Mo McGowan was instrumental standing up critical components of the Transportation Security Administration serving as Assistant Administrator,
Office of Security Operations; Deputy Assistant; Administrator for Operations; and General Manager, Cargo and Supply Chain Security. Currently he works as a Senior Advisor at the Command Group.
Miguel is a independent producer working on both feature projects
and corporate partnerships. He works as a creative consultant for the Academy for Teacher Excellence at UTSA'S College of Education and Human Development. Miguel specializes in creative editorial, and his background includes major feature work, art direction, production work in Los Angeles, and small independent film.
Rich Cooper is Editor-at-Large for HSToday. A former senior member of DHS’ Private Sector Office (PSO), Cooper has been a frequent writer and contributor to numerous media outlets. He is Vice President for Strategic Communications & Outreach for the Space Foundation and a Principal with Catalyst Partners, LLC. Cooper is also a former Senior Fellow with GWU’s Cyber and Homeland Security Institute and has also served in senior positions at NASA, the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, SAS and several other profit and not-for-profit enterprises.
Elizabeth Neumann served as the Assistant Secretary for Threat Prevention and Security Policy in the Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans. She oversees Department of Homeland Security (DHS) –wide policy development and coordination for screening and vetting, terrorism prevention, counterterrorism, countering transitional criminal organizations, and other persistent and emerging threats. She was also responsible for two operational programs- Visa Waiver Program and the REAL ID Program. Ms. Neumann worked closely with other federal departments and agencies, states, and international counterparts to develop, coordinate, and implement these policies and programs. Prior to this role, Ms. Neumann served as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Department, where she assisted in the management of the day-to-day operations of DHS and served as a senior advisor to Secretaries Kelly and Nielsen, as well as Acting Secretary Duke.
Ms. Neumann’s work in the homeland security enterprise began just prior to the founding of the DHS in 2003, where she served on the Homeland Security Council at The White House. As part of the White House’s Domestic Counterterrorism Directorate, she tracked terrorist threats and developed domestic prevention and mitigation strategies and programs. She also coordinated the development and implementation of the Federal Government’s post-9/11 terrorism information sharing strategies and policies, including the architecture through which the Federal Government shares information with state and local governments.
Later, in support of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Ms. Neumann worked with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to develop the protocols for reporting suspicious activity and she developed one of the early community-based models for countering violent extremism.
Over the past 15 years, she has created and implemented multiple government-wide counterterrorism policies and reforms. She has extensive experience working across multiple homeland security and national security disciplines including: intelligence, law enforcement, emergency management, preparedness, critical infrastructure security and resilience, and cybersecurity. Her expertise includes threat and risk trend analysis; assessing, developing, and executing security doctrine, strategy, policy, and plans; and optimizing organizational development to address emerging risks.
Kalyna White is an Assistant Editor at HSToday for Climate Change Security and is the STEM Ambassador to the Board of Directors for Women in Homeland Security. She is the founder of LABUkraine, a non-profit organization that builds computer labs for orphans in Ukraine. Since 2011 she has worked with Women in Homeland Security to encourage middle and high school student to pursue STEM careers by organizing and supporting field trips to STEM missions throughout the homeland security enterprise. She is also President of the University of California, San Diego Pi Beta Phi chapter.
Lori W. Gordon is a technology strategist in national and homeland security, cybersecurity, and infrastructure risk and resilience at The Aerospace Corporation, a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC). She is an advisor to ISO, ANSI, and NIST technical working groups and is a visiting fellow at the National Security Institute. Lori has also served on curriculum advisory boards on cybersecurity and infrastructure security, law and government, and resilient design. She has a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Eileen Parise brings nearly 30 years of experience in government and corporate relations to bear. She is an expert in orchestrating complex operations and international business transactions. Eileen excels at mitigating risks and complex business challenges and negotiating among diverse groups with an astute understanding of business to business solutions in various fields, including Federal Government, Aerospace, Defense and Homeland Security practices.
Following her career as a senior executive in various positions across the National, International and Homeland Security sectors, she founded The Hawkeye Group International, LLC. Previously, Eileen served as Vice President of the Federal Sector at Erickson Aviation and developed a new Government Services Operation in Washington, D.C., supporting U.S. military and U.S. Government agencies at home and abroad. Prior to her work at Erickson Aviation, Eileen was Vice President for Federal and Commercial markets at Rapiscan Systems, and started the Homeland Security Division at FLIR Systems. As such, she expanded business development and increasing market share, while supporting components within the National Security and Homeland Security Communities and Department of Transportation.
Eileen also worked in affiliation with the Pentagon for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the J-3, Deputy Directorate for Information Operations. As a political appointee, she served as the Deputy White House Liaison to the Department of Defense, White House Liaison to the Department of Commerce and the first Director of the Trade Advocacy Center at the International Trade Administration.
Mr. Liscouski was appointed by President George W. Bush as the first Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was founded in 2003 and served in that position until 2005. Mr. Liscouski is Managing Partner and co-founder of Convergent Risk Group LLC, an innovative enterprise risk management and cyber security firm focused on protecting companies, state & local governments, international clients and NGOs by providing complete cyber risk mitigation and transfer solutions. Mr. Liscouski is a proven security professional and entrepreneur with over 30 years of senior level security operational and company leadership experience.
Linda is a veteran of the intelligence community having served at the National Security Agency, the President's Intelligence Advisory Board at the White House, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Her areas of expertise include weapons of mass destruction, intelligence analysis, arms control, program management and building partnerships. She has also worked in several non-profit organizations serving the national security community and recently, she was a Senior Vice President in a cyber security start-up that specialized in biometrics and access rights management.