CyberScape

Mr. Amerson has over 20 years of proven technical experience and leadership in both Information Technology (IT) and Cybersecurity for the Federal Government. His last seven years have been with the Department of Veterans Affairs, where he currently serves as the Director of Cybersecurity Management. Previously he served there as the Acting Director of the National Data Center Operations and Logistics program office and the Director of Infrastructure Technology Architecture Management. He has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Science and has achieved over 16 professional certifications in IT and Cybersecurity.

He began his career in IT with the Department of Information Management in the Texas National Guard Joint Force Headquarters and served in various positions, from the Customer Support Desk to Chief Technology Officer, over the course of his career there. Furthermore, Mr. Amerson’s professional career with the National Guard encompassed a variety of cybersecurity responsibilities, including Deputy of the Computer Emergency Response Team to his last position with the military as the Deputy of the Defense Cyberspace Operations Element. In June 2018, Mr. Amerson retired from the Army National Guard, with over 32 years with the Army and National Guard serving in various primary leadership positions, both deployed in combat and stateside. In addition, Mr. Amerson is also a graduate of the Army Cyber Center of Excellence.

Outside of work, he volunteers as a coach and technical mentor for Cyber Patriots, educating high school students in the art and science of cybersecurity. The Cyber Patriots compete at the national level, where his teams have received Congressional recognition, national and state awards, college scholarships, grants, and a Cedar Park City, Texas, proclamation.

Sean Connelly serves as the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) Program Manager at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In this role, he leads the TIC Program Management Office, which is responsible for leading the Office of Management and Budget’s TIC initiative within CISA. The TIC initiative is the federal government’s strategy to securely protect government networks that connect to the Internet and cloud providers. CISA’s TIC Program Office works with a wide-spectrum of partners across government and industry and leads the way at enhancing network security across the federal enterprise horizon.

Mr. Connelly joined DHS in 2013 and has served in a variety of roles, including the development of TIC 1, 2 and 3, along with the deployment of CISA’s sensor capabilities (operationally known as EINSTEIN 3A), and was part of the initial architectural team that stood-up the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program. Additionally, Mr. Connelly was a lead author on the ‘IT Modernization Report to the President’ in 2017, as well as a co-author of NIST’s Special Publicization towards ‘Zero Trust Architectures’ in 2019.

Prior to joining the federal civilian service, Mr. Connelly worked as a consultant to the Department of State, where he led architectural initiatives within the department, including the adoption of TIC 1 and TIC 2, as well as the design of the State Department’s next-generation telecommunications platform, providing IT for a global workforce. Overall, Mr. Connelly has over 15 years of experience in the federal domain, and over 20 years of experience in the IT and cybersecurity domain.

Mr. Connelly earned a MS in Information Technology Management from George Washington University, and holds two Cisco Certified Information Expert (CCIE) certifications. Mr. Connelly holds the first CCIE in Routing, and a second CCIE in Security.

Jothi Dugar is a leader in the cybersecurity field, and currently serving as the Acting Deputy Director of the Center for Information Technology (NIH CIT) at the National Institutes of Health. CIT is one of twenty-seven institutes and centers at the NIH responsible for providing trans-NIH IT services, systems, and network capabilities with an annual budget of approximately $500 million and a 1,000-person workforce.

As the current Acting Deputy Director, Jothi fully shares in providing leadership, management, and vision in carrying out the broad range of executive responsibilities the organization’s work. She is a critical member of the CIT senior leadership team which oversees mission critical systems and services supporting basic and clinical research, extramural research management, and administration and management activities for the NIH. In her past role as the CISO, she was responsible for protecting and safeguarding enterprise systems and services that are used by NIH, other government agencies, and over 300,000 researchers around the world.

She is a prominent international speaker and frequently speaks about the value of a diverse workforce, women in leadership, holistic approaches to cybersecurity, wellness for the technology world, and other topics and has been published in numerous magazines, media, and press. She is also an international best-selling author, having written three books focused on self-help, wellness, and women in cybersecurity.

John Fanguy is a former Federal technology executive and has spent 30 years at Federal and Fortune 1000 organizations. During his 14 years at Accenture, he served clients globally designing, developing, and operating innovative solutions in customer care, infrastructure operations, financial systems, and logistics. John has more than a decade of helping deliver innovative Federal programs to agencies throughout the Federal government including DoD, DHS, Commerce, and HHS. John received his Bachelor and Master of Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech. He is an active mentor to early stage, leading-edge software technology companies.

Leslie Harlien is vice president of Public Sector strategy and business development teams for North America at Dell Technologies. With a career spanning 25 years at Dell, her experience includes numerous sales and leadership positions across the company. Leslie joined Dell in 1995, where she began her career in several account management roles. In 2006, she became a regional sales director, responsible for Dell’s large public sector customers in the Central United States. In 2013, Leslie became the executive sales director for commercial customers in the Central and Eastern United States. Leslie’s most recent position was vice president of sales, serving corporate customers as well as education, healthcare and state and local government customers and their respective Dell teams in the South Central United States.

Prior to joining Dell, Leslie started her career as an area director for Extend-A-Care in Austin, Texas. She serves on the Advisory Board for the Business School at the University of Incarnate Word and is involved in her community as a wish granter for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central Texas.

She received a B.A. from the University of Texas in Austin. Leslie resides in Lago Vista, Texas, with her husband and two children. She enjoys traveling, sports, and spending time outdoors.

Raymond Lo Presti brings more than 35 years of leadership, program management and solution development experience to his role as Principal Solutions Architect for GovernmentCIO. Ray specializes in delivering enterprise value driven technology solutions, directing cross-functional teams, and leading complex projects from conception through completion. Ray has a diverse background of experiences that includes architecture, assessments, solutions design and delivery, vendor analysis, infrastructure and quality processes. Ray has successfully delivered engagements for Federal and Commercial clients across multiple industries and geographies. Ray earned his Bachelors in Psychology from La Salle University and graduated from the Systems Automation Officers Program from the US Army.

Mr. La Monte Yarborough is currently the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG). La Monte has held former roles as the CISO at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Headquarters, as well as the CISO at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He was involved in standing up HQ DHS’ information security organization from the ground up. Prior to his work at DHS, La Monte served as a consultant and spent over 20 years in the U.S. Army specializing in information technology. He holds Master’s of Science degrees in cybersecurity and information assurance, and is also a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP).