Speakers

Charles Grindle

Chief Information Officer – Commonwealth of Kentucky

Chuck Grindle is the Chief Information Officer (CIO)for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As CIO, he heads up the Commonwealth Office of Technology and is a member of the Governor’s executive cabinet.

Dr. Grindle served 29 years in the U.S. Army in various capacities. During his active military service, he was an Army Information Technology and Field Artillery officer. In addition to holding key military positions in Information Technology at the Installation, Agency and Theater level, Dr. Grindle has taught academic courses on Contemporary Security Issues, Cyber Operations, theory of war and strategy, strategy and policy, and United States National security policy.

Dr. Grindle graduated from Washington and Jefferson College and was commissioned into the Field Artillery. He completed his Masters in Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh and served three assignments at the U.S. Army War College, including Deputy Chief Information Officer. He was deployed to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait and served as the Lead Information Technology officer for the 3^rd Army (FWD). Upon his return he served as the Chief Information Officer for the United States Military Academy.

Dr. Grindle earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Information Science and holds a second Master’s Degree from the U.S. Army War College. Dr. Grindle’s awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit; Bronze Star Medal; (4) Meritorious Service Medals; (2) Army Commendation Medals; (4) Army Achievement Medals, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; and Parachutist’s Badge. He retired from the Army in 2017.

Joshua D. Spence

Chief Technology Officer – State of West Virginia

Joshua Spence was named Chief Technology Officer for the State of West Virginia, Office of Technology, in November 2018. Prior to the appointment, Josh served as the Chief Information Security Officer for the State of West Virginia. Under his leadership, West Virginia implemented a new cybersecurity strategy, resulting in capabilities enhancements in all four strategic initiatives (risk, outreach, protection, and operations). He holds expertise in cybersecurity strategy, risk management, certification and accreditation, cryptography, and incident response. He also serves as a Cyber Operations Officer in the West Virginia Air National Guard. With over 19 years of service, Spence has served in numerous capacities involving physical security, information security, and cybersecurity. His most recent assignment was to serve as a special liaison to the component of United States Cyber Command responsible for the defense of the Department of Defense networks.

Spence holds a master’s degree in Information Technology Management from Marshall University. He has achieved numerous industry certifications, including Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Certified Incident Handler (CIH), Certified EC- Council Instructor (CEI), and Security+. In addition, he has spoken at numerous cybersecurity conferences and events and participated in multiple Department of Defense cyber exercises. In 2016, he was a recipient of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) Thomas M. Jarrett Cybersecurity Scholarship.

Chris Seidt

Director for the Office of Civic Innovation & Technology, Louisville Metro Government

Chris Seidt has served the Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government since January 2018 as the Director for the Office of Civic Innovation & Technology. During this time, the organization has had a heightened focus on cyber security, disaster recovery, and operational excellence. Chris has served with Louisville Metro Government for a combined 17 years, with the last 11 years in the Technology department. Chris previously served as a Network Engineer and Operations Manager within the department, before leading the IT department’s efforts around Smart Cities as the first Civic Technology Manager in 2016.

James Meece

Chief Information Security Officer, Louisville Metro Government

James has served as the Chief Information Security Officer for Louisville Metro Government since 2015. During his tenure, he and his team have led the charge in reducing overall cyber risk to Louisville Metro by 78% through metrics-driven action. He has embraced an approach of progress through partnerships – both internal and external – and forged a strategy based on defense in depth that adapts to the disappearing network perimeter. He is also a Major in the Kentucky National Guard and has served in the military for 29 years. He holds multiple industry certifications and is a member of the Kentucky Chapter of the Signal Corps Regimental Association, the Association of Old Crows, and the Kentucky Cyber Threat Working Group.

Benjamin Gilbert, CISSP, CRISC, CEH

Cybersecurity Advisor, Region III – Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

Mr. Gilbert serves as a Cybersecurity Advisor in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). He supports the Cybersecurity Advisor (CSA) program and CISA’s mission through the goal of strengthening the security, reliability and resilience of the Nation’s critical cyber infrastructure and serves in this role across the states of Virginia and West Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia.

As a CSA, Mr. Gilbert conducts various cyber preparedness, risk mitigation and incident response coordination activities though public and private partnerships and outreach efforts in support of CISA’s mission. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Gilbert had served as a senior analyst with the CSA program’s headquarters where he led the development of various tools used by the CSA program to measure and strengthen the cybersecurity management capabilities of critical infrastructure organizations.

Mr. Gilbert has been with CISA, and the Department of Homeland Security for over 9 years and has over 14 years of experience in cybersecurity spanning the commercial, federal civilian, and DoD communities. He currently holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification, the Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) certification, the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) certification and a B.S. in Information Technology. Prior to joining DHS, Mr. Gilbert had served as an IT Specialist with the Virginia Army National Guard, and as an Airborne Infantryman in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.

Mark Conrad

Information Technology Director for Fairfield County, Ohio

Mark Conrad is the Information Technology Director for Fairfield County. Mark has been with Fairfield County in various IT positions since 2000. In addition to IT, Mark has been heavily involved in the records management of the Clerk of Courts and in helping Fairfield County move to a centralized records center, which will finally open in May 2019. Prior to Fairfield County, Mark served in IT-related positions at Ohio University, Ohio University Eastern, and OME-RESA (Ohio Mid-Eastern Regional Education Service Agency). He has a BBA (Computer Systems in Business) and MBA from Ohio University, an AB in Latin (with math minor) from Ohio University, and an MA from Ohio State University in Classical Languages (Greek and Latin). He is Chair of CARMA (Ohio County Archivists and Records Managers Association), Vice Chair of Ohio Electronic Records Committee, Director – Web Administration of ARMA Greater Columbus, and Primary Secretary of OCITA (Ohio City/County Information Technology Association).

Garrett Bradlyn

IT Manager for the City of Parkersburg, West Virginia

Garrett is the IT Manager for the City of Parkersburg. In addition to this role, he manages Wood County Central Dispatch’s CAD program and specializes in building resilient, distributed networks, cloud migrations, and develops security architecture and programs. Previously, Garrett had worked primarily as a consultant with a focus in designing highly scalable infrastructure for growing companies as well as developing Disaster Recovery and Continuity plans, which he continues to independently. Lately, Garrett has devoted his attention to red team exercises and CTF’s as well as zero trust architecture and its implementation.

Ron Hamilton

Chief Information Security Officer, WVNET
Chief Information Officer, Eastern WV Community and Technical College

Ron was named Chief Information Security Officer for WVNET in August 2018. He is also the Chief Information Officer at Eastern WV Community and Technical College. Working with the Information Security Team, they established and maintains the enterprise vision, strategy and program to ensure information assets and technologies are adequately protected. For the past 36 years, he has worked in various capacities supporting, implementing, maintaining and managing technology in a multi-campus higher education environment. Ron developed and maintains a responsive, reliable and secure IT infrastructure by establishing and enforcing policies and procedures based on industry best practices and statutory and regulatory guidelines.

Ron earned his BS Computer Management and Data Processing degree from West Virginia Institute of Technology and a MS Information Systems degree from West Virginia Graduate College. He lives in Ypsilanti, MI.

Eric Burgy

Telecomm Manager – WVNET

Eric is the Telecomm Manager for WVNET in Morgantown WV. He is a seasoned veteran in the telecommunications world with 25 years of experience working on everything from LANs and WANs to voice and video and more. Over the course of his career, Eric has worked for state and private sector agencies, including five years with WVDHHR, 13 years with Verizon, stints with Strictly Business Computer Systems and Alpha Technologies, and the WV Department of Education.

Greg Herbold

Director, U.S. State/Local Government & Education – Palo Alto Networks

Greg Herbold is Director of the U.S. State/Local Government and Education (SLED) segment at Palo Alto Networks. He is part of an awesome team that creates partnerships, solutions and programs to protect our way of life in the digital age by preventing successful cyberattacks. His goal: help governments and educational institutions confidently secure the technology initiatives that support our citizens, public servants, students, faculty & administration – making every tomorrow a bit more secure than today.

Greg has over 20 years of experience in IT and analytics, creating meaningful results in government, education, healthcare, packaged goods, retail, and manufacturing. Prior to Palo Alto Networks, Greg was Director of the SLED segment for Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Greg joined HP after 17 years at Information Resources Inc. (IRI) a leading provider of consumer, shopper and retail market intelligence and analytic insights.

Greg earned both his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from Georgetown University. He lives in Alexandria, VA, and can also be found on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/greg-herbold.