Hear from Top Industry Leaders at Nationwide Cybersecurity Events

They say Chicago is the city of broad shoulders, but after yesterday’s FutureCon CyberSecurity Events, I’d argue it’s the city of sharp minds. Despite the January chill, the energy was electric. It’s a rare thing to get this many practitioners in one room who are equally committed to dismantling silos and building sturdier fortresses. The most sophisticated firewall in the world is useless without the human intelligence behind it. Yesterday wasn’t just about the tech stack; it was about the collective wisdom of a community that refuses to be outpaced by the threat landscape. If you missed it, you missed the blueprint for the year ahead. 🧠 Elite speaker insights on the shifting threat horizon ⚡ Real-time collaboration between C-suite and practitioners 🎓 Tactical takeaways for the 2026 security roadmap 🔍 Strengthening the local Chicago tech ecosystem

FutureCon Chicago was incredible. Big thanks to the entire FutureCon CyberSecurity Events team for creating an environment where security leaders can actually connect and learn from each other. You made it easy to have the hard conversations about identity controls, risk quantification, and what's actually working in the field.

Attending FutureCon Los Angeles for the 4th time. It’s always a great opportunity to connect with other security professionals and stay current on evolving threats, security operations, and new technologies.

FutureCon has provide me, and many members of our County IT team, with an indispensable opportunity to not only understand emerging innovations, evolving risks, and changes in the technology landscape, but also provides an avenue to collaborate with industry peers while gaining exposure to vendors which can offer additional solutions for those seeking change. Each conference offers continuing professional education (CPE) credits which has been critical to keeping our team’s technical certifications in good standing. The option of virtual or in-person attendance, with multiple conferences held throughout the year, has made this a convenient, low cost option for any organization.

I'm very excited to attend and hope to speak to you then. I looked over the Speakers listed, and I want to thank you for inviting other women speakers to the conference. Representation in our industry is something I value, and inspires me to better myself in my career. I'm looking forward to hearing more of their experiences and to connecting.

As you may recall at the end of the event, the panel discussion switched over to securing AI applications. Folks wanted to wait on public policy... I piped up and pointed out that the people in that very room were the experts, not the government. "You can find out more about how to build a house at the carpenters convention, than in a government board room." Aside from ongoing cyber security work, I also am a primary investigator on a Dark Matter project. We built a high performance research grade cluster computer system for that work (modeling and simulation of the early universe). After finishing, my wife and I discussed the Baltimore panel discussion, and decided to start a Rag/Cag AI business (retrievement/context augmented generation).  That is building high end expert AI systems up to 70B - Q8. This is well within the reach of a vast machine like we now have.  We then bought www.ethical-llm.com and are setting that up now. The whole AI part started at your event in Baltimore. I made the security issue our problem there, then my own problem later. So  - your event was the catalyst for the computer and AI work, which also doubled into astrophysic success on Dark Matter. Your event is the only one I attend, and I just love it.

I was very impressed with the virtual conference as a first-time attendee. I’ve participated in virtual conferences hosted by other organizations in the past and this one outshines them all!

Unexpected but truly appreciated honor today — I received an Award of Excellence at the FutureCon Boston Cybersecurity Conference. I'm proud of what we’ve accomplished, but the real story is that none of this happens alone. Cybersecurity only works when the entire organization treats it like a team sport, and I’m lucky that the City of Worcester embraces that. I’ll admit, after all of the October events, and the never ending threats, I was feeling a little cyber-tired. The energy at FutureCon was exactly what I needed. Great conversations, new contacts outside the GovTech circle, new ideas, and more notes than my team probably wants to hear about on Monday. I loved Peter Chestna's session on software security — incredibly sharp, and turns out he’s a fellow Central Mass guy whose brain I’ll absolutely be picking. It was also helpful to hear ShanShan P.’s reminder that as much as AI has evolved, we still need to take a case-by-case and risk-based approach. When precision counts, generative AI has the potential to hallucinate confidently and improvise in all the wrong ways. Huge thanks to Kim Hakim and the team at FutureCon CyberSecurity Events for putting on such a fantastic conference. Kim, looking forward to giving you a tour of Worcester next year. 😉 Feeling energized, grateful, and ready to get back to work.

People often ask how I got into public speaking especially since I now speak 15–20 times a year around the country (and occasionally overseas). Truth is, it started pretty simply. About four years ago, I was at a FutureCon CyberSecurity Events conference sitting at a table with two people I didn’t know at the time, but who turned out to be excellent presenters — Marc Ashworth and Teri Green-Manson. Marc happened to be the keynote that day. I remember thinking, “That looks fun. I’d like to do that someday.” So after the event, I told Kim Hakim and the FutureCon CyberSecurity Events team that I’d be interested in speaking if they ever needed someone. The very next STL event, they had me on a panel with Tim Marsden, Andrew Wilder, and Rebecca Harness and that’s where it started. A few local panels led to solo presentations, then to regional events, and eventually to international stages (even Germany a time or two). It wasn’t luck. It was curiosity and a willingness to ask. Turns out, people want to hear your stories if you’re willing to tell them. And willing to help if you ask for it. So if you’ve ever thought, “I’d like to be up there someday,” here’s my advice: 👉 Raise your hand. 👉 Tell someone. 👉 Start local. The opportunities show up once people know you’re interested.