Tidewater Integrated Combat Symposium Speakers
Photo from TWICS 2023

Tentative Program, subject to change based on speaker requirements

MONDAY

0800–1600

ACC Industry Day Event

Details Coming Soon

Boxed Lunch (Must be pre-purchased with registration.)

Details Coming Soon

0900–1200

Training Session

Location: Conference Room C

Speaker: Mr. Doug Johnson,
Enterprise Architect at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Summary:
This course provides an in-depth exploration of the HPE Edgeline EL8000 Converged Edge System and the HPE ProLiant e910 Server Blade, designed to empower tactical communicators to leverage data-intensive and low-latency services critical for advanced media delivery, connected mobility solutions, and resilient infrastructure. By enabling real-time data processing directly at the edge with the HPE Edgeline system, warfighters can harness open standards for enhanced flexibility and cost efficiency.

Learning Objectives

  • System Overview: Acquire a deep understanding of the HPE Edgeline EL8000 and HPE ProLiant e910 Server Blade’s roles, benefits, and applications in edge computing.
  • Installation & Configuration: Learn essential setup steps and hands-on configuration techniques to maximize system performance and reliability.
  • Operational Resilience: Master strategies for ensuring uninterrupted edge computing in disconnected or remote environments.
  • Enhanced Connectivity: Explore how to integrate CBRS private 5G and advanced Wi-Fi technologies for superior communication and data transfer.
  • Security in Sensitive Deployments: Understand the implementation of secure communication for classified deployments, focusing on CSfC requirements.
  • AI/ML at the Edge: Dive into deploying and optimizing AI and ML applications for advanced analytics and decision-making with HPE systems.

This course equips participants with the skills to deploy, manage, and optimize the HPE Edgeline EL8000 and ProLiant e910 for innovative edge computing solutions, meeting the dynamic needs of modern CSPs.

Speaker Bio:
Doug Johnson is a seasoned Enterprise Architect at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, recognized as a subject matter expert in high-performance edge solutions. With a robust background in delivering mission-critical systems within the Department of Defense (DoD), Doug’s expertise spans over a decade of hands-on experience. His tenure includes significant roles such as the Enterprise Architect for the US Air Force, Senior Enlisted Leader in the U.S. Navy Reserve, and System Administrator Team Lead at the Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic. Doug’s extensive certifications, including AWS Certified Solutions Architect and NVIDIA Certified Associate, underscore his proficiency in advanced technology solutions. His leadership and technical skills have been instrumental in driving innovation and operational excellence, making him a pivotal figure in the field of IT and defense.

Location: Conference Room D

Speaker: Mr. John Westerman,
Sr. Federal Systems Engineer, Illumio

Summary:
More important than ever before with the increase in cyberattacks coupled with the continued work from anywhere. Visualizing your network and host-based microsegmentation breaks the network into smaller segments to prevent adversary lateral movement. In fact, the DoD Zero Trust Reference Architecture (ZTRA) v.2.0 released in October 2022 specifically calls out Micro-segmentation to provide robust protection against lateral movement. In this training session, you will learn about the three ways you can stop the spread of cyberattacks through Zero Trust Microsegmentation.

  1. Real-time Visibility – obtain a real-time application and workload dependency map as the first step to micro-segmentation.
  2. Reduce the Dynamic Attack Surface – using micro-segmentation / ring-fencing you can enforce a powerful micro-segmentation policy using the host firewalls.  
  3. Enable Faster Implementation – deploy software sensors on existing hardware and software assets – anything with a firewall without re-architecting your network. This can be done because the focus is on application security and not network security.

Speaker Bio:
John has over 25 years of experience specializing in application and network cyber security, public IP/VPN, global remote access products and integration. He has previously been employed at major corporations such as a network systems engineer at MCI (now Verizon) and as a Senior Sales Engineer at Riverbed Technology. He has worked at Illumio for the past eight years and is a Senior Federal Systems Engineer. He is also an avid ham radio operator and an FAA-certified drone and private pilot.

Location: Meeting Room 101

Speaker: Mr. Bobbie Nooner,
Director of Technical Account Management for Tanium’s Public Sector

Summary:
Students will learn to rapidly identify and remediate cyber security risks across your entire organization.

During this four-hour workshop, you will:

  • Identify and quantify risk in an environment around vulnerability, configuration compliance, out-of-date applications, sensitive data, and outdated cryptography.
  • Quickly remediate risk by closing compliance gaps, patching operating systems, and updating applications.
  • Find unknown/unmanaged devices throughout the environment to further reduce risk.
  • Attendees must bring their own laptops to access hands-on labs!

Speaker Bio:
Bobby Nooner is a Director of Technical Account Management for Tanium’s Public Sector team. In this role he contributes to each customer’s success by supporting the Tanium platform in the field and leveraging best practices to deliver mission outcomes. He is a retired Air Force veteran with over 21 years of IT/cyber operations experience. 

1300–1600

Training Sessions

Location: Conference Room C

Speaker: Mr. Jose Morales,
Sr. Sales Engineer & High Speed Encryption SME, Thales TCT

Summary:
High speed networks are the critical foundation that supports many of an agency’s most vital communications and operations. However, this foundation is at risk of surveillance and attack by increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals and well-funded nation states. These network connections, if unprotected, are proving to be highly vulnerable, leaving sensitive assets exposed. So what is the best way to protect network traffic? Encrypt everywhere—between data center to the endpoint whether in the enterprise of at the edge.

Attend this session to learn about the best practices for data in transit including how to:

Protect against common network threats such as eavesdropping, fiber-tapping, harvest and decrypt
Deploy high speed encryption from the core to the cloud to the edge
Improve performance
Mitigate the quantum threat
Address zero trust requirements

Requirements:
Students will need to bring their own laptop (personal) to connect to hand-on lab resources

Speaker Bio: 
Jose serves as a Senior Systems Engineer for Thales Trusted Cyber Technologies (TCT). He provides technical, integrated solutions that protect government organizations. Jose has over 25 years of experience working with classified government networks. He currently focuses on providing network encryption solutions that offer enhanced features including bandwidth, performance, reliability, cost efficiency, resiliency, redundancy, and security.

Jose came to Thales TCT after retiring from the U.S Army. His varied background includes Help Desk Supervisor for the Army Cyber Command, COMSEC inspector and auditor for 1ST Special Forces Group Airborne, Special Intelligence Communications Center (SPINTCOM) shift supervisor at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and instructor at the Army School of Information Technology (SIT)

Location: Conference Room D

Speakers: Mr. Conrad Maiorino,
Cyber Mission Engineer & Russ Smith, Field CTO

Summary:
The Department of the Air Force (DAF) is leading the DoD in deploying and implementing zero trust for the warfighter. Zero trust is rapidly maturing and understanding key concepts is critical for Air and Space Force cyberwarriors. This session will begin with a broad view of the activities necessary to implement zero trust based on guidance from the DoD’s Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office (PfMO). Following that, specific use cases that describe how the DAF can enable secure information sharing within the Air and Space Force enterprise and out to the tactical edge. The session concludes with a demo in a lab environment to expose the audience to practical examples of delivering zero trust concepts to the DoD.
Sections covered:

  • Zero Trust Strategic Roadmap
  • Use Cases: Enterprise to the Tactical Edge for Joint and Coalition Warfighters
  • How Zscaler Implements Zero Trust Concepts
  • Hands on demo walk through of Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) protecting user to Internet facing applications
  • Hands on demo walk through of Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) protecting user to private application

Number of seats available: 15 (classrooms can host up to 30 students)
Skill Level: Intermediate (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)
Required Materials: A desire to learn

Speaker Bios:
Conrad Maiorino is a Cyber Mission Engineer.  A real enthusiast for true customer success with a proven track record for building businesses, high-performance teams and Go To Market strategic alliances. Known as an inspirational leader with strong integrity and 20+ years of driving growth in both public-sector and private theaters, comprising security, cloud, software, and data management at industry-leading Fortune 500 Technology Companies, including Zscaler, Palo Alto Networks, and NetApp.

Russ Smith is a Field CTO supporting Zscaler’s DoD account teams. He joined Zscaler after a 30-year Air Force career culminating as the Deputy Chief Information Officer at the United States Special Operations Command. During his post-military career, he was a research analyst with the Institute for Defense Analyses, the vice president of the cyber practice at SAIC, and a security account lead at Accenture Federal Systems.

Location: Meeting Room 101

Speaker: Mr. Patrick Greer,
Solutions Architect, Trellix

Summary:
In an ideal world, you wouldn’t have to think twice about your network security. You could operate with complete confidence, knowing your entire infrastructure is safe and sound.  But cyber breaches are an unfortunate reality for organizations both big and small. And as threats grow more sophisticated and complex, organizations are forced to deal with their many adverse impacts—from system downtime and financial penalties to reputational loss.

Trellix Network Detection and Response (NDR) uses behavioral techniques like machine learning and advanced analytics to detect network anomalies and analyze raw traffic and flow records to establish baseline network behavior patterns. It allows your team to examine traffic as it crosses the perimeter (north/south) and moves laterally throughout your network (east/west). It also enables you to take advantage of response capabilities to remediate the threat of suspicious network traffic.

Speaker Bio:
Patrick Greer is a Senior Solutions Architect for Trellix (formerly McAfee Enterprise & FireEye) where he focuses on solving unique cybersecurity challenges, driving innovative solutions, and helping shape the future for the Department of Defense (DoD) in both pre-sale and post-sale capacities.

Patrick has over 13 years of technical involvement with the design, implementation, and operation of information security systems in commercial and classified environments.  Prior to his current role, he supported a variety of customers as an Analyst & Incident Responder and spent several years as a consultant within Trellix supporting critical projects and initiatives spanning the DoD and public sector.

Patrick earned a bachelor’s degree in Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh and maintains a GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH) certification.

 

1300–1400

Small Business Forum – Session One

Supercharge your success with an exclusive, power-packed, workshop. Seize this opportunity to meet and learn insights directly from government and industry-leading experts.

Location: RM 102

Speaker: Mr. Jack Longancre
President & CEO, Spartan Shield Solutions

Location: Room 103

Speaker: Mr. Jim Fontana,
Founder of Fontana Law Group, PLLC

Summary:
This session will provide an overview of legal and business issues challenging small businesses in a changing government contracting landscape. It includes the latest developments in small business set aside contracts and other small business statuses (SDVOSB, WOSB, HUBZone), teaming arrangements/subcontracts and joint ventures (including the SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program), size protests, and the impact of the Supreme Court on SBA’s Section 8(a) program.

Speaker Bio:
Jim Fontana, founder of Fontana Law Group, PLLC, has 40 years of experience as an attorney specializing in government contracts. He has published numerous articles related to government contracting, and has also conducted lectures and courses at multiple universities, law schools and industry forums. Over the years, Jim has received a number of awards and distinctions, including the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Outstanding Chief Legal Officer (2006), Washington Business Journal’s Top Attorney (2005 and 2006), and Washington SmartCEO’s Power Players Award (2014). In 2021 and 2022 he was recognized by Lawyers of Distinction for his expertise in government contracts.

Location: Room 104

Location: Room 105

Location: Room 106

1400–1500

Small Business Forum – Session Two

Location: Room 102

Facilitator: Capt. Rose Bennett

Location: Room 103

Speaker: Mr. Arthur Abrams III
Sr. Director, Corporate Business Liaison, Fusion Cyber Co.

Summary:
Fusion Cyber is a leading-edge cyber security firm providing education and training to college students, active-duty military and their dependents and disadvantage communities.  In partnership with CISCO, we offer training on Risk Management Framework (RMF), and certifications for Security+, CISA, CEH, or CISSP.  Our firm has graduated and certified over 150 students in less than 1 ½ years directly impacting the nation’s workforce as well as National Security. In addition, our firm has had an impact on the hiring and staffing of qualified cyber security professional in the federal government and commercial spaces and making the nation more competitive against our overseas competitors. Experienced instructors and tutors support the personalized student experience and leverage cutting-edge AI tools to ensure learner success.

One of the greatest values of the 100% virtual program is the ample keyboarding experience offered to students. This experience places them in real-world cybersecurity scenarios that they must solve using their new skills. Through a 100% browser-based cyber range, students do not need a high-end PC or laptop to participate.

Location: Room 104

Location: Room 105

Location: Room 106

1500–1600

Small Business Forum–Break Out Sessions

Location: Room 102

Speaker: Mr. Jack Longancre,
President & CEO, Spartan Shield Solutions

Location: Room 103

Speaker: Mr. Jim Fontana
Founder, Fontana Law Group

Location: Room 104

Speaker: Invited

Summary:
How to supervise, effective time management

Location: Room 105

Speaker: Invited

Summary:
Employee-supervisor mutual respect, delegating responsibility, accountability

Location: Room 106

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Financial, accountability, quality

Location: Room 107

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Owners, access, reviews, documentation process management

Location: Room 108

Description:
Teaming partners, OEM relationships, hunting new business opportunities (hunting), farming current business opportunities

Location: Room 109

1800–2000

TWICS Communicator’s Banquet

Location: Banquet ABC
Speaker: Maj. Gen. Bradley L. Pyburn

TUESDAY

0700

Registration — Lobby

0700–0800

Continental Breakfast — Exhibit Hall

0745

Kickoff | Capture the Flag Begins

0800

Keynote 1

Location: Exhibit Hall

0900–1600

Networking — Exhibit Hall

0930–1030

Breakout Sessions

Location: Ballroom E

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Location: Ballroom G

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Location: Conference Room AB

Speaker:Mr. Jason Bonci, Department of the Air Force

Summary:
The Department of the Air Force (DAF) Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Mr. Jay Bonci, will host a breakout session to discuss the API & Data Access enterprise solution for the DAF. The API & Data Access solution places APIs and thoughtful lifecycle management at the core of software design to drive interoperability across technologies and organizations. The discussion will cover recent efforts designing the API & Data Access Reference Architecture and creating the API & Data Access Strategy. You will leave with an understanding of the DAF’s strategic direction and will have an opportunity to bring your own insights and questions to the table to help shape the application framework of the future.

Speaker Bio:
Mr. Jason Bonci is the Department of the Air Force Chief Technology Officer at the Office of the Chief Information Officer. His responsibilities are to drive the adoption, resilience, and strategic technical vision of the Enterprise IT portfolio.

Location: Conference Room D

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Location: Room 106

Speaker: Mr. Sam Ceccola, HPE DoD CTO

Summary:
HPE brings the ability to bring the data center to the tactical edge, by leveraging a SWAP optimized industry standard server that is purpose built for austere environments.  The capabilities that can be delivered include Artificial Intelligence and various other edge capabilities to include 5G,  Cloud computing, Signal Intelligence and many other mission related workloads.

Speaker Bio:
Sam has over 35  years’ experience in the design and delivery of information technology systems for business and government, with a focus on architectures and solutions including Cloud (Private, Public and Hybrid), Information and Cyber Security, Big Data, Knowledge Management and Mobile Technologies.

In his role as Account Chief Technologist for HPE’s DoD business and Public Sector CTO Lead.  Sam is responsible for providing broad technical thought leadership around the pan-HP portfolio, bringing innovative and strategic direction to the account team. Sam also executes as a trusted advisor for the customer, in leveraging his considerable background to help DoD in addressing their IT and mission requirements.

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Location: Room 109

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1030–1130

Breakout Sessions

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Location: Conference Room C

Speaker: Colonel Timothy M. Helfrich

Summary:
Data is the lifeblood of the high-end fight.  Who can more quickly move the right decision-quality data to the right place at the right time to close kill chains?  What’s the lead time between an adversary tactics change to when we field a relevant counter-capability?  Success belongs to the side who iterates and learns more quickly; those who do not will find themselves trapped in a negative spiral of paralysis.  These kill chains and feedback loops are underpinned by cyber-resilient systems and robust digital infrastructure across the full lifecycle of acquisition and operations.  This session focuses on the key culture, policy, process, and technical actions required to effectively execute this “Digital Kill Chain.”

Speaker Bio:
Colonel Timothy M. Helfrich is the Senior Materiel Leader for Advanced Aircraft and Director of the Agile Development Office, which fall under the Program Executive Officer Fighters and Advanced Aircraft Directorate, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Air Force Materiel Command. He leads a team of 400 military, civil service, and contract support personnel to develop the Next Generation Air Dominance Family of Systems and other advanced aircraft capability development actives.

Col Helfrich received his commission from the United States Air Force Reserve Officer Training Course, Detachment 220 at Purdue University in May 2002. He has served in a variety of acquisition positions at an Air Logistics Center, the Air Force Research Laboratory, a flight test squadron, Air Staff, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and a classified program office. He served in key acquisition leadership roles as the Materiel Leader for the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node and the Senior Materiel Leader for Cyber Systems.


Location:
Room 102

Speaker: Mr. Micah Yount,
Strategic Sales Director

Summary
Tactical communicators must connect to their data from literally anywhere, and that data access can be a matter of life and death.  But how do you secure that data from an enemy only miles away, when disconnected from the Enterprise?  Iron Bow’s Tactical Edge Zero Trust solution delivers multi-layer Identity and Access Management, ZT Remote Access and ZT Data Security & Exchange at the edge even in a disconnected environment.  The time to secure the front lines is now!

Speaker Bio: 
Micah Yount is an Air Force retiree with over twenty years of Information Technology experience in the Federal arena. He is currently the Strategic Sales Director for USAF and USSF at Iron Bow technologies. He supports multiple account teams across Iron Bow by developing sales strategies and designing technology architectures and use cases that directly address the mission needs of his DoD customers.


Location:
Room 104

Speaker: Mr. Jim Smid, Palo Alto Networks Federal CTO

Summary:
Learn more about the NSA and NIST lead consortium that is defining the best ways to smoothly transition from a classic crypto environment to a post-quantum secure world.

Speaker Bio:
Jim Smid is the Palo Alto Networks Federal CTO, and he has over 20 years’ experience implementing and managing IT infrastructures in both the commercial and government spaces. His experience is varied with expertise in managed security services, cloud security technologies, storage, virtualization, continuity of operations, data management, operating systems, databases, programming, middleware, and others. During his career, Jim has been Director of Development responsible for the building and deployment of data centers and managed services across eight states, Director of Operations in the telecommunications industry and ran his own company specializing in optimization and data availability.

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1030–1200

Networking – Exhibit Hall

1200

Lunch — Exhibit Hall

1200–1300

Keynote 2

Speaker: Ms. Goodwine, SAF/CIO
Location: Exhibit Hall

1330–1430

Breakout Sessions

Location: Ballroom E

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Location: Conference Room AB

Speaker: SES John Vona, Air Force Futures, A5/7D Capability Development

Summary:
Introduce Air Force Futures, who we are and what we do then delve into some of our future plans and requirements as the Operational Requirements and Capability Development Director.

USAF, Air Force Futures, A5/7D Capability Development.

Speaker Bio:
John F. Vona, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is the Director of Operational Requirements and Capability Development, Air Force Futures, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. In this position, Mr. Vona leads more than 180 military, civilian, and contractor personnel in establishing capability-based requirements policy, developing, prioritizing, and advocating for operational requirements, and guiding future modernization and technology programs. The Directorate is the Air Force Futures’ center of expertise leading Capability Development and Joint Requirements Integration and is comprised of 19 teams encompassing nearly the entire Air Force modernization portfolio, including air superiority, nuclear, mobility, autonomous platforms, weapons, sensors, command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, base defense, personnel recovery and cyber capabilities along with requirements integration with Intelligence Community and space counterparts. He oversees the Air Force’s Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System processes, and advocates for Air Force equities at the Joint Staff/J8 Joint Requirements Oversight Council.

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Intelligent Waves

Location: Rm 103

Speaker: Mr. Marques Hutchinson, CTO, Intelligent Waves

Summary:
Within the DoD there are many communication infrastructures that do not allow Commanders operating at the edge to achieve decision superiority at the speed, scale and flexibility required. There are several military and commercial links available for this use that can be combined with industry technologies that are made to solve this problem. This session discusses how we merge what is available with the art of the possible, using real world at the edge use-cases, to integrate an Ubiquitous Network Fabric that will deliver resilient connectivity utilizing multiple transports with low probability of intercept (LPI) and a low probability of detection (LPD) concepts.

Speaker Bio:
As the Chief Technology Officer of Intelligent Waves (IW), Marqus Hutchinson has responsibility for establishing IW’s GovCon technical vision & leading all aspects of its technology development, including the IT Department, Training, R&D, and T&E activities. Hutchinson brings experience in Technical Integration, Network Architecting, Data Center Design, Security, Telecommunications Operations, Mobility, & Daily IT Infrastructure Sustainment to various DOD & DOJ Programs. Additionally, he has served as the Program Manager, Chief Architecture Engineer, & Technical

Solutions Architect for DOD & DOJ programs worldwide.

A proactive cybersecurity thought leader & technology innovator in the federal government sector, Hutchinson responds to the nation’s complex security needs as a consultant for the DoD & DOJ. He has more than twenty years of experience in IT infrastructure, including network architecture, data center design, & telecommunications operations.

Hutchinson’s innovative cybersecurity technology leadership has proactively helped elevate

Government IT as Marqus spearheaded the launch of two transformational projects:

1.     US AirForce Crowd-Source Flight Data (CSFD): This revolutionary program, a $100 million+ success story, empowers rapid electronic warfare programming, data-driven debriefs, and real-time insights – changing the game for the Air Force.

2.     Gorgon Stare Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance (ISR): Fielded multiple Forward Processing, Exploitation and Dissemination (OA DCGS/FPED) sites in support of multiple ISR platforms such as Gorgon Stare. Essential to the establishment of a network solution called ISRMAN, that connected multiple OCONUS FPED sites together allowing DCGS sites access to Gorgon Stare data.

Hutchinson holds the following degrees:

  • Master of Business Administration, Information Technology Management, Western Governors University
  • Bachelor of Science, Information Technology/Network Management, Western Governors University
  • Associate of Science, Network Support Services, Florida State College of Jacksonville

Certifications include PMP, CISSP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA, MCSE, MCSA, CEH, A+ and Network+.

Location: Rm 105

Speaker: Mr. Patrick Greer,
Senior Solutions Architect, Trellix

Summary:
Learn how your organization meets security requirements such as Zero Trust, CCRI, and OPORD 8600.

Data truly is your most strategic asset. We will delve into how Trellix Data Loss Prevention tools can protect your data – wherever it resides – against accidental and intentional exposure.

  • Identification of data leakage risks
  • Policies and customized reports
  • Classification, analysis, and remediation of data leaks
  • Leverage existing infrastructure
  • Proactively enforce policies for all types of information

Do you know exactly what sensitive data your organization has, and where it resides? Are you losing sensitive data without even knowing it?  Such data loss is not necessarily the work of hackers; your employees also leak data, inadvertently or intentionally. Learn how to protect against external and internal threats and maintain compliance with various regulatory frameworks such as CCRI and OPORD 8600.

 

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1430–1530

Breakout Sessions

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Location: Conference Room C

Speaker:
Mr. Justin Stroplman, ACC 561 NOS/ACC A6/A6T
Mr. Jason Bonci, Department of the Air Force Chief Technology Officer

Summary:
The Department of the Air Force (DAF) Zero Trust (ZT) Functional Management Office (FMO) Director, Justin Stolpman, will sit down with Department of the Air Force Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Jay Bonci, to discuss recent advances for the Zero Trust security architecture. The third release of the DAF Enterprise Zero Trust Roadmap was published on 13 December 2023 to provide a snapshot in time and serve as a strategic guide for cross-enterprise adoption. Through continuous cross-collaboration efforts between the ZT FMO and the CTO team, adjustments are made to track accurate timelines highlighting any major roadblocks that would impede the DoD FY27 target level mandate. You will leave this panel with a heightened understanding of the Zero Trust Roadmap journey and the DAF’s enhanced ability to compete at the Tactical Edge.

Speaker Bios:
Mr. Jason Bonci is the Department of the Air Force Chief Technology Officer at the Office of the Chief Information Officer. His responsibilities are to drive the adoption, resilience, and strategic technical vision of the Enterprise IT portfolio.

Mr. Justin Stolpman is a Department of the Air Force (DAF) civil servant currently dual-hatted as the Director for the DAF Zero Trust Functional Management Office (FMO) located within Air Combat Command (ACC), Directorate of Cyberspace and Information Dominance (A6), and as the Chief of Plans for the Attack Surface Management Center of Excellence within the 16th Air Force, 688th Cyberspace Wing. His responsibilities were charged by the DAF CIO and include reporting, tracking, and orchestrating Zero Trust implementation across all the functional areas.

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1500–1600

Networking — Exhibit Hall

1600–1700

Keynote 3—Panel: Speed Networking with AD and Ret GO/SES

Speaker: Maj Gen (ret) John Maluda, AD and Ret GO/SES
Location: Exhibit Hall

1700

TWICS Sponsored Social — Exhibit Hall

1800

Company Sponsored Social — Terrace

WEDNESDAY

0700

Registration — Lobby

0700–0800

Continental Breakfast — Exhibit Hall

0745

Kickoff

0800–0900

Keynote 4

Speaker:  Dr. Jones-Heath, SAF Principal Cyber Advisor
Location: Exhibit Hall

0900–1600

Networking — Exhibit Hall

0930–1030

Breakout Sessions

Location: Conference Room AB

Speaker: Mr. Jason Bonci, Department of the Air Force

Summary:
The Department of the Air Force (DAF) Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Mr. Jay Bonci, will deliver a keynote on the future of the DAF IT landscape. The keynote will discuss how the DAF, with an empowered CIO, will deliver agility by assembling resilient and interconnected systems that improve the speed, clarity, accuracy, and effectiveness of the kill chain. The audience will leave with an understanding of SAF/CN’s vision to remain competitive with a unified IT environment at home and at the tactical edge.

Speaker Bio:
Mr. Jason Bonci is the Department of the Air Force Chief Technology Officer at the Office of the Chief Information Officer. His responsibilities are to drive the adoption, resilience, and strategic technical vision of the Enterprise IT portfolio.

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Location: Room 103

Speaker: Mr. Brandon Gulla
Chief Technology Officer at Rancher Government Solutions (RGS)

Summary:
Today’s mission landscape demands cloud capabilities but how can the mission thrive when faced with connectivity challenges or even physics getting in the way of operating a LEO satellite? Join Rancher Government as we highlight several challenges the mission ecosystem is facing with the rapid expansion of edge computing and how adopting open source, open-standards can ease your operational burden and accelerate your path to production.

Speaker Bio:
Brandon Gulla is the Chief Technology Officer at Rancher Government Solutions (RGS). In this role he leads the company’s engineering organization and oversees product innovation and development. A self-described distributed systems nerd and open-source contributor, Brandon brings more than 15 years of technical and leadership experience to RGS. Prior to joining RGS, Brandon was a Senior Lead Technologist at Booz Allen Hamilton; a Distributed DevOps Engineer and Software Engineer at Praxis Engineering; a Cyber Software Engineer at Northrop Grumman; and an analyst at Deloitte Consulting. Brandon is a frequent speaker on topics such as Kubernetes, containerization, open-source software, cloud computing and security. Brandon is a two-time WashingtonExec Executive of the Year finalist in both the Chief Technology Officer and Cybersecurity professional categories. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech and completed graduate studies in computer science from Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals. Outside of work, Brandon enjoys homebrewing, electrical engineering and spending time with his kids at the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

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1030–1130

Breakout Sessions

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Location: Conference Room C

Speaker:Mr. Justin Stroplman,
ACC 561 NOS/ACC A6/A6T

Summary:
The Department of the Air Force (DAF) Zero Trust (ZT) Functional Management Office (FMO) Director, Justin Stolpman, will sit down with Air Force leaders who are transforming current data security models to a Zero Trust environment. These large operational enhancements require a drastic change to prevent future security breaches. In this panel, you will hear recent progress and necessary shifts from leads in the DAF CDAO, STARCOM CDO and MITRE. Expect to hear how the DAF has navigated challenges faced thus far and how sharing lessons learned can help accelerate ZT implementation in the Data Pillar. You will leave this panel with a heightened understanding of the requirements and considerations for the Department’s Zero Trust Data Pillar approach to competing at the Tactical Edge.

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1030–1200

Networking — Exhibit Hall

1200

Lunch — Exhibit Hall

1200–1300

Keynote 5—Panel: Air Force A6 Panel Facilitated by Brig Gen (s) Phillips

Speaker: Col. Jeffrey Munster Phillips, ACC/A6
Location: Exhibit Hall

1300–1530

Dedicated to Exhibit Hall Engagement

1600–1700

Keynote 6

Speaker:  Lt. Gen. Kennedy Commander
Location: Exhibit Hall

1700

TWICS Sponsored Social — Exhibit Hall