2026 Cyber Summit | Potomac Officers Club
WHAT
In recent years, it has become abundantly clear that government data has emerged as the primary attack surface for international conflict—and that cyberspace is the principal battlefield. Cyber threats from global adversaries and near-peer nations alike have flooded American systems. Potomac Officers Club recognizes these imposing challenges and proudly presents the 2026 Cyber Summit. At this critical GovCon conference, attendees will join the extremely important conversation with noteworthy cyber officials from across the public and private sectors.
With less than a year until DOW’s 2027 deadline to become zero trust-compliant on all systems, understanding where defense (and civilian) agencies stand in their cybersecurity journeys is a requirement. Learn from industry leaders and forge new partnerships at this year’s Cyber Summit.
Keynote Speakers
Aaron Bishop
Acting Deputy CIO for Cybersecurity and DoW CISO
U.S. Department of War (DOW)
Chris Butera
Acting Executive Assistant Director
U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
Michael Duffy
Acting Federal Chief Information Security Officer
Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Katherine Sutton
Assistant Secretary of War for Cyber Policy and Principal Cyber Advisor
U.S. Department of War (DOW)
RDML Jason Tama
Commander, Coast Guard Cyber Command
U.S. Coast Guard (USCG)
Speakers
Dr. Curtis Arnold
Chief Scientist
Core4ce
John Baase
DoD E-ICAM Program Manager
Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
Cheri Benedict
Cyber and Supply Chain Advisor
OMB/OFCIO
Stacy Bostjanick
Vice President, Government Services Strategy
Cybersec Investments
Steve Brining
(CISSP) Cybersecurity Evangelist
Acronis
Reb Butler
Senior Chief Advisor
U.S. Space Force
Sohail Chaudhry
VP and CIO
Precise Software Solutions
Christopher Cleary
Vice President, Global Cyber Practice
MANTECH
Vince Crisler
Chief Strategy Officer
Celerium
Joanna Dempsey
Vice President, CISA Portfolio, Justice & Homeland Solutions
Everforth ECS Federal
Eric Dull
Director, Cyber Division
Deloitte
Dr. Fredrik Fatemi
Senior Research Scientist for Quantum Science
DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, T2COM
Felipe Fernandez
CTO
Fortinet Federal Inc.
Davey Gibian
Deputy CDAO for Warfighting Mission Area
U.S. Department of War (DOW)
Daryl Haegley
Technical Director, DAF Cyber Resiliency Office for Control Systems (CROCS)
U.S. Department of the Air Force
Jason Hill
Executive Director
MANTECH
Mike Howard
USTRANSCOM J6 Engineering/Digital Transformation Division Chief
U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM)
Sam Hussain
Head of US Defense Sector
Capgemini Government Solutions
Dr. Linda Jones
Acting Project Manager PM Defensive Cyber Operations
U.S. Department of the Army
Terry Kalka
Director
DC3/DCISE
Jeremy Kepner
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Fellow
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Louis Koplin
Program Executive Officer for Digital and Enterprise Services
U.S. Department of the Navy
Mark Maglin
Vice President, Department of Defense Cybersecurity
Everforth ECS Federal
Micah McCutchan
Security Advisory Managing Director
SentinelOne
Leslie Nettles
Acting Deputy CISO
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
Bobby New
SVP, Global Pre-Sales Solutions Engineering
Trellix
Khoi Nguyen
Command Acquisition Executive and Director
Cyber Acquisition and Technology Directorate (J9)
Lt. Gen. (Ret) Mary O'Brien
Principal Owner
Mary O'Brien Strategies LLC
Jennifer Obernier
CEO
Grist Mill Exchange
David Raley
Chief Digital Business Officer
Operation StormBreaker, USMC
Timothy Schaad
Vice President & Technical Director, Intelligence & Homeland Security Sector
MANTECH
Dr. Mitchell Sipus
CEO
North Star Labs
Dr. Rainer Steinwandt
Dean, Science & Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences
University of Alabama in Huntsville
Vincent Stoffer
CTO
Corelight
Steve Swaim
Account Executive
Corelight
Jeremy Tsiopanas
Head of Delivery
Capgemini Government Solutions
Davon Tyler
CISO
U.S. Department of Education
Nitin Vartak
Chief Technology Officer
Alpha Omega
Chief Stephanie Walker
FBI Cyber Division’s Cyber National Security Intelligence Section.
Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)
Agenda
| 7:00am | 8:00am | Networking Reception |
| 8:00am | 8:10am | Welcome & Opening Remarks |
| 8:10am | 8:40am | Opening Keynote: Aaron Bishop & Mitchell Sipus (Introducer) |
| 8:40am | 9:00am | Mid-Morning Keynote: RDML Jason Tama & Steve Swaim (Introducer)
|
| 9:00am | 9:20am | Morning Keynote: Katherine Sutton & Sam Hussain (Introducer) |
| 9:20am | 9:50am | Networking Break |
| 9:50am | 10:50am | Panel B: Combating Advanced Persistent Threat | Michell Sipus (Moderator), Eric Dull (Panelist), Daryl Haegley (Panelist), Dr. Jeremy Kepner (Panelist), David Gibian (Panelist), Chief Stephanie Walker ,Jennifer Obernier (Panelist) |
| 9:50am | 10:50am | Panel A: Quantum Computing and Post Quantum Cryptography - Preparing for the Next Security Disruption | Mark Maglin (Moderator), Dr. Rainer Steinwandt (Panelist), Vince Stoffer (Panelist), Davon Tyler (Panelist),Dr. Fredrik Fatemi (Panelist) |
| 10:50am | 11:00am | Break |
| 11:00am | 12:00pm | Panel A: AI in Cyber Defense: From Intelligent Detection to Autonomous Resilience | Sohail Chaudhry (Moderator), Nitin Vartak (Panelist), Leslie Nettles (Panelist), Mike Howard (Panelist) |
| 11:00am | 12:00pm | Panel B: Cybersecurity at Commercial Speed: Securing CSO Innovation for Defense Missions | Sam Hussain (Moderator), John Baase (Panelist), Stacy Bostjanick (Panelist), Lt. Gen. (Ret) Mary O'Brien (Panelist), Vince Crisler (Panelist), Khoi Nguyen (Panelist), Louis Koplin (Panelist) |
| 12:00pm | 1:30pm | Networking Lunch |
| 12:15pm | 1:15pm | Lunch Panel: From Automated to Autonomous, Leveraging AI to Evolve Your SOC | Micah McCutchan (Moderator), Bobby New (Panelist), Jeremy Tsiopanas (Panelist), Timothy Schaad (Panelist) |
| 1:30pm | 2:30pm | Panel A: Resilience by Design: Zero Trust, Continuity, and Operating Through Disruption | Felipe Fernandez (Moderator), John Baase (Panelist), Christopher Cleary (Panelist), Reb Butler (Panelist), Cheri Benedict (Panelists) |
| 1:30pm | 2:30pm | Panel B: Cyber Risk to Mission Risk: Aligning Security, Operations, and Executive Decision-Making | Steve Brining (Moderator), Dr. Curtis Arnold (Panelist), Terry Kalka (Panelist), David Raley (Panelist), Dr. Linda Jones (Panelist) |
| 2:30pm | 2:40pm | Networking Break |
| 2:40pm | 3:00pm | Afternoon Keynote: Chris Butera & Jason Hill (Introducer) |
| 3:00pm | 3:20pm | Closing Keynote: Michael Duffy & Joanna Dempsey (Introducer) |
| 3:20pm | 3:30pm | Closing Comments |
