Speakers

Lester Godsey is the Chief Information Security Officer for Maricopa County, leading all cybersecurity and data privacy efforts for the organization. Prior to Maricopa County, Lester was the CISO/CPO for the City of Mesa, AZ. With over 25 years of higher education and local government IT experience, Lester has spoken at local, state and national conferences on topics ranging from telecommunications to project management to cybersecurity and data. Lester has taught at the collegiate level for over 12 years in the areas of technology, business and project management. The author of numerous trade journal and online magazine articles, he is CISM (Certified Information Security Manager) and PMP (Project Management Professional) certified. He holds a BA in Music and a MS in Technology, both from Arizona State University. 

Brandon Shopp has been our Group Vice President of Product since February 2018. He served as our Director of Product Management since November 2011, assuming the title and responsibilities of Senior Director of Product Management in July 2013. Previously, Shopp was the Vice President of Product Management at AlienVault, from August 2016 until February 2018 and the Senior Director of Products at Embarcadero Technologies, from July 2015 until August 2016. Shopp has a proven success record in product delivery and revenue growth, with a wide variety of software product, business model, M&A, and go-to-market strategies experience. Shopp holds a B.B.A. from Texas A&M University.

Jim Richberg’s role as a Fortinet CISO leverages his 30+ years’ experience leading and driving innovation in cybersecurity, threat intelligence, and cyber strategy and policy for the US Government and international partners.

Prior to joining Fortinet, he served as the National Intelligence Manager for Cyber, the senior Federal Executive focused on cyber intelligence within the $80B+/100,000 employee US Intelligence Community (IC). He led creation and implementation of cyber strategy for the 17 departments and agencies of the IC, set integrated priorities on cyber threat, and served as Senior Advisor to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on cyber issues. He brings a broad enterprise-level approach to cybersecurity honed as a member of the Executive team which created and oversaw implementation of the multi-billion dollar whole-of-government Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) that generated new Government cyber capability and enhanced cybersecurity in the private sector and critical infrastructure.

Mr. Richberg’s broad operational experience—including his 20 years at CIA-- gives him practical insight into difficult cyber problems ranging from advanced threat capabilities to insider threat and supply chain integrity. He helped build the discipline of cyber threat intelligence analysis and has been an innovator in measuring cyber performance, risk, and return on investment (ROI). He has extensive experience engaging with audiences ranging from Heads of State and CEO’s to analysts and IT staff. He brings a strong focus on strategic problem solving (identify and solve the key problem vs. the most visible one) to Board-level conversations, and has a track record of successfully framing complex problems in comprehensible terms that facilitate analysis and formulation of solutions.

In his non-cyber moments, he builds and uses large telescopes and has run astronomy outreach programs for the Smithsonian Institute and the National Park Service.

Alisha Powell Gillis is the senior editor at Route Fifty where she is responsible for programming live and online events content, moderating panel discussions and soliciting, editing and writing analytical pieces. Before joining Route Fifty, Alisha was the director for community impact at the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) where she worked to connect urban public libraries to critical issues in state and local government and led event programming. Prior to ULC, Alisha served the nation's governors for nearly a decade at the National Governors Association where she specialized in homeland security, emergency management and cybersecurity issues. Alisha holds a master's degree in global security studies from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor's degree in political science from Hofstra University.

George Jackson is VP of events at GovExec – the largest and most-influential media company in the public sector marketplace. He joined the company in 2020 to enhance the scale of their events and audience experiences. In 2021, George launched GovExec TV (streaming video content) and received the company’s Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, part of their first-annual Icon Awards.

George graduated from The Ohio State University in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in English. In 2006, he earned his master’s in broadcast journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park.

George spent the first five years of his journalism career at WJHL-TV in Johnson City Tenn. – beginning as an overnight producer for the station’s 6 a.m. broadcast. He advanced to lead on-air reporter for WJHL’s 11 p.m. newscast.

As a reporter, George examined the earnings of two non-profit hospital systems, felony charges filed against a local sheriff, predatory paving companies, a health benefits backlog for local veterans, and a series of cold-case murder investigations. He received an honorable mention for Best TV Reporter in the 2011 Tennessee AP Broadcast awards and won a Best Investigative Reporting award from Media General in 2010.

George joined DC’s ABC affiliate WJLA-TV in 2012 to produce Capital Insider, which won him an Emmy award. One year later, he developed and recorded the pilot episode of Government Matters – a program about the business of government. It debuted as a weekly show on Sunday, August 4th of 2013. George led Government Matters through September of 2020, expanded its reach to a daily worldwide audience, and produced its first feature-length documentary The Dawn of Generation AI.

George is from Toledo, Ohio. He lives with his wife, twin daughters, and a pair of rescue dogs in Northern Virginia.