2011 Judges
Thomas Quinn, Senior Vice President Chief Information Security Officer
Thomas Quinn is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer for State Street and is responsible for the strategy, design and execution of the Information Risk and Security program.
Tom has over 16 years experience in the area of Technology, Systems Management, and information Security in the Financial Services Industry and Defense sector. He has an extensive background advising start-up and venture financed companies commercializing next generation Security products. Two current areas of focus are the use of metrics to manage technology risk and the use of Enterprise Rights Management for Information Management.
Tom holds a BA from Old Dominion University and an MS from US Naval Postgraduate School. He is also a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM).
Samantha Kappagoda
Samantha Kappagoda is Chief Economist of Risk Economics, Inc (RiskEcon). She provides consulting services by applying rigorous analytics to large-scale real world geopolitical and socioeconomic issues relating to macroeconomics and demographics, including areas within labor, housing, consumption and consumer behavior, global population, immigration, environment, health and aging. She is also a Visiting Scholar at the recently established Risk Economics Lab for Decision Metrics at the Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences at New York University.
Previously, she was Senior Economist at Caxton Associates LP, a hedge fund established in 1983, investing in global fixed income, currencies, commodities and equities. She was a key member of Caxton Global, the firm’s flagship global macro fund, which at its peak had approximately $12 billion of assets under management. Her views on the global economy and markets guided the firm's senior decision makers during her thirteen year tenure there. Prior to entering the financial markets, Samantha was an Economist in the Operations Evaluation Department of The World Bank in Washington D.C., working on the evaluation of structural adjustment lending programs, with a primary focus on the outcome, impact and sustainability of these programs in developing countries.
Samantha pursues her broader research by serving as a senior editorial advisory board member of The Journal of Risk Finance (JRF), an Emerald Publications journal which provides a rigorous forum for the publication, both by academics and practitioners, of theoretical and empirical research related to the financing of risk, with a long-standing focus on issues of market convergence. She was originally the founding Managing Editor of JRF in 1999, initially published by Institutional Investor Journals/Euromoney, before its successful sale to its current publisher. She has also served as Special Editor to The Journal of Alternative Investments, another Institutional Investor journal.
Samantha received an M.B.A. in Analytic Finance and Statistics from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. She also holds a M.A. in Economics from the University of Toronto, and graduated with a B.Sc. (Honors) in Mathematics from Imperial College, London.
Samantha was born in Sri Lanka, and has also resided in Canada, the Philippines, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. Her biography is included in Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, Who’s Who of American Women, and Canadian Who’s Who. She currently serves on the board of directors of Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in Garrison and Glynwood in Cold Spring. She divides her time between Manhattan and the Hudson Valley region.
Todd Aven, Technology Fellow / Security Solutions Architect, Goldman Sachs & Co.
Todd Aven has been a member of the Technology Risk Management team since 2003, specializing in application risk and security solutions. Prior to this, Todd managed several engineering teams at the firm. Before joining Goldman Sachs, Todd worked for several technology start-up companies, managed the mid-range systems for Computer Associates, and built out a global e-mail and directory backbone for Bankers Trust. He earned his B.S. in Physics at the University of Maryland.
David Peach, Information Security Manager, The Economist Group
David is head of Information Security - a role he has held for 18 months. Before this he worked in various operational and strategic roles in IT and for Economist Group businesses - always with a security focus. He's worked for The Economist Group since 1998 - until 2005 was based in London, and since 2005 has been in New York. He holds a CISSP certification and a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Portsmouth in the UK.
Michael Shive, Department of Defense Multimedia Producer
Michael Shive has become a recognized leader throughout the Intelligence Community for his outstanding video productions. Over the past several years a panel of media experts from across the IC have nominated his projects 8 different times for the ICY Award for Media Excellence, the IC's coveted equivalent to the Oscar. He has received 5 "First Place" awards for his work and 3 "Finalist" awards - more than any other producer in the Intelligence Community.
He is probably best known for his contributions to the Cyber Defense Exercise (CDX) video. Recognizing that this annual exercise presents a powerful message on America's most critical vulnerability and one of the Department of Defense's most critical missions: CYBER security, Mr. Shive has created three award-winning videos based on CDX that continue to be used to educate and inspire a wide audience about cyber security
Anna Weeks, Program Manager, Assured Cloud Computing University Center of Excellence
Anna Weeks is a Program Manager for the several organizations including the Assured Cloud Computing University Center of Excellence. She works with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) encouraging and managing Basic Research Projects and is also involved in managing cyber security projects with universities such as Purdue and the University of Tulsa. Her Bio-Medical Engineering degree is from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and she has a Masters Degree in business from the State University of New York Institute of Technology.
Jenn Lesser, Security Operations Manger, Facebook
Jenn is the Security Operations Manager at Facebook. In her current role, Jenn is responsible for budget and roadmap management, along with Program Management for key cross functional initiatives, both inside and outside Facebook. She most recently program managed a Cyber Security Awareness month long campaign for all Facebook employees. Prior to her employment at Facebook, Jenn was Chief of Staff for the CISO at PayPal where she was responsible for budgeting, metrics and reporting, training and awareness, strategic planning, and governance. She has over 10 years industry experience, holds her PMP and CRISC certifications and is a graduate of St. Mary’s College of California where she received a B.A. in Communications.
