Caitlin Durkovich Caitlin Durkovich is a Director at Toffler Associates, a strategic consulting and advisory firm that architects better futures for public and private sector clients around the globe with an unwavering commitment to be the catalyst for change. A recognized expert in critical infrastructure security and resilience, including cybersecurity, Caitlin helps public and private sector clients navigate the complex operational challenges posed by an increasingly interconnected and interdependent global economy. Over the course of nearly two decades of developing physical and cyber risk management approaches, Caitlin has successfully advanced public-private partnerships that drive thought leadership, influence policy, and evolve industry practices to manage security and operational risks. Caitlin served nearly eight years in the Obama Administration, including four years as Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection with the Department of Homeland Security. She led the mission to protect critical infrastructure and redefined public-private risk management for emerging issues like complex mass attacks, electric grid security, cybersecurity, GPS resilience, and climate adaptation planning. Her experience also includes leading homeland security projects with several government agencies while at Booz Allen Hamilton and pioneering early warning cyber intelligence at iDefense (acquired by Verisign). Caitlin earned a B.A. in public policy studies from the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University and a certificate in business strategy from The Aspen Institute. 
Phil Gurski Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. (www.borealisthreatandrisk.com) and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation. From 1983 to 2001 he was employed as a senior multilingual analyst at Communications Security Establishment (CSE – Canada’s signals intelligence agency), specialising in the Middle East. He also served as senior special advisor in the National Security Directorate at Public Safety Canada from 2013, focusing on community outreach and training on radicalisation to violence, until his retirement from the civil service in May 2015, and as consultant for the Ontario Provincial Police’s Anti-Terrorism Section (PATS) from May to October 2015. He was the Director of Security and Intelligence at the SecDev Group from June 2018 to July 2019. Mr. Gurski has presented on violent Islamist-inspired and other forms of terrorism and radicalisation across Canada and around the world. He is the author of “The Threat from Within: Recognizing Al Qaeda-inspired Radicalization and Terrorism in the West” (Rowman and Littlefield 2015) “Western Foreign Fighters: the threat to homeland and international security” (Rowman and Littlefield 2017), The Lesser Jihads: taking the Islamist fight to the world (Rowman and Littlefield 2017), An end to the ‘war on terrorism ’ and When religion kills: how extremist justify violence through faith (Lynne Rienner 2019). He regularly blogs and podcasts (An Intelligent Look at Terrorism – available on his Web site), and tweets (@borealissaves) on terrorism. He is an associate fellow at the International Centre for Counter Terrorism (ICCT) in the Netherlands, a digital fellow at the Montreal Institute for Genocide Studies at Concordia University, a member of the board at the National Capital Branch of the CIC (Canadian International Council) and an affiliate of the Canadian network for research on Terrorism Security and Society (TSAS). Mr. Gurski is a regular commentator on terrorism and radicalisation for a wide variety of Canadian and international media. He writes at www.borealisthreatandrisk.com. 
Mo McGowan 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. 
Michael Schaff Michael (Chris) Schaff has served the Fairfax Fire & Rescue for over 20 years and is currently the Battalion Chief for Virginia Task Force 1, one of the nation's foremost disaster response units. He leads over 200 specially trained career and volunteer fire and rescue personnel, with expertise in the rescue of victims from collapsed structures, following a natural or man-made catastrophic event around the globe and in the U.S. in response to the most catastrophic disasters. Chief Schaff has been deployed for nearly half of 2017 with missions to Haiti, Puerto Rico, Florida, Japan, Nepal, the Carolinas and more.
VA Task Force 1 is comprised of emergency managers and planners, physicians and paramedics and includes specialists in the fields of structural engineering, heavy rigging, collapse rescue, logistics, hazardous materials, communications, canine and technical search. He received a Valor award for his work with Virginia Task Force 1, to recover human remains from the crash site of a KC-135 refueling aircraft in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan and a Mission award for his work on international search and rescue from GTSC. He was recently recognized for 20 years of service as an authorized Advanced Life Support (ALS) provider (medic/paramedic). 
Dr. Cedric J. Sims Dr. Cedric J. Sims is President and CEO of Evermay Consulting Group. Driven by strong dedication to public service, Dr. Sims has over 24 years of experience in acquisition, cyber security, and systems engineering applied to homeland security missions. He has served in key leadership and operational roles at federal and state agencies. In his last federal appointment, Dr. Sims established the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Program Accountability and Risk Management. As a lead executive in the Management Directorate, his efforts promoted better accountability of the $18 billion portfolio of DHS acquisition investments and matured the acquisition risk management process. Before joining DHS Headquarters, Dr. Sims served at the U.S. Secret Service. He continues his dedication to these critical missions through strong advocacy of public and private partnership. 
Dr. John P. Sullivan Dr. John P. Sullivan served as a lieutenant with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department; specializing in emergency operations, transit policing, counterterrorism and intelligence. He is an Instructor in the Safe Communities Institute (SCI) at the Sol Price School of Public Policy - University of Southern California, Global Fellow at Stratfor, Senior El Centro Fellow at Small Wars Journal, and Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Global Observatory of Transnational Criminal Networks. In addition, he is a member of The InterAgency Board for Emergency Preparedness and Response. His doctoral dissertation at the Open University of Catalonia examined the impact of transnational crime on sovereignty. His current research focus is terrorism, transnational gangs and organized crime, conflict disaster, intelligence studies, post-conflict policing, sovereignty and urban operations. Go to Top
