Ketrin Adam is a FBI Special Agent and the Private Sector Coordinator (PSC) for the FBI’s Los Angeles InfraGard program. As PSC for the FBI’s Los Angeles InfraGard program, she is the primary liaison with the private sector for the protection of critical infrastructure and the American people. Before her PSC role, she spent time at FBI Headquarters as a Supervisory Special Agent in the FBI's Public Corruption Unit (PCU) and worked corruption investigations. Prior to her work with the FBI, SA Adam was a Special Agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and worked as a civil investigator with the US Department of Labor, investigating accounting fraud in pension plans. SA Adam has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in History from the University of Virginia, a Master of Arts (MA) in International Relations from Regent's College in London, England. She is also a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and a certified FBI Adjunct Faculty Professor (AFP).

Andrew Alipanah is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the County of Orange, California, bringing over 16 years of dedicated service to municipalities, emergency services, and law enforcement agencies across Orange County. Previously, Andrew served as the CISO for the City of Riverside and as Cybersecurity Operations Manager for the County of Orange.
In 2019, Andrew spearheaded the development of the County’s first Security Operations Center (SOC), making it only the second 24x7x365 SOC established by a California county. Today, he oversees the County's comprehensive cybersecurity program for Enterprise IT services, ensuring the protection and resilience of critical systems and data.
Under Andrew's leadership, Orange County's cybersecurity program is built on five core disciplines:
Cybersecurity Operations: Including the continuous monitoring, detection, analysis and response to threats as well as incident response.
Cyber Resilience: Focused on risk management, vulnerability assessments, and audits.
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR): Ensuring operational continuity and rapid recovery.
IT Forensics and eDiscovery: Supporting investigations and legal compliance.
Privacy: Safeguarding sensitive information and maintaining regulatory compliance.
Andrew strongly advocates for collaboration within the SLTT community and actively engages in various partnerships to promote a secure-by-design approach to adopting innovative solutions.

Enrique Alvarez is a Public Sector Advisor in Google Cloud’s Office of the Chief Information Security Officer (OCISO). He specializes in assisting State, Local, and Educational partners, – including the US Government and Department of Defense – in adopting cloud and AI-enabled transformational goals. Prior to joining Google, Enrique retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after serving as a special agent and supervisor, where he led a cyber investigative squad focused on state-sponsored threat actors. Enrique also served as a commissioned officer in the US Navy, retiring from the reserve component in 2013. 

Rob Centeno is a seasoned technology executive and the Deputy Director for the Technology & Innovation Department for the City of Long Beach. With over 35 years of experience leading global IT operations, digital transformation, and business development across diverse industries—including media, engineering, and public sector—Rob is recognized for driving innovation and operational excellence.
In his current role, Rob oversees the four technical bureaus in the Technology & Innovation department, providing strategic leadership to advance digital modernization and align technology initiatives with the City’s broader objectives. Previously, he held executive leadership positions at NBCUniversal and AECOM, where he spearheaded major technology initiatives and global IT operations, delivering high business value through modernization, process automation, and cloud transformation.
Rob’s leadership is defined by collaboration, integrity, and a commitment to continuous improvement. He is known for translating complex business requirements into scalable technology solutions that support organizational goals. Outside of work, Rob enjoys spending time with his family, golfing, boating, watching sports, and cooking.

Mr. Chao has 20+ years of experience providing support to Department of War (DoW) and other government agencies. Yu is a Cyber Incident Responder & Network Defender with the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal-OES) Cybesecurity Integration Center (Cal-CSIC) and also a Cyber Defense Analyst with the California Army National Guard (CAARNG) Cyber Protection Team 171. Mr. Chao's expertise and experience ranges from signals intelligence (SIGINT), all source intelligence, to cybersecurity, and cyber threat analysis. SFC Chao holds a B.S. in Diplomacy and International Relations from Seton Hall University, a M.A. in International Relations & M.S. in Cybersecurity Engineering from the University of San Diego and various cybersecurity industry certifications.

With 25 years of experience delivering IT services in the Public Sector, Brendan Daly is a Deputy Director and the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the City of San Diego, CA where he develops and implements security architecture, risk management, security policy and leads cross-functional teams in support of the City’s Strategic Plan.

Dr. Torsten George is an internationally recognized cybersecurity expert, author, and speaker with nearly 30 years of experience in the global IT security community. He regularly provides commentary and publishes articles on data breaches, insider threats, compliance frameworks, and IT security best practices. He is also the co-author of the Zero Trust Privilege for Dummies book. Torsten is currently serving as cybersecurity evangelist at ID Dataweb, a recognized leader in identity threat detection and risk mitigation.

Chief Information Security Officer, City of Los Angeles, California

Tim leads the comprehensive cybersecurity strategies for America's second-largest city. He oversees the award-winning Integrated Security Operations Center, which processes over one billion security events daily to protect critical city services. Timothy also founded America's first city-led cybersecurity collaboration, the LA Cyber Lab, nationally recognized for its innovative public-private partnerships. With deep expertise in security operations, incident response, compliance, and risk management, he shapes cybersecurity practices across all City departments, ensuring resilience at scale and strengthening operational defense for over 40,000 employees.

Jake Margolis is the Chief Information Security Officer for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). MWD provides water to over 19 million people in Southern California through 26 member agencies. While serving at Metropolitan, he has overseen the implementation of foundational zero trust network access programs and the creation of  MWD's cybersecurity operations center.  Jake was recognized as one of Cyber Defense Media's top CISOs for 2024. Prior to joining Metropolitan Water District, he served as the CISO for the County of Orange in California. In his capacity as the County of Orange CISO he has oversaw the development and implementation of multiple countywide cybersecurity initiatives that lead the County to receive an award from the National Association of Counties for its Cybersecurity Program in 2018.  During his military service Jake was the Information Assurance Manager for the California National Guard and California Military Department and served in Command and Primary Staff capacities as a US Army Officer. 

Don Nguyen is the Business Information Security Officer for the Metrolink – Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA). Metrolink provides commuter rail service in Southern California through five member agencies, and it is one of the first rail systems in the U.S. to operate zero-emission locomotives and Tier 4 clean diesel engines, making it a leader in sustainable transit. Metrolink is the third-largest commuter rail system in the U.S. based on directional route miles, with over 545 miles of track, and ranked 9th for ridership in the U.S. Before joining Metrolink, Don held key cyber leadership roles in the Fintech, Biotech, Healthcare, Higher Education, Retail, Manufacturing, and Defense sectors; he has over 15 years of cybersecurity experience. During his military service, Don served as the Cyberspace Director for the U.S. Air Force Cyber and retired as a senior military officer. Also, Don is currently a Cyber Expert Advisor of the U.S. Marine Corps Cyber Auxiliary.

Mr. Allen Ohanian is a globally respected Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and scholar-practitioner with over 20 years of visionary leadership in cybersecurity and regulatory compliance. His work has helped establish new standards for resilience and innovation in the public sector. As the Information Security Officer for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS)—the nation’s largest child welfare agency—Mr. Ohanian has built cybersecurity and privacy programs from the ground up. Through the strategic implementation of FISMA-aligned controls and strict adherence to NIST 800-53 and ISO 27001 standards, he has significantly reduced risk and positioned DCFS as a national model for cybersecurity in the public sector.
A recognized leader in cybersecurity governance, Mr. Ohanian chaired the Countywide Risk Management Cybersecurity Team, spearheading zero trust architectures to protect critical information assets. His collaboration with regulatory bodies, law enforcement, and industry vendors ensures alignment with NIST SP 800-171, CISA guidelines, and global cybersecurity frameworks.
Mr. Ohanian is also a dedicated cybersecurity educator and mentor. At TUMO Labs’ CyberTech Sprint, he has mentored over 1,000 students from around the world, guiding projects in phishing detection, deepfake mitigation, and secure file-sharing—all designed to meet HIPAA and GDPR requirements. He has authored more than 20 educational resources, including a 100-module cybersecurity curriculum and AI-based frameworks built on retrieval, classification, and language modeling. His focus on cyber psychology and human-centered design has strengthened compliance practices at DCFS and contributed to global cybersecurity awareness efforts.
A sought-after keynote speaker, Mr. Ohanian has spoken at international forums such as WCIT, CISO 360, the Arab International Cybersecurity Summit, and Interop, delivering critical insights on AI in security, zero trust implementation, and regulatory compliance. As a Ph.D. Dissertation Committee Member at Claremont Graduate University’s Center for Information Systems & Technology, he advances applied cybersecurity research. His ongoing Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology explores behavioral models for AI-augmented security, informing both TUMO’s educational tools and DCFS’s risk frameworks.
Mr. Ohanian holds a B.S. in Computer Science (magna cum laude) from Cal Poly Pomona and dual Master’s degrees in Cybersecurity and Business Administration from the University of Maryland. He has received multiple Information Security Officer of the Year awards. Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Capella University, Mr. Ohanian’s research focuses on developing behavioral models for AI-augmented cybersecurity—advancing workforce resilience and human-centered compliance frameworks.

Lillian Russell, Esq., CIPP/US, CIPM, RIMS-CRMP is the first Chief Privacy Officer for the County of Los Angeles. She leads the Office of Privacy within the County's Chief Executive Office - Risk Management, and has over the past six years, has managed the development of the County’s groundbreaking data privacy program across 39 County departments. In this capacity, her responsibilities span from privacy program development, HIPAA compliance, cyber insurance/risk, vendor management, and serving on multiple committees including the Incident Response Team. Prior to her role, Lillian served for eight years as Deputy County Counsel in the Los Angeles County Counsel's Office, as well as Deputy Public Conservator/Administrator with the Los Angeles County's Department of Mental Health. Before coming to Los Angeles County, Lillian was a Government Relations Policy Consultant with UnitedHealth/ Optum Rx, and an Attorney with Liberty Mutual Insurance. Lillian has a law degree and Certificate in Health Law from the University of Pittsburgh and dual Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of California, Riverside in Political Science/ Public Service and Sociology. Lillian is a licensed attorney in California, and holds certifications from the International Association of Privacy Professionals as a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US), Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM), and RIMS Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) from the Risk Management Society.

Ed has over 25 years of experience in the design, development, deployment and operations of privacy sensitive electronic service delivery solutions for both public sector and banking clients. Ed’s involvement in the domains of Identity, Credential and Access management, web content management and service transformation started with his participation in the creation of the Central Frame Database at Statistics Canada. He went on to participate in the creation of the Strategis ID and the web content management solutions at Industry Canada and has made immense contributions to the Govt of Canada's vision for citizen and business centric access to information and transactions. 

James Thurmond is a seasoned cybersecurity leader with over 25 years of diverse experience. He currently serves as the Interim Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Los Angeles County where he oversees cybersecurity strategy and governance. Previously, as Director of IT Security for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), James established a comprehensive strategic vision and plan, while managing day-to-day security operations, governance, and cyber risk management. Under his leadership, LAUSD’s security posture advanced significantly, laying a roadmap for ISO 27001 certification.
James’s expertise goes beyond cybersecurity, to include full IT operation management, law enforcement, physical security, application development, fire/life safety, and building automation systems. During his tenure with the City of Chicago, he served as Deputy Commissioner of IT for the Department of Buildings and as an IT Program Manager with the Chicago Police Department. He also served as Director of Solutions Development, managing international DevOps teams in the U.S., Mexico, Australia, the U.K., Canada, and China. As a former police officer and a US Army servicemember, he brings a mission-driven approach to every role. His combined experience positions him as a dynamic leader who delivers strategic and technical excellence.
James holds a Master’s in Information Systems Management and a Bachelor’s in Psychology, complementing his technical and leadership skills with a strong understanding of people and organizational dynamics. He also holds certifications including CISSP and CGEIT.

With over 26 years of experience in Information Security, Risk and Compliance, Chad Vargason has dedicated 17 of those years to the public sector securing our critical infrastructure.  In March 2019, Chad joined the County of San Diego as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and works every day toward securing our County and Region.