Tommy is an Assistant Director with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)’s Defense Capabilities and Management team. In this capacity, he oversees multiple GAO teams that conduct non-partisan, fact-based, and objective assessments of national security matters.
He currently focuses on Strategic Warfare and Intelligence topics – including military cyberspace operations, DOD cybersecurity efforts, information operations, electromagnetic spectrum operations, and intelligence and intelligence-related activities.
Since joining GAO, Tommy has briefed members of Congress, meets regularly with Congressional staffers, and has met with leaders within the U.S. government, allies, and partners. As a result of his teams’ assessments, Congress has written numerous provisions into law and DOD and other agencies have taken action to improve management and operational matters. He has received multiple agency-wide awards during his career.
In May 2023, Tommy was elected to the City Council in Allen, Texas.
Tommy holds a BBA (Finance), Certificate in International Business, and Certificate in National Security from Texas A&M University. He is also a graduate of the National Security Management program for senior executives from Syracuse University.
He currently focuses on Strategic Warfare and Intelligence topics – including military cyberspace operations, DOD cybersecurity efforts, information operations, electromagnetic spectrum operations, and intelligence and intelligence-related activities.
Since joining GAO, Tommy has briefed members of Congress, meets regularly with Congressional staffers, and has met with leaders within the U.S. government, allies, and partners. As a result of his teams’ assessments, Congress has written numerous provisions into law and DOD and other agencies have taken action to improve management and operational matters. He has received multiple agency-wide awards during his career.
In May 2023, Tommy was elected to the City Council in Allen, Texas.
Tommy holds a BBA (Finance), Certificate in International Business, and Certificate in National Security from Texas A&M University. He is also a graduate of the National Security Management program for senior executives from Syracuse University.
Mark Berman is the CEO and Founder of FutureFeed, a modern compliance platform focused on NIST and other compliance standards. The product is part of the Continuous Compliance family where Mark builds products and services that translate from the server room to the board room. Design thinking, innovation and noise-free decision-making are principles driving impact in each organization where Mark has been able to have influence.
Mark served as a founding director of the CMMC Accreditation Body (CyberAB).
When not focused on FutureFeed and challenges facing the DoD supply chain, Mark supports the Baltimore community in which he lives and supports education initiatives when and where possible. Recently, appointed to chair the board at the nationally acclaimed Greenspring Montessori School. As in his business ventures, Mark strives to inject innovation in education in way to ignite creativity in every child.
Mark graduated from the College of William and Mary with a degree in Computer Science where he completed graduate work at NASA’s Langley Research Center. He later completed an MBA at Loyola College of Maryland.
Mark lives with his wife Tania and dog Millie in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore, MD. They proudly cherish Tania’s daughter, Sasha, who lives and works as a reporter in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Mark served as a founding director of the CMMC Accreditation Body (CyberAB).
When not focused on FutureFeed and challenges facing the DoD supply chain, Mark supports the Baltimore community in which he lives and supports education initiatives when and where possible. Recently, appointed to chair the board at the nationally acclaimed Greenspring Montessori School. As in his business ventures, Mark strives to inject innovation in education in way to ignite creativity in every child.
Mark graduated from the College of William and Mary with a degree in Computer Science where he completed graduate work at NASA’s Langley Research Center. He later completed an MBA at Loyola College of Maryland.
Mark lives with his wife Tania and dog Millie in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore, MD. They proudly cherish Tania’s daughter, Sasha, who lives and works as a reporter in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Eric Crusius is a partner at Holland & Knight’s Tysons office who focuses his practice on a wide range of government contract matters, including bid protests, claims and disputes, compliance issues and sub-prime issues.
Mr. Crusius draws on his previous experience representing internet-based companies across the globe and focuses on cybersecurity issues particular to government contractors, including counseling contractors, regarding cybersecurity compliance obligations, specialized breach response requirements required by various federal agencies (including the DOD), and certifications such as the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). He is an industry thought leader with respect to these issues. He has appeared on Government Matters and Federal News Network and has also been featured at conferences to provide insight to the greater contractor community.
Mr. Crusius hosts a podcast, Regulatory Phishing, about the intersection of government contracts and cybersecurity that is available on Apple Podcasts.
Mr. Crusius draws on his previous experience representing internet-based companies across the globe and focuses on cybersecurity issues particular to government contractors, including counseling contractors, regarding cybersecurity compliance obligations, specialized breach response requirements required by various federal agencies (including the DOD), and certifications such as the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). He is an industry thought leader with respect to these issues. He has appeared on Government Matters and Federal News Network and has also been featured at conferences to provide insight to the greater contractor community.
Mr. Crusius hosts a podcast, Regulatory Phishing, about the intersection of government contracts and cybersecurity that is available on Apple Podcasts.
Regan Edens serves as the Chief Transformation & Compliance Officer and Co-Founder of DTC Global. Mr. Edens served as a founding Director on the CMMC-Accreditation Body, Board of Directors, as Chairman of the Standards Management Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Training Committee. He represented the CMMC-AB in the Federal CUI Stakeholder’s Working Group and led the CMMC Industry Working Group in collaboration with the DoD. He was one of four acting CMMC Certified Master Instructors.
Mr. Edens has served across various public and private capacities leading highly technical, complex, and extremely demanding DoD technology-driven transformation, operations, security, and intelligence activities. Mr. Edens has led the rapid implementation of over $4.5B integrated platforms systems. Mr. Edens is a plank holder member of the National Cyber Moonshot.
Mr. Edens led high performing organizations within the Special Operations and Intelligence Communities during multiple global deployments including Afghanistan and Iraq as a Senior DoD Intelligence Civilian, DoD contractor, and a US Army, active duty, Commissioned Officer. Under his leadership, activities were awarded 4 Defense Superior Civilian Service Awards (3rd highest award to a DoD Intel Civilian), 14 Bronze Stars, 12 Army Commendation Medals, and 6 Army Achievement Medals.
Mr. Edens has served across various public and private capacities leading highly technical, complex, and extremely demanding DoD technology-driven transformation, operations, security, and intelligence activities. Mr. Edens has led the rapid implementation of over $4.5B integrated platforms systems. Mr. Edens is a plank holder member of the National Cyber Moonshot.
Mr. Edens led high performing organizations within the Special Operations and Intelligence Communities during multiple global deployments including Afghanistan and Iraq as a Senior DoD Intelligence Civilian, DoD contractor, and a US Army, active duty, Commissioned Officer. Under his leadership, activities were awarded 4 Defense Superior Civilian Service Awards (3rd highest award to a DoD Intel Civilian), 14 Bronze Stars, 12 Army Commendation Medals, and 6 Army Achievement Medals.
George Finney is Chief Information Security Officer at SMU, an author, speaker, professor, consultant and founder of Well Aware Security that believes that people are the key to solving our cybersecurity challenges. George is the bestselling author of several cybersecurity books, including Project Zero Trust and the Book of the Year Award winning, Well Aware: Master the Nine Cybersecurity Habits to Protect Your Future. George was recognized in 2021 as one of the top 100 CISOs in the world by CISOs Connect and has worked in Cybersecurity for over 20 years helping startups, global telecommunications firms, and nonprofits improve their security posture.
Jim is the Director of Education and Content at FutureFeed.co, where he brings a broad range of legal, technical, and business expertise to the team. He is a Founding Director and former Board Treasurer of the CMMC Accreditation Body (now called the CyberAB), a CMMC Provisional Instructor, CMMC Provisional Assessor, Certified CMMC Professional, and has passed the Certified CMMC Assessor exam. Jim also authored and taught the CyberAB’s initial Registered Practitioner program. Jim earned a BSECE from Drexel University and JD and LLM degrees from George Mason University.
Jim spent most of his professional career working in the cybersecurity field. He has worked for and counseled a variety of organizations, from various portions of the United States government, including the U.S. House of Representatives and United States Coastguard; to government contractors, including Unisys Corporation and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; to start-up technology and consulting companies.
Jim regularly speaks at domestic and international cybersecurity conferences and has been called upon as an expert witness on cybersecurity, IT, and government contracts issues. Jim is the author of 2 forthcoming books about the government’s Controlled Unclassified Information (“CUI”) program. He is also the co-author of a Certified CMMC Professional (“CCP”) curriculum taught by several training providers nationally. Jim’s research into the application of Enterprise Risk Management techniques to the field of cyber and privacy governance has been published by the Supreme Court of Singapore in their National Law Journal and in two different books published by LexisNexis.
Jim is also a co-founder of the CMMC Information Institute, a non-profit organization helping small businesses to better understand and meet their cybersecurity and data privacy obligations. When he isn’t working, teaching, or volunteering with the Institute, Jim can be found swimming, kayaking, and fishing with his kids.
Stuart Itkin brings unique perspective to CMMC and the challenges organizations, both large and small face in satisfying government regulations and operating their businesses. As Vice President of NeoSystems, Itkin is focused on bringing managed services, software, and consulting to address the compliance, cybersecurity, and back office needs of small and medium businesses. Formerly Vice President of CMMC and FedRAMP Assurance at Coalfire Federal, Itkin led the company through its DIBCAC assessment and the process of becoming one of the first authorized C3PAOs. Itkin previously served as Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at Exostar, a joint venture company between Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, BAE Systems and Rolls Royce. There he had responsibility over the company’s compliance management, supply chain risk management, and secure collaboration platforms, and for establishing its CMMC practice area. Stuart has served in leadership roles with cybersecurity companies PivotPoint Risk
Analytics, SAIFE, and ThreatTrack Security; as lead mentor at the Virginia StateGovernment funded MACH37 cybersecurity product accelerator and as an advisor and board member to several early and growth stage cybersecurity companies. Stuart earned a BA and an MA and is ABD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Analytics, SAIFE, and ThreatTrack Security; as lead mentor at the Virginia StateGovernment funded MACH37 cybersecurity product accelerator and as an advisor and board member to several early and growth stage cybersecurity companies. Stuart earned a BA and an MA and is ABD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Jerry is a trusted advisor and advocate for in-house counsel, compliance officers and senior leadership to ensure they can effectively navigate complex regulatory, legal and contractual risks and obligations. He leads CROWN Information Security supporting Defense and critical infrastructure suppliers of all sizes and cybersecurity postures.
He is an expert at risk-based approaches embracing right-size outcomes that are cost-optimized to meet an organizations required security and compliance requirements. He is closely aligned with industry and technology leaders including Microsoft, AWS and Google in delivering world- class solutions.
Jerry is active nationally on the CMMC Standards Council, member of the CMMC AB Standards Workgroup, a Provisional CMMC Assessor and Certified CMMC Professional (CCP). Jerry speaks nationally on Cybersecurity and DFARS/CMMC impacts and supply chain. He partners with private/public organizations to increase the Pacific Northwest Defense and Aerospace manufacturer awareness and adoption.
He is an expert at risk-based approaches embracing right-size outcomes that are cost-optimized to meet an organizations required security and compliance requirements. He is closely aligned with industry and technology leaders including Microsoft, AWS and Google in delivering world- class solutions.
Jerry is active nationally on the CMMC Standards Council, member of the CMMC AB Standards Workgroup, a Provisional CMMC Assessor and Certified CMMC Professional (CCP). Jerry speaks nationally on Cybersecurity and DFARS/CMMC impacts and supply chain. He partners with private/public organizations to increase the Pacific Northwest Defense and Aerospace manufacturer awareness and adoption.
Lincoln Neely is the CEO of Beryllium Infosec, Inc. Since 2017, Beryllium has been helping federal government contractors meet DFARS regulations, NIST 800-171 requirements, and the emerging CMMC program with practical consulting and their secure virtual enclave, Cuick Trac™.
Previously, Lincoln worked for Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services where he helped the Chief Innovation Officer run the Advanced Concepts & Technology (ACT) group. While there, he developed and invested in mission-critical technologies in the fields of AI/ML, computer vision, unmanned aerial systems (UAS), counter-UAS, battlefield autonomy and more. Before that, Lincoln worked on multiple programs at Raytheon involving the architecture, operations, sustainment, and cybersecurity compliance of large-scale intelligence data systems with both classified and unclassified components.
Lincoln graduated from Washington and Lee University with a degree in Physics-Engineering and has an MBA from The Wharton School. He serves on the National Development Board of the Human Trafficking Institute, and on the Foundation Board of the Callier Center for Communication Disorders.
Mitch Niemela is the Vice President of Sales at Toolcraft Inc., a leading manufacturer of precision CNC machined products for the aerospace, medical, and defense industries. Mitch is a second-generation family member of Toolcraft, following in the footsteps of his father, who founded the company in 1990. With 17 years in the industry, his focus is setting the company up for long term success by meeting the evolving requirements of customers.
Mitch lives in Snohomish, Washington with his wife and eight children. He enjoys cycling, golfing, and projects around the house in spare time.
Scott is President and CEO of Premier LogiTech which is a leading logistics provider of lifecycle services and technology. Premier is an award-winning company as recognized by the Inc5000, Dallas 100, TWC Champion, ICIC100, SBDC Champion and many others. Scott strategically shifted the core business from packaging logistics to technology integration, delivery and reverse logistics services in the commercial and Federal markets resulting in triple digit growth over 5 years. Scott also acquired 6 companies to complete the services vision including managed services, depot repair, PCBA manufacturing, software and peripheral capabilities. Previously, Scott worked for four start-up organizations in which he built and directed high growth sales and operational teams. While at these start-ups, Scott was influential in the financial aspects of capital raise, IPO, analyst’s discussions, sourcing, due diligence and integration.
Prior to Premier, Scott served as Executive Vice President of Operations and Sales at Truckload USA, Inc., a $20 million privately held Supply Chain Management start-up funded by Austin Ventures. Scott was instrumental in the implementation of a large systems implementation, as well as development of the distribution and logistics model.
Prior to Truckload USA, Inc., Scott was Director of Worldwide Sales for Chorum Technologies, and held numerous sales and operations roles for technology companies including Digital Lightwave and JDS Uniphase (NASD: JDSU). He led sales for a company that ranked 2nd on the NASDAQ in 1999, while earning E & Y Fast Tech 50 Award and the Dallas 100.Scott also received advanced training in Civil Engineering from the Army Corps ofEngineers where he attained rank of Major as a Combat Engineer in numerus theaters. He was awarded several Army decorations for outstanding service.
Mr. Paul earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the U. S. Military Academy and has an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas. He was selected to attend the MBEP programs at Fosters Business School and John F Kennedy University. While at the Military Academy, Mr. Paul lettered in Basketball and Baseball, was regimental class committee chairman, and served on Brigade Staff. Scott has served on several non-profit boards as well as being the President for the West Point Society of North Texas and North Texas Chapter for JDRF.
Prior to Premier, Scott served as Executive Vice President of Operations and Sales at Truckload USA, Inc., a $20 million privately held Supply Chain Management start-up funded by Austin Ventures. Scott was instrumental in the implementation of a large systems implementation, as well as development of the distribution and logistics model.
Prior to Truckload USA, Inc., Scott was Director of Worldwide Sales for Chorum Technologies, and held numerous sales and operations roles for technology companies including Digital Lightwave and JDS Uniphase (NASD: JDSU). He led sales for a company that ranked 2nd on the NASDAQ in 1999, while earning E & Y Fast Tech 50 Award and the Dallas 100.Scott also received advanced training in Civil Engineering from the Army Corps ofEngineers where he attained rank of Major as a Combat Engineer in numerus theaters. He was awarded several Army decorations for outstanding service.
Mr. Paul earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the U. S. Military Academy and has an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas. He was selected to attend the MBEP programs at Fosters Business School and John F Kennedy University. While at the Military Academy, Mr. Paul lettered in Basketball and Baseball, was regimental class committee chairman, and served on Brigade Staff. Scott has served on several non-profit boards as well as being the President for the West Point Society of North Texas and North Texas Chapter for JDRF.
Robert Teague has 30+ years of operational and strategic leadership experience in information technology and cybersecurity operations in the United States Army. He is currently the Senior Manager, CMMC Services for Clearwater, providing consultation and management to the defense industrial base (DIB), health care systems and their supporting businesses. He is a Certified Cybersecruity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Assessor (CCA) and a Certified CMMC Professional (CCP). He is a member of the Exam Development Committee, which develops and validates the certification examination fo the Cybersecurity Assessor and Instructor Certification Organization (CAICO). Robert is a member of the CMMC Standards Council and C3PAO Forum. He has a BA in Business Administration and a MBA in Business Administration and Strategic Leadership. He is a graduate of the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy, Class of 1962.
Mr. Travis is the first chief executive officer of the Cyber Accreditation Body (the Cyber AB). Previously, Travis served as the first deputy director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the nation’s leading civilian cybersecurity agency. There he oversaw the day-to-day operations of the $2+ billion, 2000+ employee organization across the full range of its mission in cybersecurity, infrastructure protections and emergency communications. Prior to this position, he was the deputy undersecretary for national protection (NPPD) within the Department of Homeland Security.
Before entering government service in 2018, Travis served as vice president of homeland security for Cadmus, a security, energy, and environmental professional services firm. He joined Cadmus when the security consultancy he co-founded, Obsidian Analysis, Inc., was acquired by Cadmus in 2016.
A former naval officer, Travis served as an engineering auxiliaries officer aboard the guided-missile frigate U.S.S. CARR (FFG 52). He then served a tour as White House Liaison to the Secretary of the Navy and was also a White House Military Aide. He is a 1991 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and holds a master’s in national security studies from Georgetown University. He has appeared on both CNN and MSNBC in providing analysis of cybersecurity and homeland security issues.
Before entering government service in 2018, Travis served as vice president of homeland security for Cadmus, a security, energy, and environmental professional services firm. He joined Cadmus when the security consultancy he co-founded, Obsidian Analysis, Inc., was acquired by Cadmus in 2016.
A former naval officer, Travis served as an engineering auxiliaries officer aboard the guided-missile frigate U.S.S. CARR (FFG 52). He then served a tour as White House Liaison to the Secretary of the Navy and was also a White House Military Aide. He is a 1991 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and holds a master’s in national security studies from Georgetown University. He has appeared on both CNN and MSNBC in providing analysis of cybersecurity and homeland security issues.
Fred Tschirgi brings over 20 years of experience as a technologist, business owner, educator and author. With a heavy background in regulatory compliance and a passion for teaching, Fred has spoken around the world about DFARS conformance and CMMC. Because he started his career as a Cyber Security Specialist in the United States Marine Corps, Fred understands the importance of a well-maintained and comprehensive security strategy that can effectively be quantified and communicated. Fred’s holds a B.S. Degree in Business Management with a focus on project management and a wide array of professional certifications.