Speakers

Lt. Gen. Maria B. Barrett assumed command of U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) on May 3, 2022.

A Massachusetts native, Barrett was commissioned as an Army second lieutenant via the Reserve Officers Traning Corps program in 1988 after graduating from Tufts University with a bachelor's degree in International Relations.

Barrett’s previous assignments include tours as Deputy Director of Current Operations, J-3, United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM); Deputy Commanding General, Joint Force Headquarters—Cyber, ARCYBER; and Deputy Commander (Operations), Cyber National Mission Force, USCYBERCOM.

She has commanded units at the company, battalion, brigade and command level, including service as Commander, 160th Signal Brigade, Third United States Army, and Commander, U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, the position she held prior to commanding ARCYBER.

Her joint assignments include service as Chief Information Officer/Director, J-6, United States Southern Command and Director, J-3, White House Communications Agency. She has served in Army assignments in the United States, Kuwait, the Republic of Korea, Germany and Saudi Arabia. She is a veteran of Operation New Dawn, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm.

Barrett has also earned master's degrees in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (Eisenhower School), and in Telecommunications Management from Webster University.

Her awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal; Defense Superior Service Medal; Legion of Merit; Bronze Star Medal; Defense Meritorious Service Medal (one oak leaf cluster); Meritorious Service Medal (three oak leaf clusters); Army Commendation Medal (one oak leaf cluster); Joint Service Achievement Medal; Army Achievement Medal; Joint Meritorious Unit Award; and the Signal Regiment’s Bronze Order of Mercury.

 

Major General Paul T. Stanton assumed duties as the Commanding General, U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Gordon on 30 June 2021 after serving as the Deputy Commanding General (Operations), U.S. Army Cyber Command at Fort Gordon, Georgia. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1995 and commissioned into the Infantry. He transitioned to the Cyber Branch in 2015. During his career, MG Stanton has served in a number of command, staff, and joint positions, including service as Platoon Leader and later Battalion Personnel Officer, 1-508th Infantry Airborne Battalion Combat Team in Vicenza, Italy; Platoon Leader and later Operations Officer, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry in Schweinfurt, Germany; Assistant Operations Officer, 1-502nd Infantry at Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Commander, B Company, 1-502nd Infantry at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM in Iraq; Instructor (Computer Science) at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York; Senior Technical Advisor, U.S. Army Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Maryland; National Security Agency fellow at Fort Meade, Maryland; Director, Capabilities Development Group, U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Maryland; Commander, U.S. Army Cyber Protection Brigade at Fort Gordon, Georgia; and Deputy Director of Operations (J-3) U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Maryland. MG Stanton has completed two operational assignments: Instructor, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan in OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM; and as Commander, B Company, 1-502nd Infantry, 101st Airborne Division in OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. He has earned three degrees in Computer Science: a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, a master's degree from the University of Illinois, and a doctorate (PhD) from Johns Hopkins University. His military education includes the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and a Senior Service College Fellowship. His awards and decorations are typical of an officer of his rank and time in service. He is married to the former, Ms. Nomi Harris, and has three children, Hannah, Charlotte, and Toby.

Mr. William (Willie) T. Utroska is currently serving as the Deputy Project Manager, Electronic Warfare & Cyber (EW&C) since March 2020. He was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry in June 1988 and retired in September 2012. He has served in a wide variety of Army and Joint assignments throughout his military and civilian career.

 

His operational assignments include serving in the 8th INF Div and 1st AR Div as an Infantry Rifle Platoon Leader, Infantry Battalion Support Platoon Leader, and Infantry Rifle Company Executive Officer. His next assignment was with the 101st ABN Div (Air Assault) as an Assistant S3, Infantry Rifle Company Commander and Chief of Live Fires. He then was selected to a congressionally mandated AC/RC assignment as a Company Commander at Fort Chaffee, AR for 5th Army.

 

Mr. Utroska’s acquisition assignments include PEO C3S as the Operations Officer for Horizontal Technology Integration and Assistant Product Manager, AFATDS. He was then assigned to USCENTCOM J2 as the Chief Intel Systems Requirements, Chief System Analysis & Design, and Deputy Chief Systems Engineering Division. During his assignment with USCENTCOM he deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Qatar in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Mr. Utroska then served as RDECOM’s first CSL Product Manager, C4ISR on the Move and prior to his retirement from the Army as the Military Deputy, Space & Terrestrial Communications Directorate, CERDEC. Upon retirement, Mr. Utroska worked in industry for five (5) years before entering government service to be the Deputy Product Manager Electronic Warfare Integration (EWI) in September 2017.

 

Mr. Utroska holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Puerto Rico – Bayamon and a Master of Science in Information Systems Technology Management from the Naval Postgraduate School. His military education includes the Infantry Officer’s Basic and Advance Courses, the Combined Armed Services Staff School, Command and General Staff College, Joint and Combined Warfighting School, the Program Manager’s Course, and the Colonels Command Assessment Program. He is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps and holds professional certifications in Program Management (Level III), Systems Engineering (Level III) and Science & Technology Management (Level II).

 

Mr. Utroska’s awards and decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Clusters), Meritorious Service Medal (with two Oak Leaf Clusters), Army Commendation Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Army Achievement Medal (with two Oak Leaf Clusters), Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Army Superior Unit Award, Civilian Service Achievement Medal as well as multiple campaign medals for Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s earned the Air Assault badge, Parachutist badge, Expert Infantryman badge, and the Ranger tab.

 

Mr. Utroska has three (3) daughters (Stephanie Utroska-Gaydosh, Jennifer Utroska-Repay, and Gabriela Utroska), and a beautiful granddaughter (Ava Rose Marie).

 

Mr. Mark Kitz assumed responsibilities as the Program Executive Officer (PEO) for

Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (IEW&S) in May 2021. As the PEO

IEW&S, he provides technical and managerial oversight of the development, acquisition, fielding, and life cycle support of the Army’s portfolio of intelligence; electronic warfare; cyber; integrated base defense; force protection; position, navigation, and timing; biometrics; and target acquisition programs. These capabilities provide the Soldier with the ability to detect, recognize, and identify targets and collect, tag, and mine intelligence, which can be integrated into the tactical network to support force protection maneuver, persistent surveillance, and provide a more detailed understanding of the battlefield.

Before this assignment, Mr. Kitz served as the Deputy PEO for IEW&S from June 2019

to May 2021. He previously served as the Director for Acquisition and Engineering in

PEO IEW&S from 2015 to 2019. In this position, he was responsible for acquisition management oversight, engineering and integration, cost management, program performance metrics, and earned value management across the 49 ACAT I, II, III, and 58 Quick Reaction Capabilities. As the technical authority for the PEO, Mr. Kitz oversaw

design engineering and development activities involving 22 programs under the Engineering, Manufacturing, and Development (EMD) phase, the process of the budgetary planning and priorities for an annual $3 billion budget. He managed one of the Army’s largest information technology cybersecurity portfolios involving 93 national security and intelligence systems in both development and sustainment. During this time, Mr. Kitz also served as the Acting Deputy PEO for IEW&S.

Prior assignments include serving as the Technical Director for Project Manager Distributed Common Ground Systems–Army (PM DCGS-A). At PM DCGS-A, Mr. Kitz directed the engineering development activities for programs in the EMD acquisition phase, oversaw the design, development, and contract execution, collaborated with

the Intelligence Community and Joint Service PM DCGS-A programs for strategic alignment and unique requirements, as well as responsible for the strategic planning and Army submission of an annual $400M budget.  Before PM DCGS-A, Mr. Kitz had multiple assignments as an Engineer and Scientist with the Intelligence Information Warfare Directorate of the Communication Electronics Research and Development Command, including Chief Engineer and Project Lead for TROJAN, as well as Director for the Intelligence Processing laboratory.

Mr. Kitz also served as Research Engineer for Defense Science and Technology in Edinburgh, Armed Forces Overseas Australia, where he launched collaborative research between the Army and Australian laboratories in the intelligence and electronic warfare domains.

He was awarded the Superior Civilian Service Award for C4ISR Top Ten Employee of the Year for 2017 on 14 March 2018. He also received Commander’s Awards for Civilian Service in October 2018, November 2013, and February 2009; Army Superior Unit Awards in July 2017, November 2009, and December 2000; Superior Civilian Service

Award in April 2015; Achievement Medal for Civilian Service in May 2015; and Certificate of Achievement in December 2001.

Mr. Kitz earned a Master’s Degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s from Lafayette College. He and his wife Erika are the proud parents of three young boys. Mark and Erika were raised in New Jersey by families steeped in the tradition of public service, with parents serving as policemen and public school teachers. He is an avid runner and triathlete.

 

Lauren C. Williams is senior editor for Defense One. She previously covered defense technology and cybersecurity for FCW and Defense Systems. Before then, Williams has reported on several issues, including internet culture, national security, health care, politics and crime for various publications. She has a master's in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park and a bachelor's in dietetics from the University of Delaware. She can be contacted at LWILLIAMS@GOVEXEC.COM or follow her on Twitter @LALAURENISTA.

George Jackson is director 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.