Advisory Council for Cyber Operations
Executive Committee 2025 - 2027
Board Members
Dr. Tamirat Abegaz, Professor & Graduate Coordinator, University of North Georgia
Glennis Barnes, Area Manager - Gainesville, Georgia Power
Luke Brady ('18 BS CS), Software Engineer, NVIDIA
Dave Branch ('93 BA English), Principal Advisor, Touchstone Futures
Ryan Campbell, Security CSM - US Public Sector, Cisco
Rob Cherveny, CISO, University of North Georgia
Julia Chester ('13 BS C.I.S.), Identity and Data Governance Manager, SAIA, Inc.
Caitlin Conneely, Deputy Dir., Cyber Institute, University of North Georgia
Alec Diaz ('18 BS CS), Regional Sales Engineer, CrowdStrike
Alin P. Dobre, Solutions Architect, Trideum Corporation
Jacob Elliott ('10 BS CS), Principal, Dark Wolf Solutions
LTG Steve Fogarty ('83 BA History), Senior Executive Advisor, Booz Allen Hamilton
Aaron Fritz, President, Inertia Legal
Christian Gibbs, Penetration Tester, Abricto Security
Andrew Gomez ('18 BS CS), Consultant, SpecterOps
Scott Hand ('01 BS CIS), Software Development Manager, Amazon Web Services
Des Henderson ('21 BS Cyber), Application and Platform Security Engineer, Morgan Stanley
Steven Herring, Sr. ('17 BS C.I.S.), Cyber Defense Center Lead, Randstad
Benjamin Huckaba ('23 BS Cyber), Software Reverse Engineer, Cryptic Vector
Robert Ingram, Academic Liaison, NSA-Georgia
LTG James Jarrard ('88), Professor of Practice, University of North Georgia
Kyle Johnson ('11 BS C.I.S.), Senior Engineer, Georgia System Operations Corporation
Grady Johnston, Global Director of Bus. Dev., eSentire
Jeff Jones, Founder and CEO, Barrix Nexus Group
Dale Jordan, Perspectives Cyber & Technology Advisors
Dr. John Leyba, Dean, College of Science & Math, University of North Georgia
Dr. Lindsay Linsky, Professor, College of Education, University of North Georgia
Mallik Medarametla, Founder and Chief Architect, Samprasoft
Brian Murray ('07 BS C.I.S.), Sr. Manager Cyber Security Audit, Equifax
Eric Niconovich ('22 BS Cyber), Sr. Cybersecurity Engineer, Chick-fil-A
Vernon O'Neal, Senior Vice-President, USI Insurance Services
Dr. Bryson Payne ('97 BS, '99 MEd), Director, Institute for Cyber Ops, University of North Georgia
1st Lt. Bradford Regeski ('19 BS Computer Science), Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst, Retail & Hospitality ISAC, USMCR
Todd Renner, Senior Managing Director, FTI Consulting
Joesph Saunders, Founder & CEO, RunSafe Security
Alyssa Scott ('22 BS Cyber), Digital Forensic Investigator, GBI
Steve Shepherd, Director of Development, CSM, University of North Georgia
Dr. Dianna Spence, Interim Dept Head, CS+Cyber, University of North Georgia
Dean Thalman, Sr. Manager Security & Network Ops, RPC, Inc.
Jonathan Vinson, UX Designer, Tektonux
Shannon Whiting ('18 M.B.A.), SVP, Business Information Security Manager, Truist
LTC Heath Williams ('89 BS CRJU), AVP and Chief of Staff, Cadet Leadership Academy
Joseph Winters, Sr. Director, Cyber & Intelligence Sector, Peraton