Steven BeckerSteven Becker joined Open Society Foundations in 2019 and is currently the Global Manager of IT Risk and Assurance, where he helps protect the information and technology assets of a foundation that is working to build vibrant and inclusive democracies whose governments are accountable to their people. His role cuts across technology, governance, and risk management with an emphasis on geopolitical awareness. He previously has worked in numerous industries as a consultant, in the financial sector, and in higher education.
Steven started his information technology career in 2005 in a technology support position, and quickly moved to systems, networking, and engineering roles while increasing his focus on information security. He has accumulated many technical, security, and privacy certifications, and has been working with CompTIA since 2017 as a Subject Matter Expert to help better shape the future of IT and security professionals. He has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance from Western Governors University, has spoken internationally at industry conferences, has published works on information security, and has been credited with discovering and responsibly disclosing several software vulnerabilities.
Andrea Di FabioAndrea Di Fabio is currently an Information Assurance Consultant with Amazon Web Services, where he works with large enterprise customers to operationalize the cloud shared responsibility model by defining and delivering innovative compliance and risk management approaches to customers’ sensitive cloud workloads.
Additionally, Andrea is a member of four prestigious CompTIA committees: The Executive Advisory Board, the Governance Board, the Technical Advisory Committee, and the Certification Development Committee. In these roles, Andrea helps facilitate the recruitment of qualified IT professionals worldwide and provides CompTIA with the support and expertise needed during the planning and development of globally recognized IT certifications.
In his previous life, Andrea served four years as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Associate CIO at East Tennessee State University, 11 years as Norfolk State University’s CISO and two years as CIO, while teaching a wide range of hands-on IT security classes and volunteering with local schools and ham radio clubs.
Andrea served on the Tennessee Board of Regents CISO committee and as a member of the Commonwealth of Virginia Information Security Council, where he recommended statewide strategic direction on information security and privacy-related initiatives. Finally, Andrea served as a member of the InfraGard Board of Directors. He was the InfraGard's Information Technology sector chief for Hampton Roads.
Andrea is currently seeking a Ph.D. in Information Assurance at Nova Southeastern University to inspire his young kids about the benefits of continued self-improvement and education. Andrea completed his Master of Science in Computer Science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, where he also earned a Bachelor in Computer Engineering.
Ryan FrillmanRyan Frillman joined Spire Inc. in March 2015 as the Director of Information Security and Compliance. Before joining Spire, Ryan Frillman worked for MITRE supporting the Department of Defense (DoD) at USTRANSCOM located at Scott AFB in Cyber Security. Prior to USTRANSCOM he supported the DoD for Future Combat Systems (FCS) and PEO Integration (PEO-I) as a Senior Technical Advisor. He started his professional career in Quincy, IL supporting John Wood Community College as a helpdesk technician progressing to a Server/Systems/Network Administrator and as an Adjunct Professor in Computer Science. Since 2005, Ryan Frillman serves on the CompTIA’s Executive Advisory Board (EAB) and has been a Subject Matter Expert for CompTIA since 2002. Mr. Frillman graduated with his Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Science from Western Illinois University and has a Master of Business Administration with emphasis on Information Technology from University of Phoenix. He holds several certifications; CISSP, CEH, ECSA, CCSK, CASP, A+, Network+, Security+ and others. Mr. Frillman is also a board member and president of the St. Louis Chapter for the Security Advisor Alliance.
Alexander IrigoyenAlex Irigoyen is an information security operations manager at First American leading a team of security analysts. Alex has been in the IT industry since 2000 with a strong background in network administration and information security. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Information Awareness and Security Management from California State University in San Bernardino and a master’s in business administration with an emphasis in GIS from the University of Redlands. He began his IT career in the DoD as a United States Marine and then as a contractor with Lockheed Martin as a Senior Network Engineer. Alex has been involved with CompTIA as a subject matter expert since 2008 and is currently a member of the CompTIA Subject Matter Expert Technical Advisory Committee as well as the CompTIA Governance Committee.
Sean ManningSean Manning is currently with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), and has over 12 years of experience in deeply technical and complex aspects of full lifecycle systems engineering and with overarching cyber warfare programs. This includes leadership in cybersecurity architecture and design, software engineering, research and development, prototyping, integration and test, as well as operations and sustainment. In his work with APL, Sean specializes in advancing the state of cybersecurity for military operational and tactical systems, particularly for those across a breadth of Navy and Marine aviation programs.
Before joining APL, Sean worked as a contractor, consulting on emergent DoD programs to enable secure enterprise and tactical mobility capabilities using commercial technologies at varied levels of information security classification. He also led the development of standards-based, automated security configuration management capabilities and tools in order to automate diagnostics and mitigations and increase the resiliency of DoD systems to attack. These projects yielded much-needed DoD enterprise situational awareness and continuous monitoring capabilities to support warfighters and decision makers alike. Finally, the first 7 years of Mr. Manning’s career was as a United States Air Force (USAF) uniformed service member, where he served in a number of increasingly complex technical and management capacities around the globe.
Sean actively supports the CompTIA SME Technical Advisory Committee (CSTAC), CompTIA exam development efforts, and is a member of the CompTIA Cyber Advisory Board (CCAB). Sean holds the CISSP, CASP, CEH and Security+.
Damien ManuelDamien Manuel is an adjunct professor at Deakin University and is the Chairperson of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA), the peak body for cyber security in Australia.
His former roles include Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Symantec Australia and New Zealand, Enterprise IT and security risk manager at National Australia Bank (NAB) where he was responsible for managing the bank’s information security standard globally and senior roles at RSA, Telstra, Ericsson and Melbourne IT. Damien is currently on the Victorian Ombudsman’s Audit and Risk Committee, the board of RSA Australia, the Advisory Board for OCSC, the chair of Standards Australia’s Standards development committee for cyber security and privacy and is on the audit and risk committee for the Australian Conservation Foundation. Damien also helps mentor entrepreneurs through CyRise, Australia’s only cyber security start-up accelerator.
Damien has supported CompTIA for over 20 years through the development of CompTIA Server+, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+ and the CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner certification. His passion for making a difference motivated him to establish Information Technology community resource centres to improve literacy and skills in impoverished and disadvantaged communities in Kenya, Laos, Uganda and Cambodia.
Underpinning his over 25 years of experience is a diverse educational grounding ranging from the highest security, audit and governance certifications complemented by an Executive MBA with an international business focus. Damien also has a background in genetic engineering and is passionate about science.
Alejandro MerinoAlejandro Merino is a Network Architect for Summit Health with years of expertise in enterprise networks, data center technologies, security, and automation. He has held roles within network architecture, engineering, and enterprise support teams and has contributed to organizations in various industries, including global healthcare and finance.
An avid believer in lifelong learning, Alejandro actively pursues continuous education and holds numerous professional certifications from leading technology vendors. His dedication to advancing the field is evident through his active involvement with CompTIA, where he serves as a member of the Governance Committee and the Technical Advisory Committee. Additionally, Alejandro continues to participate as a Subject Matter Expert in certification workshops organized by CompTIA.
Tim NilesTim Niles has worked in various IT roles since 2000, from desktop support to his current role as the Head of Enterprise Applications at Duo Security. In addition to holding several CompTIA certifications, he has been a member of the CompTIA Subject Matter Expert Technical Advisory Committee since 2008 and currently serves on the CompTIA Certification Governance Committee and Executive Advisory Board. Tim obtained his bachelor's degree in information technology from Central Michigan University and earned his MBA with a focus in technology leadership from Michigan State University.
Justin OpatrnyJustin Opatrny is a Cyber Security Consultant for General Mills, specializing in industrial control systems (ICS) security with previous roles in security, networking, and systems administration. He has been working on various initiatives with CompTIA since 2007; including the Executive Advisory Board, CompTIA Subject Matter Expert Technical Advisory Committee, exam development, and several SME opportunities.
Richard RiebenRichard Rieben is a Partner and HITRUST practice lead at Linford & Co., where he leads audits and assessments covering various frameworks including HITRUST, SOC, CMMC, and NIST. Richard holds several CompTIA certifications including CASP+, CySA+, Security+, Project+ and others. With over 20 years of experience in IT and cybersecurity and industry certifications including PMP, CISSP and GSNA, Richard is skilled in helping growing organizations achieve their information security and compliance goals. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and an MBA from Western Governors University.
Manuel Leos RivasManuel Leos Rivas completed his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Computer Systems Engineering at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo Leon in Mexico. He also completed his Master of Sciences in Information Security Engineering with a focus on Incident Response and two post-baccalaureate certificates in Cybersecurity and Cloud security at the SANS Technology Institute. He holds over 60 cybersecurity and cloud certifications from CompTIA, GIAC, ISC2, and AWS, among others.
Manuel has worked in cybersecurity for over 20 years in four different countries in Europe and North America. He started his IT/Information security career in 2000 as a Network and Firewall Administrator in Mexico. Later, in 2007, he switched to information security as a Security Analyst and compliance coordinator for ACS a Xerox company. In 2011, he joined Gemalto (now Thales DIS) as Solution Security Officer, where he was promptly promoted to Solution Security Expert and relocated to France. In his pursuit to improve his Cloud Security skills, Manuel emigrated to Canada in 2018, to work as a Cloud Security Engineer for Thales DIS. In 2019, Manuel started working as a Cloud Security Architect for AWS Professional Services Canada. Manuel has been working as Backblaze’s Cloud Security Architect since 2021.
Manuel has worked implementing hardening, SIEM, security monitoring, WAFs, and automation in highly secured environments. Manuel has experience working for large multinational companies in diverse sectors like banking, mobile network operators, cloud service providers, and government. Since 2016, Manuel committed part of his time to support the OWASP ModSecurity Core Rule Set as one of the OWASP CRS developers. Manuel authored the Web Server Protection for the InfoSec Institute in 2019.
Manuel has been a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for CompTIA since March 2017, he joined the CompTIA SME Technical Advisory Committee (CSTAC) in November 2020 and the CompTIA Governance Committee in November 2023.
Luiz VieiraLuiz is an IT Security professional with 23 years of experience garnering varied technical expertise working in large global companies, managing local and remote teams. Mr Vieira delivered complex projects with a global impact, such as the Rio2016 Summer Olympic games, acting as the Head of IT Security. Vieria also worked as a CISO for global companies based in the Netherlands. Currently, Luiz acts as a Principal for Auditing Services in the Security Assurance area at AWS, based in Amsterdam.
Luiz also was a cybersecurity instructor who delivered a wide range of training for Brazilian Military Forces (Navy, Air Force, and Army), Government's sectors (Fed prosecutors, TRE, TJ), and Civil Police (High Tech Crime Investigation's Department).