Traci A. Barnett, MBA

Chief Executive Officer
Girl Scouts of Central Maryland

Traci A. Barnett has been in the nonprofit field for over 20 years working for both healthcare and service organizations.  Barnett has held several key executive and director level positions with such organizations as the Easter Seal Society, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Arthritis Foundation and Visiting Nurse Association.  In her current position she is the chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, the preeminent organization for girls, providing leadership programs to nearly 28,000 girls in Baltimore city and the five surrounding counties.

Under Barnett’s leadership Girl Scouts of Central Maryland has developed a premier STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) program for girls in the region through partnerships with the NASA Goddard Space Center, Johns Hopkins University, Northrop Grumman, UMBC, Lockheed Martin and TechBridge.  In October 2010 Girl Scouts of Central Maryland will celebrate the grand opening of their Urban Program & Environmental Training Center in Baltimore city with facilities that feature state of the art technology labs, a multimedia center, dance and exercise studio, and learning kitchen. 

Barnett was named Innovator of the Year in 2011 and a Maryland Top 100 Woman in 2010 and 2008 by the Maryland Daily Record.  She is a recipient of Smart Woman Magazine’s 2006 BRAVO Award and Toastmasters International Leadership and Communication Award in 2007.  Barnett was recognized as a 2009 Top 100 CEO by SmartCEO magazine.  She was also listed as one of 25 CEOs You Need to Know in 2009, an honor given by the Maryland Gazette of Politics & Business to presidents and CEOs of small, medium and large organizations who are not only running successful businesses, but are also giving back to their community.  

CAPT Stephanie Bryn, MPH

Director of Injury and Violence Prevention Programs 
Health Resources and Services Administration
US Department of Health and Human Services

CAPT Stephanie Bryn, MPH, is the Director of Injury and Violence Prevention Programs for the Health Resources and Services Administration, US Department of Health and Human Services and plays a critical role in HRSA's mission by facilitating technical assistance and education/training to states, organizations and others through a network of national resource centers and by providing vision and leadership for injury and violence prevention programming.   CAPT Bryn oversees the Children’s Safety Network and the National Center for Child Death Review Program and Policy Center, which have the mission of reducing injury and violence and preventing child and adolescent deaths.  CAPT Bryn is the Project Officer for HRSA's Stop Bullying Now! Campaign focused on tweens aged 9-13 years, teens, health and mental health providers, school personnel, parents, and faith-based, health and safety agencies and organizations.  The Stop Bullying Now! Campaign launched in 2004 has maintained more than 80 active partners and continues to raise awareness and promote action in communities, schools, organizations and states to stop bullying now! 

Clarissa Cerda

Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary
LifeLock

Clarissa Cerda is Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of LifeLock. Cerda serves on the LifeLock executive leadership team and manages LifeLock's legal, compliance, government affairs, and human resources functions. She brings more than 19 years’ experience of lawyering and negotiation, effective management, and strategic advising in fast-paced, technology corporations, leading law firm and the White House.

Before joining LifeLock, Cerda served as vice president, general counsel, and chief privacy officer of Initiate Systems, Inc. and as vice president, general counsel, and assistant secretary for Open Port Technology, Inc. Prior to that, she served as a Corporate and Securities partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal and as the assistant counsel to the President of the United States in the White House. She currently sits on the board of directors of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. Previously, Cerda has held various national positions on the American Bar Association (ABA), including the co-chair of the ABA’s Science and Technology Law Section's Privacy Committee.

Cerda graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in government. She earned an M. Phil. from the University of Western Australia and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. She also undertook post-doctoral studies in European Community Law at l’Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Jill Cook

Assistant Director
American School Counselor Association

Jill Cook is the Assistant Director of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA). ASCA promotes student success by expanding the image and influence of professional school counseling through leadership, advocacy, collaboration and systemic change. Founded in 1952, ASCA currently has a network of 50 state associations and a membership of over 29,000 school counseling professionals.

At ASCA, Cook oversees the online resource center, book acquisitions, media outreach and coordinates the Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP) and the ASCA Foundation Scholarship and assist with the School Counselor of the Year program. In addition, she assisted in the development of ASCA’s social media resources, including the social networking site the ASCA SCENE. She has represented ASCA on several boards and advisory committees, including The Prevention Researcher, Partners 4 Education, the Pupil Personnel Shortages Coalition, the National Research Center for College and University Admissions, and the National Consortium for Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services, and the Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Advisory Group. Cook is a former music teacher, middle school counselor, and assistant principal in North Carolina. She received her BMEd in Music Education and MEd in School Counseling from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Nicholas Coppolino

Parkville High School
Baltimore County Public Schools

Mr. Coppolino has been a teacher for 20 years in BCPS. He is currently assigned to Parkville High School and teaches the following courses: Cisco's IT Essentials and Discovery classes, Project Lead the Way's Introduction to Engineering and Design. He is also the mentor for Parkville's robotics club, Team 007 (pronounced "Double O'Seven") and their motto is "Licensed to Drill."

Rochelle S. Eisenberg, Esquire

HODES, PESSIN & KATZ, P.A.

Rochelle Eisenberg is a member of the Maryland law firm of Hodes, Pessin & Katz, P.A. Her practice since 1977 has been in the area of employment, labor, and school law, both in the private and public sectors. In connection with her school law practice, Rochelle represents numerous public school systems in Maryland. Her cases have included matters involving the interpretation of the Education Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, special education, student discipline, staff and student communications, drug and alcohol issues, collective bargaining and the interpretation of collective bargaining agreements, pupil services issues, First Amendment issues, investigations of child abuse, student and employee records, discrimination, harassment, employment, and wage and hour matters. She regularly attends meetings of boards of education and provides counsel and legal advice on the Open Meetings Act, the Public Information Act, parliamentary procedure and assists with appeal hearings.

Rochelle is a co-author of the Maryland School Law Deskbook and co-author of the Brief of Amicus Curiae for the National School Boards Association in the 2005 Supreme Court case of Schaffer v. Weast.

Rochelle is a graduate of the Montgomery County Public Schools, graduated with high honors of the University of Maryland and graduated from The Washington College of Law of the American University, where she was a member of The Law Review. She taught Business Law at Loyola College and has taught classes at Johns Hopkins University and Goucher College. A frequent lecturer, Rochelle regularly speaks to the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, the Maryland Negotiating Service, the Maryland Association of School Personnel Administrators, and The Association of School Business Officers. She has provided over 500 inservice seminars and workshops for boards of education and the private sector. She has served as volunteer mediator for the State of Maryland Human Relations Commission and for Baltimore County. In 2000 Rochelle was named the first honorary member of the Maryland Association of School Personnel Administrators, and in 2005 Rochelle was given the Distinguished Service Award by the Maryland Negotiating Service in honor of her many years of service to school systems throughout Maryland.

Sharon Elstein

Director of Research
Center on Children and the Law
American Bar Association

Ms. Elstein is the ABA Center on Children and the Law’s Director of Research, with over 20 years of experience in conducting national research projects and producing written materials.  Ms. Elstein’s expertise is founded on conducting primary research to understand, assess, and evaluate civil and criminal justice system processes and responses to child maltreatment. Recent areas of interest include cyberbullying, child and teen exploitation, and child sexual abuse.  Ms. Elstein manages national programs and projects, develops surveys, conducts interviews, compiles data and produces analyses, and writes reports with recommendations.   In her years with the Center, Ms. Elstein has directed multiple national projects on maltreatment of children, including: School Counselors’ Responses to Cyberbullying; and a $3.7 million Mini-Grant Program awarding technology to aid child victim testimony in sexual abuse cases.  Funding has come primarily from the Department of Justice (OVC, OJJDP, NIJ) and Health and Human Services.  In addition to her research tasks, Ms. Elstein has published numerous articles in the Center’s Child Law Practice, in which she brought social science research findings to legal and social work practitioners, with practical advice for policy makers and practitioners. Ms. Elstein authored an article series on Substance Abuse, which was adapted into on-line Training Modules by the Center for the National Child Welfare and Substance Abuse Law Center. 

Justin T. Fitzsimmons

Senior Attorney
National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse

Justin Fitzsimmons is a Senior Attorney with NDAA’s National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse in Alexandria, Virginia.  He organizes three national conferences a year about online crimes against children: Unsafe Havens I, Unsafe Havens II and Safety Net.  NDAA presents Unsafe Havens I, an intermediate course designed to facilitate prosecutors understanding of complex issues in cases of technology facilitated crimes against children. Unsafe Havens I is offered in various locations across the country. Unsafe Havens II, an advanced trial advocacy course, takes place at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina.  Safety Net trains multidisciplinary teams who investigate online crimes against children. Additionally, Mr. Fitzsimmons also trains at other events pertaining to online crimes against children as well as other sexual and physical abuse crimes against children.

Training prosecutors around the country is just one area of Mr. Fitzsimmons’ profession. He also updates a comprehensive outline of cases involving online exploitation of children and he also distributes a weekly case law update to hundreds of prosecutors and child abuse professionals both nationally, as well as globally.  Additionally, he collaborates with the following groups to develop strategies informing parents about online crimes against children: the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Department of Justice, and Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Attorney General Gansler is President-elect of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) and served as Chair of the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA) until accepting his post at the national organization. He also serves as national Co-Chair of NAAG’s Environment and Energy Committee, NAAG’s Youth Access to Alcohol Committee, and NAAG's Legislative Committee.

Attorney General Gansler established a statewide internet safety initiative focused on school-aged children, shutdown an online anonymous gossip site being used to torment young students, helped eliminate the online illegal adult services section of Craigslist, and continues to work on a nationally coordinated effort targeting sexual predators who use social networking websites to lure victims. To date, tens of thousands of sexual predators have been removed from social networking sites as a result of this effort. For this work, Attorney General Gansler received the Champion of Online Safety Award.

Prior to becoming Maryland’s Attorney General, Douglas Gansler served for eight years as the chief prosecutor in the largest jurisdiction in Maryland. Under his leadership, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s office was the first in the country to fully implement community-based prosecution, becoming a nationwide model for effective crime-fighting programs. Douglas Gansler also launched innovative and successful programs to fight gangs, punish criminals, and protect the public, including the first domestic violence dockets and first drug courts in the county, a first-in-the-state gang prosecution unit, the first Elder Abuse Task Force in Maryland to specifically target criminals preying on seniors, and the first internet crime unit in the State.

A life-long community volunteer, Attorney General Gansler founded a lacrosse league for underserved Baltimore inner-city youth (Charm City Youth Lacrosse). He has mentored at-risk area youth, served on the Montgomery County Commission on Aging, and co-chaired the NAACP Criminal Justice Committee. For his work in establishing the Charm City Youth Lacrosse League, he received the “Innovator of the Year” award from Maryland’s largest legal publication. Douglas Gansler attended the University of Virginia School of Law and Yale Univeristy, where he graduated cum laude and was an All-Ivy, All-New England lacrosse player. He is married to Laura Leedy Gansler, a securities lawyer and noted author. He coaches both his sons, Sam and Will, in a variety of sports.

Amy Ginther

Coordinator, Policy Development and Education
Project NEThics^sm
Office of Information Technology
University of Maryland

Amy has been at the University of Maryland since 1994, serving first in the Office of Student Conduct where she advised the Student Honor Council and adjudicated cases of academic dishonesty. Her prior work was also in the field of student affairs administration in residential life settings at the University of California Davis, Minnesota State University, Mankato, and Carnegie Mellon University.

She is currently the coordinator of the Project NEThics group in the Office of Information Technology. Project NEThics is the group charged with promoting acceptable use of information technology and investigating incidents of computing resource misuse. In this role, Amy works with graduate assistant staff members who manage the processing of copyright infringement notices, provides user education on a variety of issues, consults with web developers on copyright and intellectual property questions, serves on the university's trademark committee, coordinates the response to cases involving abuse of information technology resources, and serves as a liaison to departments as cases require (university Police, Office of Student Conduct, Office of the Victim Advocate). Amy also serves as a member of the university's Peer Consultant Network of the Center for Leadership and Organizational Change. She has presented at EDUCAUSE national conferences, the EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic regional conference, as well as at local meetings on topics of policy development, copyright and intellectual property, protection against identity theft, the pluses and perils of social networking, and others.

Bonnie S. Greenberg

Assistant United States Attorney
District of Maryland
Project Safe Childhood Coordinator

In September 1985, Ms. Greenberg began working as a prosecutor in the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.  She transferred to the Criminal Division in July 1997, and was a Trial Attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice until March 1991.  During a portion of that time she was assigned as Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.  Currently, Ms. Greenberg is an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Maryland, which she has held since March 199, and is the Project Safe Childhood Coordinator.  Her caseload is primarily crimes against children, fraud, and reactive crimes. She  has been an adjunct professor, teaching Trial Advocacy, at the University of Baltimore since Fall 2006, and teaches Trial Advocacy at the National Advocacy Center and for NITA. 

Vernecia Griffin

Jeffers Hill Elementary
Instructional Technology Teacher K-5
Academic Support Team Leader

Deb L. Griffith

Director Government Affairs
LifeLock

Deb Griffith joined LifeLock as the Director of Government Affairs in January 2011 and helps lead on legislative and regulatory matters related to identity theft protection on Federal, State and Local levels. Deb’s background is specialized in the area of training and development and prior to joining LifeLock, Griffith provided consulting services, specialized in training, organizational development, and strategic planning. Some clients included Disney, Nestle, Avery, PowerWave and Acts of Mercy.

In addition, Griffith’s insight and multifarious background provided the platform for her advocacy work where she provided consultancy to non-profits and foundations on efforts for partnerships with the public and private sector, academia and government agencies to advance projects and services. Recognized as a leading force on such issues, Griffith provided frequent speaking services, invited for consultations and was actively involved in an advisory capacity with the U.S. Department of State. In 2009, at the request of the U.S. Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, she participated in roundtable sessions at the White House.

As the Southern California State Director for the organization, “Not For Sale”, Griffith launched successful anti human trafficking initiatives engaging academia, legislators, law enforcement, and local communities. She also helped lead a key advocacy unit that influenced national policy related to the crime of trafficking in persons, working with congressional representatives and policy makers. Deb’s experiences span across domestic and global fronts in Asia, Europe, Africa, Central Asia, Middle East and throughout the United States. She conceptualized and executed a monumental collaboration in Rwanda, Kenya and Democratic Republic of Congo on education, social and health development. Utilizing sport and music as tools for diplomacy and community development, Griffith provided strategies for children at risk and capacity building for women in leadership. Public events resulted in 400- 8000 in attendance. Deb served on the board and as advisor for Sons of Congo, working with government, military and service providers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She also served on the board for Cal State, Fullerton University’s “Legacies” program. For more than 10 years, she has actively served on local PTA membership in various capacities, most recently as the Chair of the “Social Responsibility” Committee.

Marsali S. Hancock

President
Internet Keep Safe Coalition

Ms. Hancock currently serves as the president of the Internet Keep Safe Coalition and brings over 16 years of public service, education and business management experience to her position.

She founded the Mountain West String Academy, a highly successful music education program funded by public and private grants and through donations. Gathering university staff, school principals, professional musicians, college students, and parent volunteers, she created the program that currently carries up to 300 students. Ms. Hancock also founded the Science Summer Workshop, a hands-on, advanced youth science tutoring program, where she organized curriculum, lessons and activities that cover basic chemistry, virology and biology.

A highly talented musician, Ms. Hancock worked as a professional violinist for over 25 years, completing a solo CD and numerous studio recordings for films and symphonic soundtracks. She served as an adjunct faculty member for the Utah State University School of Music and is an occasional substitute for the Utah Symphony. Ms Hancock earned her violin performance degree in music from Brigham Young University and is the mother of six children. She enjoys gourmet cooking, gardening and hiking with her children.

Lane JaBaay

CEO / Founder
Healthy Heroes/Shakti Warriors

Lane JaBaay, is an experienced business professional and entrepreneur.   She is the Founder and CEO of Healthy Heroes, a mutli-media entertainment company that develops healthy lifestyle programs for kids.    Her career has included successful leadership roles with such vanguard organizations as Symantec, Oracle Corporation and Homeboyz.  While at Oracle, Lane was responsible for launching a division of Oracle’s National Alliance program and ran a division of their consulting organization implementing multi-million dollar consulting engagements.  After leaving Oracle she became Chief Operating Officer for Homeboyz a for-profit organization training disadvantage youths in web-development.  She founded, Innergy, an innovative “clubhouse” in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood focusing on community and she founded Liguria Lane, a real estate company in Italy that organized Italian Villa rentals back to Americans.   Lane has a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Northern Illinois University and studied for her Master’s degree at DePaul University’s School for New Learning.

Jonathan Kandell, Ph.D.

Assistant Director
University Counseling Center
University of Maryland

Dr. Jonathan Kandell has been on staff at the University of Maryland Counseling Center for 21 years, the last 17 as Assistant Director.  He earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology in 1990 and his M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy in 1986, both from the University of Maryland.  Dr. Kandell has been interested in technology and its impact since the mid-1980s, and has been involved in studying and treating internet addiction for 16 years.  In 1998 he wrote a lead article, entitled “Internet Addiction on Campus: The Vulnerability of College Students” for the first volume of the journal CyberPsychology and Behavior.  Dr. Kandell has been interviewed many times on the topic of internet addiction, including television, radio, internet, and in print.  He has been married for 25 years and has a 21 year-old son.

Dinah Little

Maryland Online PD Series

Dinah is an educator and writer with experience in grant management and online professional development. Most recently she was the program coordinator for the development of the Maryland Technology Toolkit for School Administrators.  

Laurie Nathan is the Manager of Outreach for the NetSmartz Workshop, an educational program of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), and brings with her a background in child exploitation and child abuse prevention to the fight against child endangerment on the Internet. Laurie analyzed Internet-related child exploitation cases and worked closely with law enforcement to have them resolved while working as a staff analyst in the Exploited Child Division (ECD) at NCMEC. As the Director of Programs at Prevent Child Abuse of Metropolitan Washington, she focused on child abuse prevention outreach campaigns for the Washington, D.C. metro area and trained hundreds of volunteers to handle calls on a support line for children.

Most recently, Laurie’s focus has been on spreading awareness of the importance of Internet safety education. She has presented on this issue at many educator and law enforcement conferences, including the National Sheriffs’ Association Conference, T + L Conference sponsored by the National School Boards Association, and the Internet Crimes Against Children National Conference.  Laurie’s goal is to educate and engage communities on ways to better protect children on- and offline.

Laurie is an alumna of Emory University in Atlanta, GA where she graduated with highest honors in Psychology.

Dr. Karen Paullet
Academy Chair Edvancement Solutions
Assistant Professor Robert Morris University
Associate Professor American Public University

Dr. Karen Paullet is the Cyber Security Academy Chair with Edvancement Solutions promoting security awareness to educators, administrators and students grades 3-12. She teaches at Robert Morris University and American Public University in their Cyber Security Programs. She holds a BS in Information Systems, a MS in Communications and Information Systems, and a DSc in Information Systems and Communications from Robert Morris University. In addition Dr. Paullet has spent over 13 years working with law enforcement preparing cases using digital evidence for trial. She has spoken at over 100 engagements throughout Pennsylvania on the Dangers of Social Network Sites, Cyberbullying, Cyberstalking and the CSI Effect.  She has applied her research interests to educate students, organizations and law enforcement throughout Pennsylvania. Her work has been published through various outlets to include the International Association for Computer Information Systems (IACIS), the Information Systems Educators Conference (ISECON), the Conference on Information Systems Applied Research (CONISAR) and The Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (SEInforms).   She brings her professional experience in law enforcement and teaching to serve and educate others in the community.

Roberta (Bobbie) Stempfley
Director
National Cyber Security Division
Department of Homeland Security

Ms. Stempfley is the director of the National Cybersecurity Division at DHS, where she is responsible for spearheading collaboration between DHS and the private sector. This includes deploying a cyber risk management program and building a national response system.

Ms. Stempfley previously served as the Defense Information Systems Agency CIO and the Vice Director, Strategic Planning and Information. She has more than 10 years of experience in Department of Defense communications and information technology systems development, operations, information assurance, and management.

Mrs. Stempfley holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Mathematics from the University of Arizona and a Master of Science in Computer Science with a specialization in computer security from James Madison University. She has also graduated from the Federal Executive Institute and the National Security Management Course.

Linda Sweeting is currently an instructional technology specialist on the Technology Training Team, Division of Information Technology, for Prince George’s County Public Schools. Her responsibilities include coordinating software and online resources testing, textbook and online resources support, and administrative systems and instructional technology training. Last spring she had the opportunity to develop the “Just Say Know” initiative, an internet safety awareness program for parents:  www.tinyurl.com/safetylinks.  This initiative has grown to include Tech Tuesdays 2010 Summer training for teachers and an online class using our new Moodle CMS will soon be available for PGCPS employees. For all students, we are deploying an internet safety song contest through the Vocal Music Program for fall 2010.

Linda has her Master’s in Library Science from the University of Maryland.  She started her career as a library media specialist and has collaboratively taught every subject area and every grade Pre-K – 12. She has presented at national state, and local conferences including National Educational Computing Conference, MSET (formerly MICCA), and Powering Up With Technology about grant activities, curriculum management, and technology training initiatives.

In addition, Linda facilitates online classes for the Maryland State Department of Education; courses include Online Teaching in Maryland, Online Mentoring, and Web 2.0. Linda is also an avid photographer, sailor, and bread baker. In her spare time, she is writing a bread baking book and is also planning a bread baking blog.

Mr. Waddell currently serves as Director of the Information Security & Privacy practice for Tantus Technologies. He has over 18 years of experience in information technology and security, solving cybersecurity-related problems for clients such as several branches of the U.S. armed forces, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Transportation Security Administration, the Department of State and the Social Security Administration.  Waddell also serves on the Advisory Board of the Americas for (ISC)² and is an active participant in (ISC)² initiatives such as the Safe and Secure Online program and the CAP Exam Development Working Group. 

Brooks Whiteford, a recent college graduate, has worked in many different areas of technology. Before receiving his degree in Computer Science in 2008 from St. Mary's College of Maryland, Brooks lead an effort to revive the college's radio station, resulting in a flourishing program with strong student involvement. The facility was renamed after Brooks shortly before his departure.

Brooks now works for the Technology Department at Calvert Hall College High School, where he graduated from in 2004. There, he assists faculty, staff and students with their most challenging technology needs and projects. Brooks also continues to volunteer at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, where he has worked to help advance learning through the use of technology. Through the implementation of resources such as classroom video projection systems, the school's dynamic webpage, and an advanced e-learning system, OLPH continues to remain on the forefront of development in the field of educational technology.

Brooks is looking forward to continuing his growth in his passion for academic technology, as well as expanding his interests even further.

Zulma Whiteford is currently the primary foreign language teacher at St. Louis School in Clarksville, Maryland, which has been selected as a pilot school for the Generation Safe (iKeepSafe) program.  As part of the Generation Safe team, Mrs. Whiteford is working closely with the staff to integrate technology into the curriculum. Prior to St. Louis, Mrs. Whiteford served as the Director of Academic Technology at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Ellicott City for six years, where she successfully integrated the use of technology into the curriculum and daily classroom activity. Throughout her teaching career, Mrs. Whiteford has placed strong emphasis on the importance of cyber ethics and security both in and out of the classroom.  Not only are the students taught the importance early on, but faculty and parents are educated as well.

Mrs. Whiteford holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the College of Notre Dame and a Master's Degree in School Administration from Loyola University. 

Hugh Williams

Consumer Protection Division
Maryland State Attorney General's Office

Hugh Williams is the first administrator of the Identity Theft Program at the Maryland Office of the Attorney General.  The Identity Theft Program consists of the Identity Theft Passport, a process for helping victims of identity theft recover their credit and their good name; education programs to help Marylanders protect themselves from identity theft; and protecting Maryland consumers by administering the Maryland Personal Information Protection Act.  Mr. Williams worked for two years at the Maryland House of Delegates as a legislative aide, and for non-profit consumer protection organizations prior to joining the Consumer Protection Division at the Office of the Attorney General.   He is also an evening law student at the University of Maryland School of Law.

Larry Wong
Information Assurance and Risk Management
CyberSafety Program Manager
Office of the Chief Technology Officer
Montgomery County Public Schools

Mr. Wong is Information Assurance and Risk Management Supervisor, and CyberSafety Program manager for the 140,000-student Montgomery County Public Schools in Rockville, MD.

Nat Wood is Assistant Director for Consumer & Business Education in the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. He led the team that created Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online, a new guide with practical tips to help parents help their kids navigate the online world. Nat conceived OnGuardOnline.gov, a joint education project of twelve federal agencies and the technology community, and managed the "Avoid ID Theft: Deter, Detect, Defend" campaign, which was a finalist for a 2008 Service to America Award. In 2003, he was a member of the team that created the National Do Not Call Registry. Prior to joining the FTC, Nat was an Assistant Director of the National Park Service. He’s a graduate of Cornell University, and has an MBA from George Washington University.

Davina Pruitt-Mentle, Ph.D.
Executive Director, ETPRO
CyberWatch K12 Division PI
Founder, C3^® Institute
Chairman, C3^® Conference

Dr. Davina Pruitt-Mentle, a senior researcher and policy analyst for Educational Technology Policy, Research and Outreach (ETPRO) has worked in the field of STEM education & educational and cyberawareness research since 1990. She has spent the past 12 years conducting research on student and educator cyberawareness and K-16 cyberethics, safety and security awareness programs, and developing programs to help increase the IS/IA workforce pipeline.  

Research and development interests have focused on the Cyberethics, Cybersafety and Cybersecurity (C3) framework. Some of her recent published work has focused on the state of C3 awareness knowledge and programs, cyberawareness strategies, and SECURE IT, a holistic approach program to promote C3 and connect to careers in IA/IS/Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics. She acts as a CO- PI on the NSF funded CyberWatch Regional Center, PI for the CyberWatch/UMD Digital Forensics Lab, PI of the MD BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) –EIS-C MD (Expanding IS Capacity in MD), and serves on numerous national, state and local Technology Task Forces and Advisory Boards.  

She has served as faculty lecturer within the College of Education at UMCP since 2001, and served as Director of Educational Technology Outreach within the College of Education at UMCP from 2001-2008. She has a PhD in Educational Technology Policy from the University of Maryland.