Randy’s career begin right after high school when he joined the Army at age 18. He served in the Army from February 8, 1982, until March 31, 2018 after a 37-year career. Throughout his career in the Army, he was stationed at FT. Hood, Texas, Ft. Knox, Ky., Ft. Benning, Ga., Ft. Stewart, Ga., Hoensfield, Germany, Camp Casey, Korea, Ft. Belvoir, Va., Ft. Pickett, Va., Camp Pendleton, Virginia Beach, Va., Ft. Bragg, NC., and the United States Embassy, Moscow, Russia, US Air Base, Shindand, Herat Province Afghanistan, FOB Grizzly, Al Khalis, Iraq. Randy held various leadership, management, and supervisor roles for different military units that landed him a career in Emergency Management as an Emergency Manager and Lead Exercise Planner for three different installations.

Becky Passmore holds a Master of Science Degree in Digital Forensics and Cyber Investigations. She currently works as a Cyber Investigator in Digital Forensics and Incident Response with Kroll, Inc. She has over seventeen years of investigative skills as a Senior Digital Forensic Examiner with the Federal Government. Becky has led a variety of complex digital investigations, including technical analysis for national security, insider threats, internet fraud, child exploitation, terrorism and public corruption. Becky has provided expert testimony in cases involving computer forensics. Becky teaches Digital Forensics and Introduction to CyberSecurity at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She holds GCFE, GASF, Net + and A+ Certifications.

Mike Forgione is an experienced security, automation, and data engineer. He is the Director of Operations for Shadowscape, Inc. an intelligence driven cybersecurity services company. Mike has filled many roles over his 8 years of cybersecurity experience to include analyst, SIEM engineer, Cloud Architect and Engineer, Helpdesk Developer, System Administrator, and SOC team lead. He has provided operational support to many private companies in the many roles he has had. He has helped to develop the operational side of his previous security positions as well as his current position. Mike has also filled roles as an instructor to train military operators in subjects of Windows Exploitation, Linux Exploitation, Network and Operating Systems hunt theory and application.

James McCarter is a former U.S. Marine, SIGINT Support Team Leader and Korean Cryptologic Linguist. He is an experienced cybersecurity operational support professional and is CEO of Boise based company, Shadowscape, an Intelligence-driven cybersecurity company. He is a recognized subject matter expert in threat-based cyber operations, digital forensics and cyber training and has previously served as the Director of Threat Intelligence, Vice President of Training, Intelligence Collection Manager and Digital Forensics Specialist within his previous cyber operations companies.

As the Chief External Affairs Officer at Forge Institute, Scott’s mission is to expand the organization’s outreach and impact. He previously served as Executive Director, leading innovation, training, and cyber programs, managing partnerships, stakeholder engagement, and national security compliance.

Theresa is retired from the US Air Force as Chief Information Security Officer supporting 3 unique USAF missions. She wrote, governed, and enforced Information Assurance policy for 6,000 base network users. She authored System Security Plans for the base networks to include access controls, hardware & software security, contingency planning, personnel security, and physical security. Since leaving the service, she has honed her Cyber Security expertise within the Financial Technology Services industry. As the Strategic Technical Validation Risk Manager, she manages execution of risk assessment activities and coordination of risk response and program testing and validation to ensure achievement of strategic objectives. Ms. Nielsen has 25+ years of experience in training, leading, and managing people and teams to meet stakeholder requirements and expectations.

Eric Fleming began working on computers at a young age alongside his older brother. Amazed by how easy it was to change a video game's intended behavior, Eric was quickly hooked. After spending eight and a half years in the Army under the Department of Defense (DoD) umbrella, he joined the private industry to share his knowledge with the security community. Today, he's an industry expert with over 20 years of experience in information technology and security. Eric is an experienced speaker, having done presentations to the FBI, NSA, and various other organizations. He enjoys creating loud and djenty rock music and spending time with his family.

Jordan is originally from Boston and currently works for Kanas State University a Technical Trainer. Before that, he served 11 years in the United States Army as a cyber warfare specialist working deeply with the nations intelligence services. During this time with the Army, Jordan developed skills in the realm of Incident Response and HUNT operations. Jordan is an avid gamer and armature chef in his free time.

Chris Farnell currently serves as the Managing Director and Test Engineer for the National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission (NCREPT) at the University of Arkansas. He received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arkansas in 2020. His research interests include Embedded System Design, Wireless Networks, FPGAs, Cybersecurity, and Power Electronics and he is also active in K-12 outreach activities.

Mr. Huff is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science & Cybersecurity and Senior Researcher at the University of Arkansas Little Rock. Previously, he served as Director of Critical Infrastructure Security at the Arkansas Electric Cooperatives. Philip has Co-Chaired the NERC Cybersecurity Regulation Drafting Committee which was tasked with developing CIP Standards for the United States Electric Grid. Philip is an IT/Network and Operational Technology (ICS/SCADA) cybersecurity expert.

Chris is the founder of Citadel Systems (a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business) and a founding partner in Sullivan Wright Technology Partners. He has over 15 years of experience in military, government, financial technology, and small business cybersecurity. His experience includes vulnerability management, risk management, security program development, penetration testing, and process automation and efficiency. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Arkansas and a master’s degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Maryland University College. He is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH).

Chris is heavily involved in the tech community in Central Arkansas as a mentor with The Venture Center, a Game Master for JOLT Cyber Challenge, an organizer for the Central Arkansas Hackers Group, an organizer for Little Rock Tech Fest, and an industry advisory board member for Arkansas Tech University and Philander Smith College Computer Science departments.

Lawrence has over 20 years of leadership and instructing experience in various concentrations throughout the IT/Cyber industry. Acting Senior Range Engineer and Senior Instructor with Metova Federal. Instructs operational techniques, system security concepts within the Microsoft and Linux/Unix environments, vulnerability assessment tools, and networking concepts. Decades of experience developing courseware, lab exercises, and assessments. As a Senior Security Analyst with FIS Global, acted as the Project Lead for the successful implementation of a cloud-based Web Application Firewall (WAF) for the protection of over 1000 financial institution websites supported by FIS. Developed the necessary policies and procedures for the initial conversion of all websites to the WAF. Worked with all divisions within FIS to implement the policies and procedures.

Ricky has over 25 years of systems Engineering experience and Leadership in the Information Technology field. Worked with many different system architectures. Expert in UNIX (Red Hat Linux, SCO, HP-UX, SunOS and Solaris, and Irix) environments. Has a passion and reputation for mentoring and teaching the next generation of experts. Currently functions as a Training Analyst Sr. Principle instructing hundreds of DoD Cyber Operators.