Speaker Spotlight

Chad E. Brown is the Division Chief for the Future Systems Projects Office in Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In this position, Brown is focused on supporting future Artemis campaign efforts and providing the strategic framework for how the unique skills developed in the EGS Program can be leveraged to make the enterprise more successful.

Most recently, Brown served as the Branch Chief for the Technical Process Management Branch in the EGS Systems Engineering and Integration Division. From 2015 to 2017, he served as the Advanced Planning and Payload Integration Manager, where he served as the Senior Program Technical Integration Manager for payloads manifested on the Space Launch System (SLS), such as the Artemis I secondary payloads, Europa Clipper, and Gateway’s International Habitation Module.

Prior to that, Brown served as the SLS Lead Flight Integration Engineer and SLS Liaison for the Launch Vehicle Branch of the Flights Systems and Operations Integration Division within the former Ground Systems Development and Operation Program (GSDO, now EGS) at the center.

Brown began his career at Kennedy in 2004 and contributed to major NASA programs, including Launch Services, Constellation, and GSDO. From 2007 to 2010, he served as the Ares V Project Manager and Ares I Upper Stage Mechanical Project Manager for the Constellation Ground Operations Project in support of the agency’s Constellation Program.

From 2004 to 2007 he was a Structural Engineer for the Launch Services Program (LSP). In this position, he was responsible for insight and oversight of LSP flight hardware with primary responsibility for large composite flight structures.

Anamo CDM, a patent-pending commercial-grade CDM Cybersecurity platform, has answered the call of CISA, the DHS, and other requests from the DoD Supply-Chain.
Harnessing the power of advanced ML and Generative AI, Anamo CDM is pushing toward the delivery of “Predictive Cybersecurity Threat Extrapolation.” How so? Anamo collects essential User, Group, Risk, Permission, Vulnerability, Software, History, and Forensic data and dynamically delivers that requested information in near Real-Time. Due to the platform service delivery, Anamo has captured broad interest from US- based enterprise businesses and many members/agencies across the US Aerospace and Defense supply chain. Subsequently, Anamo has enjoyed receiving invitations to visits at both the White House and the Pentagon.

As cyber security professional, my career focus has been to secure applications and reduce organizational risk and threat landscape, by providing consultation and subject matter expert feedback on securing applications design and implementation.

My area of knowledge spans through all phases of the SDLC, with active hands-on knowledge of threat modeling, secure design, static code analysis, penetration testing and continuous monitoring and security (defensive) operations.

I have been able to collaborate with internal and external customers, ranging from Fortune 10 companies, government/Defense contractors, Big 4 accounting firms, multi-nationals as well as small and medium sized business. I was afforded the opportunity to work in the Healthcare, Financial Services, Tech Services and Consulting industries.

I have broad experience providing secure architecture recommendations aligned with the Information Security Policies and industry best practices, performing threat modeling, conducting vulnerability assessments, web application, mobile application and network penetration tests, secure/static coding analysis, application security assessments, automating and embedding security in SDLC, fostering Security in DevOps work streams.

Maj. Gen. Stephen G. Purdy, Jr., is the Military Deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, Washington, D.C. He also serves as the Space Force University Partnership Program Champion for the University of Texas Austin.

Maj. Gen. Purdy as Military Deputy is responsible for research and development, worth more than $24 billion annually. His responsibilities include crafting program strategies and options for representing DAF positions to the office of the Secretary of Defense, Congress and the White House.

Maj. Gen. Purdy entered the Air Force as a Distinguished Graduate of the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Baylor University in 1993. He has served in a variety of engineering, acquisition and policy capacities, including assignments at the Air Force Laboratory, the Pentagon, Congress, Space and Missile Systems Center and Headquarters United States Space Force. He has served as an Air Force Intern, Space/Nuclear/Cyber Congressional Appropriations Liaison, Materiel Leader in the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Program, Senior Materiel Leader for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency Program, Director Special Programs, Space and Missile Systems Center, and as the dual hatted Space Operations Command’s Director, Requirements, Architectures and Analysis and the Director, Plans, Programs and Financial Management. Prior to his current assignment, General Purdy was quad hatted as Program Executive Officer for Assured Access to Space; Commander, Space Launch Delta 45; Director of Launch and Range Operations, Space Systems Command; and Director of the Eastern Range, Patrick Space Force Base, Florida.

John Sanders, TS/SCI CI Poly Access, Lt. Col., U.S. Army, Intelligence (ret.), is an expert in Cyberspace and Cybersecurity for both government and commercial sectors. He is uniquely- qualified as an expert to advise business boards of directors, C-suite executives, and government officials on critical applications of state-of-the-art cybersecurity technology, practices, and countermeasures. A gifted communicator of the complex into plain, understandable terms, makes John a remarkable asset in boardrooms, and among C-suite executives, grappling with cybersecurity challenges.

John has over 28 years of experience as an intelligence professional in the U.S. Army, Industry, and the Intelligence Community. He served as an Executive Officer to the Deputy Director National Intelligence, Policy, Plans, and Requirements, Office of the Director of National Intelligence. He is skilled in working with high level intelligence policies, programs, and strategies for Cyberspace and Cybersecurity for both the commercial and government sectors. He has also worked on cyber analytic efforts to include characterization of signature and non- signature based cyber threats across the 7 layers of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model critical to the interoperability of diverse communications systems with standardized protocols.

While on active duty, he orchestrated Computer Network Operations (CNO) and Cyberspace campaign planning and implementation for Intelligence and Security Command, which led to the formation of the Army’s 1st Cyber Brigade. He is an Army trained strategic planner, and he graduated from the prestigious School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS), a component of the Army’s Command and General Staff College, at Ft Leavenworth, Kansas. The mission of SAMS is to educate members of the Armed Forces, our Allies, and the Interagency at the graduate level to become agile and adaptive leaders who are critical and creative thinkers who produce viable options to solve operational and strategic problems. He was awarded a Master’s Degree in Military Art and Science from this program. He is a Knowlton Award recipient – a very prestigious award given to selected Army Intelligence professionals.

Founder of his own consulting company, John provides Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, Forensic Analysis, Insider Threat, and Data Analytics support services to the Intelligence Community, Department of Defense, and to private sector clients. His private sector clients have included a Fortune 500 company, and a large defense IT contractor, on Cyber Strategy and Cybersecurity capability development for commercial offerings and large government contract efforts. He also works as a contracted Senior Cybersecurity Research Analytic Consultant for the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) Special Security Directorate staff, providing Subject Matter Expertise on Cyber Technical Policy and Strategy.

John holds a bachelor’s degree from Dallas Baptist University, in Business Administration. He also earned a master’s degree in Telecommunications Management from Webster University, where he graduated with honors. John is a Bronze Star recipient, Airborne Ranger, and Combat Veteran, having served two combat tours (Iraq) in the 82nd Airborne Division. He is an honorary Admiral in the Texas Navy.

Samuel S. Visner is the Director of the National Cybersecurity Federally Funded Research and Development Center (NCF), which MITRE manages in support of the NIST National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE).

In this role, Visner oversees efforts to bring together experts from industry, government, and academia to demonstrate integrated cybersecurity solutions that are cost-effective, repeatable, and scalable. The FFRDC is the first of its kind dedicated to cybersecurity.

Visner joined MITRE from an executive position at ICF International, which advises business and government entities on issues related to health, homeland security, defense, and energy. He also held leadership positions at CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation) and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).

In addition, he served as Chief of Signals Intelligence Programs at the National Security Agency, where he was awarded the agency’s Exceptional Civilian Service Award in 2003. Visner has been a leader in public/private partnerships and collaborations, including the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, the Air Force Communications and Electronics Association, the Professional Services Council, and the National Academy of Science. Throughout his career, he has worked across multiple federal sponsors. He sits on the Army Science Board, and serves as an Adjunct Professor of cybersecurity at Georgetown University.

Visner holds a bachelor’s degree in international politics from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He earned a master’s degree in telecommunications from George Washington University.

Walt Yates & Associates provides knowledge based services in modeling & simulation for training systems, acquisition trade-space analysis, and risk management. Seventeen years of practice in design and application of simulation-based training, program development, and procurement planning for cost effective technology transition to Department of Defense users. Specific areas of expertise include cost avoidance estimation for new technology and cybersecurity policy compliance for the Risk Management Framework (RMF) and Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC).