Speakers

Ted Cotterill serves as Indiana Chief Privacy Officer and as General Counsel for the Indiana Management Performance Hub, where he designed and implemented Indiana’s legal framework for data-driven decision making. Ted’s practice focuses on compliance, software licensing, privacy, and data protection issues presented by emerging technologies, cloud transitions, and data de identification and masking across various regulatory frameworks. He serves as a founding officer of StateRAMP, Inc., as co-chair of the NASCIO Privacy & Data Protection Forum, as a member of the Council of State Governments Healthy States National Task Force, and in his community as a director of the Greater Allisonville Community Council.

Ted earned his JD from the Indiana University McKinney School of Law, a BS in Political Science from Ball State University, and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional by the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Todd Helmus is a senior behavioral scientist at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. A nationally recognized expert on disinformation and violent extremism, Helmus specializes in the use of data and evidence-based strategies to understand and counter disinformation and extremism. He has studied the disinformation threat posed by deepfakes, Russian-led propaganda campaigns targeting the United States and Europe, and the use of social media by violent extremist groups. He has also led research on domestic extremism risks of veteran and active duty military populations.

In addition to his research, Helmus is a frequent speaker at security conferences. He has served as a consultant to the U.S. Departments of Defense, State, and Homeland Security and has served as a deployed analyst to U.S. military commands in Iraq and Afghanistan. His work has been featured in various media outlets including the New York Times, the Financial Times, The Atlantic, Harpers Magazine, Forbes and MSNBC.   

Helmus holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI.

Josh Martin is the Chief Data Officer for the State of Indiana and Director of the Indiana Management Performance Hub, where he leads a dedicated team of problem solvers that provide analytics solutions tailored to address complex management and policy questions enabling improved outcomes for the citizens of Indiana.

Josh is a graduate of Purdue University, receiving a B.A. in Political Science and Law and Society, and received his Master of Public Affairs from the Indiana University Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He also has significant experience in international affairs and public safety.

James "Jim" Weaver joined the N.C. Department of Information Technology in March 2021, with more than 30 years of leadership and management in the IT industry. 

As secretary and state chief information officer, he leads the agency responsible for strategic IT planning and the procurement and delivery of IT services and solutions as well as cybersecurity and efforts to expand broadband access and affordability across North Carolina. 

Prior to NCDIT, Weaver served as director and state CIO at Washington Technology Solutions. In that role, he strengthened the department and the state enterprise by focusing on efficiency, consistency and continuous improvement; driving business alignment; balancing operations and policy; and seeking quicker adoption of newer technology. 

Weaver was also chief technology officer for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where he held chief technology officer and deputy CIO roles in Pennsylvania’s departments of human services, aging and insurance.

His expertise with large-scale modernization efforts have been nationally recognized three times by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) and twice by Computerworld Honors. 

Weaver holds numerous ITIL certifications and earned his Certified Government Chief Information Officer qualification from Harrisburg University. He is also an active member of the U.S. Armed Forces, previously serving in the Army National Guard in Washington and Pennsylvania and currently serving in North Carolina.  

As secretary, Weaver serves as chair for the N.C. 911 Board. He also serves as president for NASCIO and is a member of broadband advisory group. He also co-chairs the Enterprise Architecture Committee and is a member of the North Carolina Board of Science, Technology and Innovation.

Zach Bennefield is the Federal Security Strategist at Tenable and a Professor at UMGC teaching graduate level Cybersecurity courses. With 20 years of experience in information security, Zach has developed a strong expertise in risk detection, prioritization, and remediation. Zach’s background as a Security Engineer and Security Analyst for the United States Navy has been instrumental in the creation of new technologies and initiatives at Tenable focused on supporting the unique cybersecurity challenges in the Department of Defense (DoD).

Zach is a frequent speaker on Cybersecurity topics, has authored numerous articles on compliance within the Department of Defense, and is frequently sought after for advice on securing critical infrastructure. Zach is a creative thinker and innovative technology leader who takes a great deal of pride in the security industry. He works to ensure that mission-critical goals are met through rigorous requirements analysis and a bottom-up mentality that elevates ideas from the field while giving back best practices to advance organizations' security programs.

John Dvorak is Chief Technology Officer for the North America Public Sector at Red Hat. He leads a team of experienced Chief Architects and open source thought leaders who focus on the diverse mission requirements of Federal, State, Local, and Education customers. His team helps to shape and communicate the Red Hat technology vision; co-innovates with customers, partners, and associates; and advocates for Public Sector interests within Red Hat and Open Source communities. Dvorak has spent over 25 years as a technology leader in the Federal Government and industry.

He is a former FBI Senior Executive who led efforts in data analytics, enterprise engineering, and software development within the law enforcement and intelligence communities. He began his civil service at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he oversaw network engineering and drove several cybersecurity modernization efforts. Prior to joining Red Hat, he served in Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) roles within the systems integrator community, maintaining a focus on government mission requirements. He maintains active participation in multiple industry and government cooperative forums.

Josh is Flexera’s global leader for solution engineering, executive advisory and FinOps. He’s also responsible for Flexera’s IBM partnership. He's responsible for ensuring customers are engaged with the right product, people and process necessary to drive meaningful business outcomes around hybrid IT optimization. Prior to his current role, Josh held several executive leadership positions at Flexera including Vice President of Product Management for Flexera One. He has more than two decades of experience in the technology industry, with a strong focus on growth, go-to-market strategies and business transformation.

Prior to joining Flexera, Josh served as SVP at RightScale, the pioneer in cloud management, for nearly a decade and was responsible for all go-to-market, strategy and corporate development. Flexera acquired RightScale in the Fall of 2018. Josh earned a BS in Finance from Villanova University.

John Hultquist is Chief Analyst of Mandiant Intelligence at Google Cloud. Prior to the acquisition of iSIGHT Partners by FireEye/Mandiant, John led iSIGHT’s cyber espionage practice, where his team uncovered the Russian threat actor best known as Sandworm. He has over 20 years of intelligence experience, primarily covering emerging threats in cyber espionage and information operations. He is the founder of CYBERWARCON and SLEUTHCON and an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University.

Mr. Matt Topper is the pioneering President and CTO of UberEther, Inc., a renowned cybersecurity company providing identity and access management and cybersecurity solutions to the U.S. Federal Government. With over two decades of federal experience, Matt’s leadership has propelled UberEther to industry prominence, maintaining a people-first approach to cybersecurity. He is a gifted communicator who simplifies complex topics like federal security controls and zero-trust strategy into easily digestible approaches.

Prior to starting UberEther, Mr. Topper was a Technical Director at Oracle who successfully grew their professional service practice winning the 2003 Oracle Spartial Developer of the year award. Mr. Topper also held technical leadership positions at IT Convergence and TUSC and has a patent for Pro-Active Information Security Management.

Matt is an avid Michigan State Spartan graduate and lifelong fan and when he is not working, he spends most of his time driving, supporting, and cheering his three children at their sporting events and activities. He and his family currently reside in Michigan.