Speaker Bio

Chris is the Executive Director of the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams Inc. (FIRST). He has over 15 years of leadership experience and knowledge of the cybersecurity industry. He is well versed in FIRST’s mission having spent nearly ten years on the Board of FIRST, five years as Chief Financial Officer and two as Board Chair. He joined FIRST following Orwell Group where he was Chief Information Security Officer. Chris brings incredibly strong knowledge and experience of cybersecurity standards, processes and training from his work in the private sector with Citigroup and in the public sector where he built and ran CERT-UK, the UK’s first national Computer Emergency Response Team within the UK Government’s Cabinet Office. Chris works closely with the Board of Directors to ensure annual programs are achieved within budget and help raise funds for these programs. He acts as the organization spokesperson to engage with an international community of policymakers on cybersecurity challenges.