Speakers

Mark Canter is the Chief Information Security Officer at GAO. In his capacity, he oversees the compliance, governance, and security operations. Previously he severed as Assistant Director in the Information Technology and Cybersecurity (ITC) team at the Government Accountability Office (GAO). His portfolio at GAO includes a diverse list of engagements on such topics of financial and information systems internal control auditing, cybersecurity, emerging technologies such as blockchains, AI, and safeguarding/privacy of information. In addition, he has authored several compliance tools and published several common vulnerabilities and exploits.

Mr. Scott M. St. Pierre serves as the Navy Director of Enterprise Networks and Cybersecurity (OPNAV N2N6D). He leads information technology and cybersecurity policy development, requirements generation and validation, and overall planning and programming for enterprise networks and cybersecurity capabilities. He performs the duties of the Deputy DON CIO – Navy and Navy Chief Information Officer. He was initially assigned from July 2023 to November 2023, and reassigned May 2024, upon successful completion of a five month detail as DoN PCA.

From December 2023 to April 24, Mr. St. Pierre was assigned as the Department of the Navy Principal Cyber Advisor (PCA). In this role, he was responsible for advising the Secretary of the Navy, Chief of Naval Operations, and Commandant of the Marine Corps on all cyber matters.

From January 2020 to July 2023, Mr. St. Pierre served as the Deputy Director, Enterprise Networks and Cybersecurity in OPNAV N2N6, where he concurrently held the positions of Navy Senior Information Security Officer and Navy Data Officer. His responsibilities focused on fortifying the Navy's cyber defenses and ensuring the integrity of critical information systems.

Early in his civilian career, Mr. St. Pierre held several positions at the Naval Sea Systems (NAVSEA) Command as the Enterprise Information Technology Officer, to include the duties of the Command Information Officer, and Director of Shore Cybersecurity, and in PEO Integrated Warfare Systems as the Principle Assistant Program Manager (PAPM) for Combat System Integration for the Independence variant Littoral Combat Ship, and as the PAPM for Enterprise Systems Engineering.

Mr. St. Pierre is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., where he received a B.A. in Russian Language and Literature. He was commissioned in the Navy, and served on active duty as a Surface Warfare Officer.

Mr. St. Pierre is a certified Acquisition Professional in Program Management (0340) and IT Program Management (2210). He completed his Security Leadership Certification (GSLC) in 2017.

Michael Friedrich works in the Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) Zero Trust (ZT) Center of Excellence (COE), leading architecture and design for Zero Trust and secure infrastructure client needs. The COE covers all areas of ZT for BAH clients.

Prior to joining BAH, Mr. Friedrich served in several senior leadership and engineering roles in Dark Kryptonite, MAXISIQ, AppGate, Cyxtera, SAVVIS, Terremark, Verizon, and IBM. He joined BAH with over 20 years of managerial, operational, product, and technical leadership across government and commercial client verticals.

In his role as Vice President at Appgate and Cyxtera, he led the engineering, compliance, and product efforts that helped bring Zero Trust into the U.S. Department of Defense.

In his roles at Verizon & Terremark, he led the engineering and product efforts that helped bring the cloud into the United States Federal Government use. He led the efforts to help modernize and move U.S.A.GOV, F.B.I.GOV, Whitehouse.GOV, and many others to the cloud.

In his role at Terremark during and after its eventual sale to Verizon, Mr. Friedrich developed some of the largest and most complex cloud-hosted solutions for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). These solutions dealt with the complex needs of securing the information of every veteran of the United States, but also those veterans’ ability to interact with the VA to realize benefits earned through their service. His efforts led to the VA’s ability to leverage cloud-based agile solutions that allowed them to process both educational and health benefits in hours and days instead of weeks and months.

Mr. Friedrich’s engineering knowledge covers zero trust/software-defined perimeters, cybersecurity, cloud architecture, solutions integration, compliance, networking, and product management/engineering.

With over twenty years of experience in cybersecurity and IT, Daren Presbitero has played a pivotal role in advancing new technologies within Federal agencies. His expertise encompasses product design, development, planning, and execution, addressing the unique constraints of highly regulated environments. Daren has been at the forefront of zero-trust adoption, particularly across network (SASE), application (API discovery & security), and automation (SOAR) pillars. He has authored numerous articles on emerging capabilities aligned with zero trust and NIST standards, while adhering to the stringent regulatory and compliance requirements within the US Federal Government. Recently, Daren has shifted his focus to the data and visibility tiers of zero trust, emphasizing data discovery, classification, and labeling with AI/ML. This ensures agencies can control access to sensitive data while accurately detecting cyber attacks and unauthorized use.

Heather Kuldell was the editor-in-chief of GovExec 360. Previously, she worked as a managing editor at Nextgov, Federal Times and C4ISR & Networks. She started her journalism career at Creative Loafing, an altweekly based in Atlanta, Ga.