Speakers

Paul Blahusch has more than three decades of cyber and IT security experience with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). He serves as the Director of Cybersecurity and the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the U.S. Department of Labor in the Office of the Chief Information Officer. In this role, Paul supports the Department’s overall mission by promoting and bolstering enterprise-wide cybersecurity efforts. As CISO, he is responsible for security initiatives within the department, including but not limited to regulatory compliance and oversight, Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) implementation and planning, computer awareness and training, and computer security incident response.

He previously served as the Information Technology Security Officer for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Paul Blahusch holds a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. He is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

West Coile serves as Assistant Director of the Center for Enhanced Cybersecurity at the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), and has over 20 years of audit experience, with an emphasis on reviews of many complex and highly interconnected computer control environments both inside and outside of government. He has led and executed a wide variety of computer security reviews to evaluate the adequacy of information systems general and application controls. 

Puesh M. Kumar leads the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER). The office is focused on strengthening the security and resilience of the U.S. energy sector from cyber, physical, and climate-based risks and disruptions. 

Puesh manages over 150 federal employees and numerous contractors who are engaged in National- and State-level policy development, executing technical assistance, conducting research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects, managing the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and leading emergency response efforts in the U.S. energy sector. He represents the Department at National Security Council (NSC) meetings on cybersecurity and resilience, leads executive-level coordination with the private sector including the CEO-led Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC) and senior executive-led Oil and Natural Gas Subsector Coordinating Council (ONG SCC), and leads U.S. energy sector security and resilience coordination with Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other federal agencies.

Puesh has over 20 years of experience spanning grid modernization, security, and resilience efforts within the energy sector. He has worked on issues ranging from cybersecurity to wildfire resilience. He has also engaged on topics cloud security, artificial intelligence, grid reliability, electrification, and supply chain security.

Previously, Puesh was the principal manager for cybersecurity engineering and risk management at Southern California Edison, which is the largest electric utility serving the Los Angeles area. There, he led a team that addressed cyber risks to electricity infrastructure, including emerging technologies such as battery storage, renewable energy, and operational technologies. Puesh previously served as director of preparedness and exercises for DOE’s Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration division and as senior advisor for policy and strategy at CESER. 

Puesh has also held industry positions at the American Public Power Association as director of engineering and operations and at Memphis Light, Gas, and Water as a power systems electrical engineer. In 2020, Puesh received the United States Secretary of Energy’s Exceptional Service Award.

La Monte R. Yarborough was appointed Acting Deputy Chief Information Officer (DCIO) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on December 4, 2023.  

La Monte also maintains his role as Chief Information Security Officer and Executive Director, Office of Information Security where he fosters an enterprise-wide secure and trusted environment in support of HHSs commitment to better health and well-being of the American people.  La Monte became Acting CISO on January 18, 2022, and then CISO on July 17, 2022.

From January 2020 to January 2022, La Monte served as CISO for HHS’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) where he spearheaded a multidisciplinary cybersecurity team comprised of IT professionals, auditors, evaluators, investigators and attorneys focused on combatting cybersecurity threats within HHS and the healthcare industry. Within this period, La Monte also served as the Acting CIO and eventually the Director for the Operations and Management Division, where his focus was to bring secure & high-performance computing platforms to every user in OIG. 

Prior to joining HHS, La Monte worked in various cybersecurity leadership roles including CISO of Headquarters, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).  He was involved in standing up DHS’ information security organization from the ground up, including managing IT security contracts totaling over $300M.  

Prior to his work at DHS, La Monte served as a consultant and spent over 20 years in the U.S. Army specializing in IT and cybersecurity.  

A member of the Senior Executive Service of the Federal Government, La Monte holds a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts with a focus in Management from Excelsior College, a Master of Science in Cybersecurity from Webster University, and a Master of Science in Information Assurance from Strayer University.  La Monte also holds a masters certificate in IT Project Management from The George Washington University, is a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP), and a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute. 

Mr. Appleby is a senior leader in the Global Government organization at Mandiant at Google Public Sector. In his role, he is accountable for the US Public Sector and all strategic offerings. Prior to joining Mandiant, Tim was the Global Information Assurance Head at Citigroup where he managed the corporation's global data protection infrastructure including Anti-malware, Data Leakage Protection, Endpoint Protection and Vulnerability and Threat Management Infrastructure. Prior to joining Citigroup, Tim was the Chief Scientist in the Integrated Security and Systems Solutions Business Unit at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and an Adjunct Professor at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. During that time, Mr. Appleby was a Technical Director for Managed Security Services at Global Integrity (an SAIC Company) where he participated in the development, design, and technical implementation of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) in support of PDD63 during the Clinton Administration and Directed the Federal Government FED_CIRC Incident Response Center prior to 9/11. Preceding his work at Global Integrity, Mr. Appleby held numerous Intelligence and Law Enforcement positions in the US Government. Additionally, he designed, patented, and implemented a global incident response, Intrusion Detection and Tracking System for Motorola's Iridium Satellite Network to support its global operational network and terrestrial satellites. Tim has worked in the field of information security for over 25 years.

Vandy Rodrigues is a security professional with 20+ years of experience. Focus areas include identity and access management, security frameworks, regulatory compliance, endpoint, data, and cloud security.

Vandy is a strategic advisor for security executives and the broader cloud security community with the goal of educating them on the advantages of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and how it’s services can aid in security governance, risk management, and compliance for Federal, State and Local governments and customers across the United States.

Mark Roman has more than 20 years of cybersecurity experience spanning military, industrial and critical infrastructure applications. Today Mr. Roman serves as Executive Director of Cyber Technologies for ManTech and as an adjunct professor at both Penn State University (Pennsylvania) and Rowan University (New Jersey). Prior to joining ManTech from Gryphon Technologies, Mr. Roman served as a Technical Expert and Senior Engineering Manager for the Department of Navy, where he managed a research and development portfolio of cybersecurity technologies and fielded those technologies to national defense assets. Mr. Roman is a recognized expert in cyber risk analytics, defensive technologies, and adversarial emulation.