

Kyle Howson is a very passionate and energetic security professional who feels lucky enough to have a job that is also my hobby. He started his career doing some network security compliance work, which led to Security Consulting and Penetration Testing and then ultimately pivoted into Security Operations Blue Team work. He is an active member of the security community and believes we can work together to make our world more secure.

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kyle-howson-6895075/

Josh Sokol, CISSP, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BS in Computer Science in 2002. Since that time, he has worked for several large companies, including AMD and BearingPoint, spent some time as a military contractor, and recently left a ten year career as the Information Security Program Owner at National Instruments in order to pursue a full-time role as the Creator, CEO, and CISO of the free and open source risk management tool named SimpleRisk. Sokol has spoken on dozens of security topics, including the much-hyped “HTTPSCan Byte Me” talk at Black Hat 2010, and recently completed a four year term serving on the OWASP Global Board of Directors.

Twitter: @joshsokol

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/joshsokol

Noor Abid has a M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Calgary, and began her career performing as a Teaching Assistant for the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Calgary. She has also performed as a teacher in the Mathematics and Computing department at Mount Royal University, and is now the Lead Instructor, Cyber Security at Bow Valley College.

She also has attained the IBM Mastery Awards for Educators: Application Security Engineer and Security Intelligence Engineer.

Greg Foss is a Senior Threat Researcher with VMware Carbon Black's Threat Analysis Unit (TAU) where he focuses on threat hunting, adversarial emulation, detection engineering, security efficacy, and bypass analytics across the diverse product line. In previous roles, Greg led a Threat Research team, built and ran a Global Security Operations program, consulted in penetration testing, and worked as a security analyst for the federal government. Greg is a very active member of the Denver information security community who loves to give back and support the industry.

Twitter: @Heinzarelli

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/gregfoss/

Aarti Gadhia joined Bugcrowd to build the International Business and introduce the concept of crowdsource security in Canada & APAC. Over the last 15 years, Aarti has been contributing towards creating our digital world safer by educating organizations globally and recommending strategies and tools to minimize the risk of a security breach. She is part of the committee for OWASP Vancouver to recruit women and encourage them to be a speaker. Outside of her role, she is passionate about bridging the diversity gap in STEM and in leadership. She founded Standout To Lead to empower women to join corporate boards through workshops. She also co-founded SHE (Sharing Her Empowerment), local chapters within organizations to empower, lift one another and pay it forward. Aarti is born and raised in Kenya and studied and worked in UK. Due to her international background, she loves to travel and learn different cultures.

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/aartigadhia/

Sean Weiss (CISSP, CCSP, CEH, NSE1-7)

Systems Engineering Manager & Principal SE, Fortinet

Sean Weiss is a Systems Engineering Manager with Fortinet Canada, where he manages a group of Systems Engineers responsible for advising and consulting with solutions partners and customers on mission critical security issues such as satisfying compliance, mitigating risk, protecting digital assets and advanced threat protection. After serving in the military, Sean graduated from Mount Royal in 1994 in Criminology and has over 20 years of experience in the security and networking industry. Sean’s work experience includes 10 years working at Fortinet, as well as having worked for companies such as MRV, Hewlett-Packard and McAfee Security. When not playing or coaching soccer, ATV’ing in the Rockies or hiking with his two young daughters, Sean can be found buried in books where he spends far too much time pursing his love of teaching and learning all things security and networking.

Michael Spaling leads a team of professionals involved in a wide variety of IT security work for the University of Alberta. He's presented on various security topics at a wide range of conferences and user groups including CANHEIT, Edmonton Expo, BSides Calgary, BSides Edmonton and BSides Las Vegas. Michael is also a sessional instructor teaching an advanced network security course in the UofA's Master of Science in Internetworking program and enjoys spending his free time with his wife and kids.

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/michael-spaling/

Bhupinder Kaur has completed a Master of Information Systems Security Management from the Concordia University of Edmonton. Bhupinder did her final research in malware analysis and graduated in January 2020. She has earned the MISSIM Graduate Academic Excellence award and she is seeking to leverage her subject matter expertise to grow in the role of a security professional.

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/bhupinder-kaur-a4796a98/

Jason Maynard has been architecting, designing, and deploying security technologies that secure the most complex computing environments for almost 2 decades. His understanding of technologies, people, and process enable him to deliver effective, comprehensive security solutions that align to an organizations security goals and strategic imperatives. Jason is adept at addressing a range of risk profiles across industry verticals; skills he has cultivated as an end-user security practitioner, partner/integrator, and now manufacturer as Senior Technical Solutions Architect, Cybersecurity for Cisco Systems. Jason also holds over 75+ designations across a variety of products and technologies including the CCIE designation.

Twitter: @FE80CC1E

Milind Bhargava is an experienced cybersecurity expert of 11 years and has worked in multiple different industries such as telecommunication, consulting, finance, energy which provided him an unique insight of the different threats that the diverse industries face. He has founded Mjolnir Security in 2017 and has been since then providing unique in the market and impactful dark web intelligence to key Canadian players in order to prevent and proactively identify targeted and breached Canadian organizations. Milind and his team’s goal is to provide a proactive or reactive holistic approach in aiding organizations in time of need by supporting them from beginning to end before or after an incident occurs through Incident Management, Threat Intelligence, Dark Web analysis, PMO and SME support. Milind also teaches Digital Forensics and Incident Response to Post Graduate students in George Brown College.

Rick Kaun has nearly 20 years of experience in IT and security from his time at Matrikon and Honeywell. He has provided consulting projects to clients in multiple industries including oil and gas, refining, mining, power, pulp, and paper as well as a handful of discrete manufacturing industries. As the former chair for the NPRA cybersecurity committee, or as a contributing member to the Control System Security Working Group, Rick approaches engagements with an eye towards building a scalable, cost-effective and manageable solution. Because security is a program that requires constant attention, collaboration, and innovation, Rick strongly believes in the need for cooperation, creative thinking, and a consistent focus in order to drive results.

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/rickkaun/

Agustin Del Vento has more than 12 years of experience supporting organizations with their transformative efforts. As the Founder and Managing Director at Change Champions Consulting, Agustin leads a team of consultants to drive impact and engaging cybersecurity awareness programs that go beyond check-of-the-box solutions or phishing campaigns. Change Champions Consulting's programs have received awards by IDG Magazine (CSO50 Award) two years in a row. Prior to founding Change Champions, Agustin worked with top consulting firms Accenture and Deloitte. Agustin holds a Master of Science in Psychology and has published several academic papers related to organizational change and communication. More recently, Agustin has presented at events organized by ISACA, at BC Aware 2018 and 2019.

Website: https://changechampionsconsulting.com/cybersecurity/

Rahul Raghavan is a Software Engineer turned Security Professional turned Techno Marketing chappie, surfing the high tides of the DevSecOps / AppSec automation wave. Rahul is the Co Founder and Chief Evangelist at we45.

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/torahulraghavan/

Website: https://www.we45.com

Scott Taylor has been an IT and Cyber Security consultant within the Calgary area for the last 13 years. Focused these days in the ICS space, Scott specializes in secure architecture and network design with a passion for ethical hacking and security research.

Twitter: @shoot4root

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/itcalgaryscott

Prior to starting his career as a Cybersecurity Consultant, Nathan Dolan was a chef. He still loves a good recipe! Nathan has been working in Cyber Security for 3 years after graduating from SAIT’s IT Computer Systems program.

His day-to-day work as a Security Specialist at VCURA primarily deals with the configuration, implementation, troubleshooting and remediation of firewalls from a variety of vendors for a variety of clients and verticals. He pursues his interest in detection and response in what free time does exist.

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/cyberchef

After a knee injury in 2002 ended his dream of becoming a professional athlete, James Harrison began to pursue his other passion: Picking pockets. But only for entertainment purposes, he promises.

His dedication to the craft quickly paid off when he landed his first professional performance after nine months. As James’ notoriety grew, he soon learned that pickpocketing is a family trade of sorts as his father used to pick pockets when he was younger. The difference being that James returns everything he takes.

James has performed across North America with one of his more recent talks being at the hacker convention, Def Con. He has also been nominated twice for Excellence in the Arts and was named A-1 Radio’s Magician of the Year 2016.

Twitter: @pickpocketJames

Website: https://www.pickpocketmagic.com

EvilMog is a Hacker for X-Force Red, Member of Team Hashcat, Bishop for the Church of Wifi and general shenanigator.

Twitter: @Evil_Mog

David Lindner is the Director of Application Security at Contrast Security. As an experienced application security professional with over 18 years of experience in the computer security industry, Lindner has worked within multiple disciplines in the security field, from application development, network architecture design and support, IT security and consulting, security training and application security. Over the past 10 years, he has specialized in all things related to mobile applications and securing them. Lindner has supported many different clients including financial, government, automobile, healthcare and retail. In his spare time, he hones his mobile and IoT testing skills by participating in numerous bug bounties.

Twitter: @golfhackerdave

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/dlindner/

Kenneth Inkster has been working in security for the last 20 years and before that spend 10 years in Information Technology. He has shifted from the red team and now works primarily as a blue teamer. Kenneth spends most of his time in digital forensics and incident response and analyzing log files for intrusions and automating that with PowerShell. He also He is familiar with centralized log collection on both Linux and Windows systems and has several years’ expertise with ArcSight and Splunk. He currently works with Microsoft Security technologies on premises and in the cloud. He is a Splunk and Sysmon aficionado and loves to travel and has worked several years in Japan. He currently holds CISSP and GCWN certifications.

Nick McKerral has been in IT for almost 20 years. He has worked his way from level 1 help desk support to IT Manager. Then after he made the transition over to the vendor world, Nick was a Threat Prevention and Cloud Security Specialist at Check Point Software, an SE and SE Manager at Splunk, and currently a Field Engineering Manager at Databricks.

Twitter: @nmckerrall

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nickmckerrall

Tom Keenan was educated at Columbia University, receiving degrees in philosophy, mathematics, engineering and education. He is a popular professor and researcher in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape and the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calgary, as well as a Fellow of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and a Senior Fellow of the Centre for Military, Security, and Strategic Studies.

He taught Canada’s first computer security course in 1977 and was involved in drafting the country’s first computer crime legislation. He has served as an expert witness in civil and criminal cases and is the Author of Technocreep: The Surrender of Privacy and the Capitalization of Intimacy.

Tom has presented his ideas on six continents and combines a deep technical knowledge with insightful views on the social implications of technology. He appears regularly in the media, writing a column for the Calgary Herald, and as a panelist on CTV’s Alberta Primetime program. He has spoken at DEFCON, Black Hat, RSA, Hackers on Planet Earth, and many other conferences.

Twitter: @drfuture

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/thomaspkeenan

Kurt Pomeroy is a seasoned IT professional with 20 years’ experience in the industry. During that time, he has worked in various roles ranging from End User/Desktop/Network support to Systems Administration and IT/Data Management. For seven years prior to joining iON, he worked in the Oil & Gas sector, most recently with ExxonMobil, where he managed services and coordinated IT initiatives for hundreds of off-shore platform personnel and thousands more users around the world.

After a long and successful IT career, he has transitioned from IT generalist to Cybersecurity Professional, performing Penetration Tests and Security Assessments as a key member of iON’s Assessment Services team since 2018. Kurt holds the GPEN Network Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking certification from the SANS institute and plans on obtaining his additional cybersecurity designations in the near future.

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kurt-pomeroy/

Website: https://www.ionunited.com

A long-time admirer of smart people, Shelly Giesbrecht works hard to surround herself in people she can learn from. This is particularly easy to do in her day job as a Principal Consultant (IR) for CrowdStrike. She is frequently found wearing a bow-tie and some form of red sneakers.

Twitter: @nerdiosity

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/shelly-giesbrecht-5128229/

Mike Carlson has pivoted into information system security from his experience in running an oil and gas reservoir computer modelling company. For the last year his experience has concentrated on evaluating phishing emails for a utility in Western Canada.

Nigel Weber is a security analyst working on the Research and Efficacy Team for Cisco in Calgary. He focuses on registry based exploitation as a fascinating and under utilized attack vector.

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nigel-weber-1bb2a2120/

Richard Rowlandson is the lead for AECOM’s Hunting and Forensics program within their Corporate Security Operations Centre. He has over 20 years of IT and InfoSec experience in both the public and private sectors with a focus on Threat Hunting, Malware Analysis, and DFIR.

Twitter: @rrowlandson

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/rrowlandson/

A.J Leece went to business school prior to going to computer school, which gave him a unique ability to take business objectives from the C-suite, and turn them into actionable decisions for technical teams in the pursuit of building an organizational security program. With a background in security operations, GRC, security testing, and stand up comedy, his approach to security has proven to be pragmatic and effective, while his presentations in the conference room were once deemed "slightly more interesting than watching TV with the sound off".

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/anthony-leece/

Armed with over 18 years of experience in various security roles, Stephen is an esteemed security practitioner, boasting expert level knowledge of operating system and network internals enabling him to architect, implement, support and manage a wide variety of security solutions. A strong believer in maximizing existing solutions and capabilities before seeking new technology solutions, Stephen uses all the tools at his disposal to help enterprise clients reduce business risk and improve their security posture.

His experience leading both operational and architectural security teams while securing and segregating industrial control networks in a sizeable oil and gas environment has given him a strong understanding of real-world security challenges. With many additional years of experience performing security assessments and penetration tests, Stephen understands the many ways in which an organization can be compromised and continues to work with clients to enhance their visibility, detect and respond to threats.

Stephen holds many cyber security certifications and is currently an educator in the field at the UofC and SANS, the leading provider of information security training.

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/stephen-mathezer-96157b42/

Amiran is currently Director, Security and Risk Management at Tasktop, building product security program. With over 15 years in information security in roles ranging from system engineering and security operations to governance, risk and compliance, Amiran is advocating practical, business-focused approach to security.

Security is not just a job, it’s his passion.

Twitter: @airman604

Sherifat is an Information security (Cyber Security) professional with diverse work experience and skills which cuts across the Pharmaceuticals, Financial and IT services industries. She holds a master’s degree in Information Security Management with a distinction at University of Salford, Greater Manchester UK. She possesses several professional qualifications in Information Technology and Security including Certified Chief Information Security Officer (CCISO), CISSP, ISO 27001 LA, CISM, CISA, PRINCE2, ITIL and Microsoft Azure.

Tim McCreight, MSc, CISSP, CPP, CISA, is the Acting Director and Chief Security Officer for The City of Calgary. He brings over 35 years of experience in the security industry and is recognized as one of North America’s leading Enterprise Security Risk Management (ESRM) evangelists. Tim is a member of the Global Board of Directors for ASIS, and is the global sponsor for Enterprise Security Risk Management and Digital Transformation within ASIS.

Throughout his career Tim has held executive positions at several organizations, notably as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the Government of Alberta, and as the Director, Enterprise Information Security for Suncor Energy Services Inc. Recently Tim was the owner of Risk Rebels, a global security consulting practice, and a Principal Consultant at Online Business Systems.