2025 Cyber Summit | Potomac Officers Club
WHAT
Cyber threats are constantly adapting, and in this dynamic environment, federal agencies face unprecedented challenges in securing their data and infrastructure. The Potomac Officers Club's 2025 Cyber Summit brings together leading cyber experts, government decision makers and industry executives to explore innovative solutions for a secure and resilient public sector.
Join us and dive deep into emerging cyber threats, new cyber policies and initiatives, modernization strategies, public and private sector collaboration, cybersecurity workforce challenges and so much more. Engage with cyber leaders, network with a community of GovCon professionals and discover cutting-edge cyber technologies at this can’t-miss summit.
Keynote Speakers
Bridget Bean
Executive Director
U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
Ashley Manning
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy
U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
David McKeown
Deputy Chief Information Officer for Cybersecurity and Senior Information Security Officer
U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
Speakers
Timothy Amerson
Former Acting CISO & Acting Associate Commissioner
Social Security Administration (SSA)
Dr. Thomas Augustine
Chief Information Security Officer
Defense Human Resources Activity (DHRA)
Aaron Bishop
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
U.S. Department of the Air Force
Ron Brash
Vice President of Industrial Cybersecurity
Exiger
Robert Brown
Senior Vice President of National Security Solutions
Alpha Omega
Kathleen Carley
Director of Center for Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems (CASOS)
Carnegie Mellon University
Gerald Caron
VP, Cybersecurity
Riva Solutions Inc.
Christopher Cleary
Vice President, Global Cyber Practice
MANTECH
Paulo Costa
Professor and Dept. Chair, Dept of Cybersecurity Engineering
George Mason University
Joanna Dempsey
Vice President, CISA Portfolio, Justice & Homeland Solutions
ECS
Dr. Ben Dixon
Senior Staff Member: Optical and Quantum Communications Technology Group
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Daniel Ehlmann
Chief Engineer, Digital Infrastructure
Anduril Industries
Michael Epley
Chief Architect and Security Strategist, Public Sector
Red Hat
Jennifer Ewbank
Former Deputy Director of CIA for Digital Innovation
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Justin Fessler
VP, Public Sector
LogicMonitor
Marcus Fowler
CEO
Darktrace Federal
Beau Houser
Senior Director of Cybersecurity
ECS
Dr. Diane Janosek
CEO
Janos LLC
Doug Jeruzal
CTO
RealmOne
Christopher Jones
Chief Technology Officer
Nightwing
April Lenhard
Principal Product Manager
Qualys
Dr. Sarah Muccio
Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
Audrey Murphy
Director, Business Development
Peraton
Nitin Natarajan
Former Deputy Director
U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
Bobby New
Vice President, US Public Sector Solutions Engineering, Cybersecurity Leader
Trellix
Lam Nguyen
Chief Scientist
Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center [DC3]
Pete Ranks
Director for Center for Cyber Intelligence
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Jacob Rideout
Chief Technology Officer
HiddenLayer
Danielle Rowell
CISO
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Anne Marie Schumann
Principal Cyber Advisor
U.S. Department of the Navy
Duane Shugars
A Visionary Leader in Cybersecurity Innovation
Omni Federal
Dr. Jacob Vargis
Professor of Practice, Cybersecurity
Marymount University
Kathryn Wang
Principal, Public Sector
SandboxAQ
Dr. Merrick Watchorn
Chief Cyber, Quantum, & Cognitive Information Services Architect.
U.S. Air Force
Dr. Scott White
Associate Professor; Dir. Of Cybersecurity, College of Professional Studies
George Washington University
Robert Williams
Head of Business and Partnerships
SandboxAQ
Dr. Carl Williams
CEO
CJW Quantum Consulting, LLC
Agenda
| 7:00am | 8:00am | Networking Reception |
| 8:00am | 8:10am | Welcome & Opening Remarks |
| 8:10am | 8:45am | Opening Fireside Chat: Bridget Bean (CISA) and Joanna Dempsey (Moderator) |
| 8:45am | 9:20am | Ask the CISO: David McKeown (DCIO(CS)) and Robert Brown (Introducer) |
| 9:20am | 9:50am | Networking Break |
| 9:50am | 10:50am | Panel A: Leveraging Big Data and Advanced Analytics to Enhance Cybersecurity: Christopher Jones (Moderator), Lam Nguyen, Dr. Jacob Vargis, Dr. Scott White, Pete Ranks, and Ron Brash |
| 9:50am | 10:50am | Panel B: Doing More with Less: Intelligence-Driven Cyber: Beau Houser (Moderator), April Lenhard, Duane Shugars, Anne Marie Schumann and Dr. Thomas Augustine |
| 10:50am | 11:00am | Break |
| 11:00am | 12:00pm | Panel A: AI and Cybersecurity: How Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionizing the Security Industry: Jennifer Ewbank, Doug Jeruzal (Moderator), Nitin Natarajan, Dr. Diane Janosek, Dr. Sarah Muccio and Chris Sestito |
| 11:00am | 12:00pm | Panel B: Navigating the Quantum Era: Regulatory Convergence and Technical Compliance: Robert Brown (Moderator), Dr. Ben Dixon, Kathryn Wang, and Dr. Carl Williams |
| 12:00pm | 1:00pm | Networking Lunch |
| 12:10pm | 12:50pm | Lunch Panel: Outpacing the Adversary: Disrupting the Defense Cyber Status Quo: Daniel Ehlmann, Kathleen Carley, Marcus Fowler, Audrey Murphy (Moderator), and Kathryn Wang |
| 1:00pm | 2:00pm | Panel A: Defending Federal Networks: The Role of AI in Cybersecurity: Christopher Cleary (Moderator), Dr. Paulo Costa, Bobby New and Dr. Merrick Watchorn |
| 1:00pm | 2:00pm | Panel B: The Convergence of Zero Trust and Observability: Timothy Amerson, Gerald Caron, Danielle Rowell, Michael Epley and Justin Fessler (Moderator) |
| 2:00pm | 2:35pm | Closing Keynote: Ashley Manning and Christopher Jones (Introducer) |
| 2:35pm | 2:40pm | Closing Comments |
