Speakers

Paul Blahusch has over 20 years of cyber and IT security experience with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). He serves as the Director of Cybersecurity and the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for DOL in the Office of the Chief Information Officer. In this role, Mr. Blahusch supports the Department’s overall mission by promoting and bolstering enterprise-wide cybersecurity efforts.

He previously served as the Information Technology Security Officer for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As CISO, he is responsible for security initiatives within the Department of Labor, including but not limited to regulatory compliance and oversight, Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) implementation and planning, computer awareness and training, and computer security incident response. His role in the Department also involves collaborating with senior leadership to integrate information security with capital planning, enterprise architecture, and information collection initiatives.

Paul Blahusch holds a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. He is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

Steven McAndrews serves as the Deputy Associate Administrator for Information Management and Chief Information Officer at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).

Prior to his current role, Mr. McAndrews served as the Director for Federal Cybersecurity under the Federal Chief Information Officer in the Office of Management and Budget. There, Mr. McAndrews led numerous government-wide technology improvements and process/policy initiatives, including the execution of the Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity Executive Order and workforce development to further the cybersecurity industry. Mr. McAndrews has 14 years of experience as a Federal government IT professional, including roles within the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Census Bureau.

Mr. McAndrews is a military veteran and holds a Master’s of Science in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s in Economics.

ral Michigan University and a Bachelor’s in Economics from Millersville University.  

Kosta leads Splunk's Government Affairs initiatives focused on U.S. Federal Civilian agencies and related public policies.  Kosta previously worked at the Executive Office of the President (EOP), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where he served as Senior Advisor for Cybersecurity.  In that role, he served as senior advisor to the Federal Chief Information Security Officer, Deputy National Cyber Director, and Chairperson to the Federal Acquisition Security Council (FASC). He also worked on a broad array of cybersecurity policies and initiatives for the Biden Administration. Prior to OMB, Kosta served as the Senior Manager for Service Integrations at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), where he managed several government-wide cybersecurity efforts, to include leading the deployment of the National Cybersecurity Protection System (NCPS) EISNTEIN services across the Federal Civilian Executive Branch.

During his time at CISA, Kosta volunteered for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Surge Capacity Force, where he deployed in response to Hurricane Irma, Maria, and Harvey. Kosta was also a volunteer member of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Interagency Coordination Center (ICC) for Operation Allies Welcome (OAW), whose mission was to help vulnerable Afghans safely resettle in the United States.

Lars McCarter is a Principal Security Technical Program Manager at Amazon Web Services (AWS) Security. He develops and executes strategic security roadmaps across AWS Security and partner engineering teams to raise the security bar for AWS and all Amazonians. Prior to joining AWS, Lars served twenty years as an active-duty Coast Guard officer in a variety of leadership positions at the Department of Homeland Security, Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, the White House, and United States Cyber Command where he focused on improving national critical infrastructure resilience. He brings this passion for resiliency to his work supporting both government and corporate customers at AWS.

George Jackson, Executive Producer, GovExec TV