Kourtney Lowe

Chief Executive Officer

Kourtney has been in the GRC space of information security for the better part of ten years, largely focusing on third party risk. She’s volunteered with Th0tcon, Blue Team Con, Securing Sexuality, and is also active in the Chicago BurbSec community. She’s passionate about the intersection of cybersecurity and psychology and gives advice about password managers, password hygiene, and security questions to anyone that will listen. Interests outside of the security space include Elvis (Presley and her dearly departed puggle), pickles, classic movies, and music. The weirder, the better.

Dave "Heal" Schwartzberg

Chief Financial Officer

David Schwartzberg is a Security Solutions Architect at Cisco Security. David is a regular speaker at conferences such as, GrrCON, he has also presented at THOTCON, CypherCon, OWASP AppSec, BSides(somewhere), Black Hat Arsenal, DEF CON, DerbyCON, (ISC)2 Congress, SC Congress and other events. As a writer, David wrote the original CramSession study guide for the Network+ certification in 1999 (yup going back to 1999), a self published book (http://amzn.to/CfKSISO), blogger for Dark Reading, Barracuda Labs, and as a guest blogger for the award winning Naked Security blog (http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com). After David graduated from Queens College with a B.S. in Accounting and Information Systems, he has earned several certifications in the field of Information Technology including DevNet ASC, CMNA, CNA, CNE, MCP, Network+, Security+, and CISSP.

Utilizing his 6+ years accounting experience combined with 28 years Information Security and Information Technology experience, he speaks regularly with technology executives and professionals to help protect their corporate secrets and stay compliant.

Alex Fernandez-Gatti

Chief Operations Officer

Alex Fernandez-Gatti has been in the hacker community for just a hair bit shorter than he started shaving his head. Starting in the consulting space in 2012, and moving internal five years ago, Alex has come to cherish the value of building community. Alex has two favorite questions to ask someone new to the scene, how did you get your start, and who helped you get there.

The heart of those questions is what drove Alex into volunteering, mentoring, and community development. He wants to support others in the way he has been supported and is the founding principal of BSides312.

Alex has volunteered at DEF CON, ThotCon, Derbycon, GrrCON, BSides Las Vegas, BSides Chicago, BSides Detroit, Circle City Con, and numerous other conferences throughout the years and is deeply excited to begin this new journey of community building.

Robert Wagner

Director

Robert Wagner is an Advisory CISO and a highly respected security practitioner, advisor and strategist for almost 20 years. His security experience ranges from defending everything from Fortune 500 companies to government agencies, major universities, and financial institutions. He has presented and taught at Information Security and Hacker conferences ranging from DefCon, APIsecure, BSides Tel Aviv, GrrCON, Dawn or Doom, WCISC, and more. He is a co-founder of the not-for-profit organization Hak4Kidz, serves on the board of the Chicago ISSA chapter, and regularly volunteers for various hacker cons including BSides312, Blue Team Con, and others.

Mike Kavka

Director

Mike "Shecky" Kavka has been involved in the Chicago security community for over 10 years. Currently a Senior Security Engineer as his day job, he has volunteered with events such as Blue Team Con and Hak4Kidz. Outside of the security world, Shecky is involved with model railroading, community theatre, and sings the National Anthem at some sporting events.

Phoenix Fier

Director

Phoenix got her start hacking video games in the second grade. Growing up obsessed with computers, she ended up going to college for Computer Science. Her internship was internal, but she became a consultant after graduating from college. She has worked as a penetration testing consultant for the vast majority of her career but recently moved to a role consiting of internal red teaming against a fantastic blue team. She volunteers and staffs many hacker (and anime) conferences, is excited for BSides312’s first year, そして好きな動物は蛇です~