Speaker Biographies
Mark Gerencser (Master of Ceremonies)
Executive Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton
Mark J. Gerencser, Executive Vice President of Booz Allen Hamilton, a $6B global strategy and
technology consulting firm with more than 25,000 employees. He served as the Managing Director
of the Global Government Business, leading the Public Sector business within the US and abroad.
He served six terms on the Board of Directors and was a member of the Firm’s Leadership Team
that set the strategic agenda, market strategy, resource allocation, and major investments. He now
serves as Chairman of the Firm’s Partnership Committee.
Mr. Gerencser has led Booz Allen’s National Security business and created its Homeland Security
Practice. He created the commercial Enterprise Resilience Practice serving clients in Consumer,
Financial Services, Energy and Healthcare industries. He also created Booz Allen’s Infrastructure
Center of Excellence. He now advises government, private, and non-profit sectors on how to solve
complex problems in energy, environment, transportation, and infrastructure.
Mr. Gerencser has had many external leadership roles, including: leading an industry expert panel
addressing NSA’s infrastructure resilience; facilitating CEO roundtables addressing the
interdependencies between business, trade, and security; hosting a Cyber-Summit for Fortune 1000
and Government Agency CIOs to create a shared agenda on information privacy and assurance;
chairing several technology studies for the Electronics Industries Association to forecast the impact
of technological change; leading war games and multi-stakeholder simulations to address Port
Security, Bioterrorism, and Cybersecurity challenges; and representing industry to several Office of
Secretary of Defense (OSD) Net Assessment initiatives to help assess US Defense readiness. He
currently serves on a bipartisan policy center commission addressing energy security policy for the
United States.
Mr. Gerencser co-authored a Washington Post best seller entitled, Megacommunities, which defines
how leaders in government, private sector and civil society can tackle today’s global challenges
together. He has also authored numerous articles on technology and policy (Artificial Intelligence,
Robotics and Robotic Vehicles, Toward a Digital Democracy, Re-Imagining America’s
Infrastructure) and its impact on business or national security. His keynote speech at the 2009
Cybersecurity Symposium was recognized as one of “The best thoughts of the best minds on
current national questions” by Vital Speeches of the Day. He has appeared on numerous television
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news programs (e.g., MSNBC, Fox News, CNN) and has been featured in print media as well (e.g.,
Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Washington Post).
Vice Admiral Mike McConnell (Ret) - (Keynote Speaker)
Executive Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton
Mike McConnell is Executive Vice President and leader of the National Security Business for the
leading consulting firm, Booz Allen Hamilton, and he is a member of the firm’s Leadership Team.
Mr. McConnell served from 2007-2009 as U.S. Director of National Intelligence (DNI), a position of
Cabinet rank under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. As DNI, Mr. McConnell served as
the principal intelligence advisor to the President and as a member of the U.S. National Security
Council.
Mr. McConnell’s career has spanned over 40 years focusing on international developments and
foreign intelligence issues, first as a career intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy, as the Senior
Intelligence Officer on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as Director of the National Security Agency, and later
as Senior Vice President with Booz Allen Hamilton after retiring from the U.S. Navy as Vice Admiral
after 29 years of service. Over the past few years, Mr. McConnell’s area of focus has been counterterrorism, cyber security, counter-proliferation, and foreign intelligence. While managing the U.S.
Intelligence Community, an organization of 100,000 people, he had responsibility for a global
enterprise and budget of over $47B. In this capacity, Mr. McConnell had extensive interactions with
the White House, the President’s Cabinet, the Congress, International Leaders, and the U.S. Business
Community.
Serving first under President George H. W. Bush and later President Clinton, Mr. McConnell served
as Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) from 1992-1996. He led NSA as it adapted to the
multi-polar threats brought about by the end of the Cold War. Under his leadership, NSA routinely
provided global Intelligence and Information Security Services to the White House, Cabinet officials
and the Congress in addition to a broad array of military and civil intelligence customers. He also
served as a member of the senior leadership team of the Director of Central Intelligence to address
major programmatic and substantive foreign intelligence issues from 1992 until 1996.
Prior to his service at NSA and during Desert Shield/Storm and the dissolution of the Soviet Union,
Mr. McConnell served as the Intelligence Officer for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General
Colin Powell and the Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney.
Dr. Greg von Lehmen, PhD (Speaker)
Provost, University of Maryland University College
Dr. Greg von Lehmen serves as provost and chief academic officer at UMUC. He joined UMUC as
the area director for Japan in August 2001, and worked for UMUC Asia as area director for Japan for
four years. He returned to the United States in 2005, where he has served as the senior associate
dean within the School of Undergraduate Studies and later as senior vice provost.
Prior to joining UMUC, Dr. von Lehmen taught constitutional and administrative law, political
philosophy, and public administration for five years at Georgia Southwestern State University,
where he was a tenured associate professor. He joined Troy University in 1990, serving initially as
assistant professor of public administration in the university's Master of Public Administration
program in Europe and teaching in Germany, Spain, England, Italy, Turkey, and Portugal. He
returned to the United States to serve as regional director of University College Programs–
Southwest, managing Troy’s programs at military and NASA facilities in New Mexico, Arizona, and
Montana. In 1997, he relocated to Okinawa, where until 2001 he oversaw Troy’s graduate programs
in Japan, Korea, Guam, and Hawaii.
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Robert Lamb (Moderator)
Senior Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton
Bob Lamb leads the Firm’s cyber operations business. His major clients include the US Cyber
Command and its major subordinate commands along with several of the National Cyber Centers.
His team provides a broad spectrum of support across the cyber operations mission area from
policy, doctrine and strategy, through research and development, testing, and acquisition, to
operations, training, and implementation.
With extensive experience in the technology, defense, and intelligence industries, Mr. Lamb
provides deep understanding and insights to support client requirements in cyber operations,
including computer network operations (CNO), computer network defense (CND), computer
network attack (CNA), computer network exploitation (CNE), information assurance (IA), and
NetOps.
Before joining Booz Allen in 1999, Mr. Lamb served in a variety of command and staff assignments
as a Signal Officer in the U.S. Army. He concluded his military career as the Chief of Staff for the Joint
Task Force for Computer Network Defense (JTF-CND), and was part of the task force that developed
the Department of Defense first command, focused on defending its computer networks and
information systems, which today has become USCYBERCOM.
Prior to his assignment to the JTF-CND, Mr. Lamb commanded the 41st Signal Battalion, 1st Signal
Brigade in the Republic of South Korea and while stationed in the Republic of Panama, served as
both the Operations Officer and Executive Office with the 154th Signal Battalion. Other career
highlights included two assignments at the Military Academy, West Point as a Company Tactical
Officer and later as a Special Assistant to the Commandant of Cadets, and company command of the
521st Signal Company, 86th Signal Battalion in Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
Christopher Garcia (Panelist)
Director, DOT Cyber Security Management Center (CSMC)
Christopher Garcia is the Director of the Cyber Security Management Center (CSMC), in the
Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Office of the Assistant Administrator for Information
Services and Chief Information Officer, responsible for the Protection, Detection, and Response to
cyber incidents.
When the decision was made to develop the Office of the Assistant Administrator for Information
Services and Chief Information Officer, Garcia was asked by the Chief Information Officer (CIO) to
participate in the development of the organization in May, 2000. In October, he accepted the
position of Outreach Program Director.
In 1997, Garcia assisted with the development of the Air Traffic Services Year 2000 (Y2K) Program
Office (AAF-6) and served as the Executive Officer in Washington DC. He later served as the Site
Manager in Atlantic City, New Jersey, responsible for Y2K Implementation Deployment Testing
teams. Later, Garcia served the Office for Operational Support (AOS) as the Executive Officer, AOS-3
in Washington, DC.
Garcia joined the FAA as an air traffic control specialist in 1982 after serving as a professional pilot
and flight instructor with a corporate flight department. After working at Towers and Terminal
Radar Approach Control Facilities (TRACON) in Philadelphia, Allentown, Reading, and New York, he
left the Eastern Region Headquarters Air Traffic Division National Airspace System Implementation
(AOS) organization at the New York TRACON in 1996.
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Sherri Ramsay (Panelist)
Director, NSA National Threat Operations Center (NTOC)
Sherri Ramsay is the Director of the NSA/CSS Threat Operations Center (NTOC). NTOC is
responsible for characterizing threats to national security systems, selected networks of interest
and information processing systems. NTOC supports the detection of those threats and enables
dynamic defense on specified networks, provides actionable information for response, a venue for
associated mission coordination, and maintains a relevant common operating picture.
Ms. Ramsay graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Science
degree in Mathematics and Education; graduated with Honors from the Johns Hopkins University
with a Masters Degree in Computer Science; and as an NSA employee, was selected for the
Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF), National Defense University, and graduated with a
Masters Degree in National Resource Strategy. Throughout her career, Ms. Ramsay has held
leadership positions within the National Security Agency’s SIGINT Directorate, Research
Directorate, Technology Directorate, and Information Assurance Directorate.
Steven Shirley (Panelist)
Director, DoD Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3)
Steven D. Shirley is Executive Director, Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center, Linthicum, Md.
The DC3 is a national cyber center incorporating five organizations: the Defense Computer
Forensics Laboratory, Department of Defense's only accredited lab for conducting deep forensic
examinations of electronic media; the Defense Cyber Investigations Training Academy, a training
center to create DOD cyber crime investigators and digital forensic examiners; the Defense Cyber
Crime Institute, which performs research, development, test and validation for software and
hardware in forensic applications; the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force/Analytical
Group, an interagency collaboration; and the Defense Industrial Base Collaborative Information
Sharing Environment, the DOD clearinghouse and focal point for the referral of intrusion events
affecting the Defense Industrial Base. The DC3 operates under the executive agency of the Secretary
of the Air Force.
Mr. Shirley served in the Air Force where he commanded counterintelligence, antiterrorism and
investigative operations at every level of the Air Force. He was also a counterintelligence support
officer to a unified command, and on the Office of the Secretary of Defense staff where he developed
positions to protect DOD sensitive programs during arms control treaty inspections. In 2004, Mr.
Shirley retired from Air Force in the rank of colonel and was appointed to the Senior Executive
Service. Prior to assuming his current position, he was the Vice Commander, Air Force Office of
Special Investigations.
Timothy Quinn (Panelist)
Director, DOI Cyber Operations Center
Timothy Quinn is the Department of Interior’s (DOI) Enterprise Infrastructure Officer within the
office of the Chief Information Officer. He is responsible for managing networks,
telecommunications, data centers and land mobile radio. Mr. Quinn also represents DOI on the
National Communications System Committee of Principles. Mr. Quinn was a recipient of the 2006
Federal-100 award for implementation of DOI’s Enterprise Services Network – a consolidation of
13 bureau networks.
Mr. Quinn is a Past President of the National Capital Chapter of the Independent
Telecommunications Pioneers Association. Mr. Quinn has been active with ACT-IAC as a graduate
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of the 2007 Partners Class and is on the Government Advisory panel for the IAC Networks and
Telecommunications Shared Interest Group.
Prior to his current assignment, Mr. Quinn served as the Assistant Director for Information
Resource Management for the USDA Forest Service where he managed voice, data and radio
communications. Earlier in his career, Mr. Quinn worked in a variety of positions for the Forest
Service and Bureau of Land Management in California, Oregon and Washington. These included
serving as the GIS Administrator for the Regional Ecosystem Office coordinating interagency
information management activities for the President’s Northwest Forest Plan, providing
communications support for wild land firefighting and working on implementation of FTS-2000
and FTS-2001. Prior to federal service Mr. Quinn was an associate in a forest consulting firm
providing a variety of forest inventory, marketing, reforestation, and timber harvesting services to
private landowners, industry, and tribal governments.
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