Phil Gardner

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Having built IANS’ end-user research offering, Phil now oversees all strategic and operational decisions at IANS. Phil began his career in security with seven years with the U.S. Navy as a Strike Fighter Pilot & Ordnance Requirements Officer. After receiving a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, he joined Goldman, Sachs & Co. in Mergers & Acquisitions and later became an associate with McKinsey & Company in Boston, MA. In 1996, Phil became one of the founders of Provant, Inc., a publicly traded training company serving the Fortune 1000 and Federal Government. He left Provant in 2000 to launch IANS. He graduated at the top of his class in US Navy Flight School.

Robert Parisi

Managing Director and National Cyber Product Leader, Marsh

CURRENT RESPONSIBILITIES

Robert Parisi is a managing director and National Cyber Product Leader in Marsh’s New York City headquarters. His current responsibilities include advising clients on issues related to intellectual property, technology, privacy, and cyber related risks as well as negotiating with the carriers on terms and conditions. Robert is also responsible for coordinating Marsh’s Global Cyber Network.

Prior to joining Marsh, Robert was the Senior Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer (CUO) of eBusiness Risk Solutions at AIG. Robert joined AIG in 1998 as counsel for Professional Liability and held several executive positions, including CUO for Professional Liability & Technology. While at AIG, Robert oversaw the creation and drafting of underwriting guidelines and policies for all lines of Professional Liability. Robert was instrumental in the development of specialty reinsurance to address risk aggregation issues in cyber, privacy, intellectual property and technology insurance. Robert led the team at AIG that created the first coordinated cyber insurance offerings. In addition to working with AIG, Robert has also been in private practice, principally as legal counsel to various Lloyds of London syndicates.

While at Marsh, Robert has worked extensively with Marsh clients in all industries, assisting them in analysis of their risk as well as in the placement of coverage for cyber risks.

Tracey Vispoli

President, Berkley Cyber Risk Solutions, a W.R. Berkley Company

Ms. Vispoli is currently the president of Berkley Cyber Risk Solutions, a W.R. Berkley Company, located in Morristown, NJ.  

An expert in CyberSecurity-related issues, Ms. Vispoli is an author on the topic, with by-lined articles and interviews appearing in The Wall Street Journal, Directors & Boards, Boardroom Briefing, Risk and Insurance, Bank Security, LIMRA, Institutional Investor and Electronic Banking Law and Commerce Report.  An early pioneer in the cyber insurance industry, she has been responsible for designing and implementing new insurance and risk management products that respond to the changing vulnerabilities of organizations around the world since 2001.

Previously Ms. Vispoli was the Global Industry Segment Leader for Chubb Specialty Insurance responsible for the organization’s global commercial private company, not-for-profit, healthcare and financial institution customer segments. She set strategies for growth, services, products and emerging trends for these industry segments and the profit and loss responsibilities that encompassed a $1.5 billion premium portfolio.

Phil Gardner

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Having built IANS’ end-user research offering, Phil now oversees all strategic and operational decisions at IANS. Phil began his career in security with seven years with the U.S. Navy as a Strike Fighter Pilot & Ordnance Requirements Officer. After receiving a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, he joined Goldman, Sachs & Co. in Mergers & Acquisitions and later became an associate with McKinsey & Company in Boston, MA. In 1996, Phil became one of the founders of Provant, Inc., a publicly traded training company serving the Fortune 1000 and Federal Government. He left Provant in 2000 to launch IANS. He graduated at the top of his class in US Navy Flight School.

John Strand

IANS Faculty

John is the Owner of Black Hills Information Security (BHIS), and has both consulted and taught hundreds of organizations in the areas of security, regulatory compliance, and penetration testing. John is also an instructor and course author of BlackHat's "Active Defense, Offensive Countermeasures, and Hacking Back" and the SANS Institute's "Hacker Tools, Techniques, Exploits and Incident Handling" classes. John is co-author of the" Offensive Countermeasures: The Art of Active Defense" book and is a contributor to the industry shaping Penetration Testing Execution Standard and 20 Critical Controls frameworks. He leads the Hunt Teaming, Command & Control (C2)/Data Exfiltration and Pivot testing development at BHIS. He is a dynamic speaker at conferences worldwide. In his spare time, he co-hosts the Hack Naked TV and Security Weekly podcasts.

Nathan Bullock

Navy SEAL Officer

In the summer of 2019, Nathan will be transitioning out of the military and plans to take the leadership skills and experiences gained in the military to the civilian world. Nathan is married to his wife Bayley, they have twin (2-year-old) boys, Jackson and Troy. When he is not changing diapers, Nathan enjoys hunting, hiking, cooking, and reading.

Katharine Cralle

Director, Brunswick Group

Katharine has spent the last decade advising Brunswick clients around the world, having worked in the London, New York and Dubai offices prior to her move to Hong Kong. She specializes in helping companies position themselves to global stakeholders, both internal and external, around times of significant change, with a focus on capital markets events. Katharine has supported clients ranging from Alibaba Group, the world’s largest e-commerce company to Dubai Group, the diversified financial services company of Dubai Holding, to Pfizer, the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company.

An employee engagement specialist, Katharine aids companies in developing change communications campaigns during periods of corporate development, supporting the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and the merger and integration of Abu Dhabi’s largest listed property developers, Aldar and Sorouh.

Andrew Gernt

Associate, Brunswick Group

Andrew is an Associate in Brunswick’s Washington, D.C. office where he supports clients on crisis communications, stakeholder engagement, corporate reputation, and public affairs campaigns. He is the Chief of Staff to the Cybersecurity and Data Privacy practice. Prior to joining Brunswick Group, Andrew worked on several political campaigns providing strategic communications advice, preparing public remarks, and serving as a campaign spokesman. He began his career on Capitol Hill where he served as U.S. Congressman David Cicilline’s Communications Director and U.S. Senator Jack Reed’s Deputy Press Secretary.

Renee Baker Arrington

Senior Vice President and Director, Pearson Partners

Renee Arrington offers clients over 20 years’ experience in retained executive search. She excels in recruiting senior executive talent for Fortune 500 companies, private-equity-backed businesses and not-for-profit organizations. She is a member of the Pearson Partners board of directors and leads the firm’s Fort Worth office and CIO and IT leadership practice with clients in technology, retail, financial services, business services, distribution and R&D. Renee conducts searches for board members, presidents and executive directors among other senior leadership positions.

Renee was named one of the top 40 Gatekeepers to the C-Suite by Hunt Scanlon Media, a search industry analyst. She is an active member of IIC Partners and the Association for Executive Search Consultants (AESC).

Renee approaches each search consultatively. She understands her clients’ cultures and the types of leaders best suited to their business life cycles and challenges. She is attentive to diversity and believes a well-run search can deliver market insight. Renee appreciates the value of using assessment instruments as part of the search.

Prior to joining Pearson Partners in 2006, Renee was a vice president in the technology practice of a global retained search firm, and was previously a shareholder and partner in the technology practice of another global firm.

In addition to serving on Pearson Partners’ board of directors, Renee serves on the board of directors of IIC Partners, one of the world’s top 10 executive search organizations, with 50 offices in 35 countries (Pearson Partners is a member of IIC Partners). Additionally, she serves on the boards of directors of the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of the Society for Information Management (SIM), the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) North Texas Chapter and the Foundation for the Young Women’s Leadership Academy in Fort Worth, where she serves as chairman of the board. She is an executive committee member of Dallas Executive Women’s Roundtable (EWR) and a member of Fort Worth’s Women Steering Business (WSB). Renee has previously served on the board of North Texas Public Broadcasting (NPR Affiliate) and was board chairman of the YWCA of both Fort Worth and Tarrant Counties and the Fort Worth Westside YMCA.

Jamey Cummings

Senior Client Partner, Co-Leader, Cyber Security Practice, Korn Ferry

Mr. Cummings is a recognized leader in advising organizations on the recruitment, assessment, development, and retention of information technology as well as information security & risk management talent at all levels, including the Board of Directors.  His clients range from large global corporations to high growth entrepreneurial companies, spanning all industries. In addition to Chief Information Officers, Chief Information Security Officers, and their key leaders, he also recruits cybersecurity consultants for leading professional services firms as well as top executives for cybersecurity technology companies and managed security services providers. He is based in the Firm’s Dallas office.

Prior to Korn Ferry, Mr. Cummings served as an associate principal in the industrial, supply chain, and transportation & logistics practices of another leading executive search firm, where he executed senior executive search assignments for both public and private equity-backed companies.  He also served clients in the consumer & retail, technology, government & defense, biotechnology, and education sectors.

Prior to his career in executive search, Mr. Cummings was a consultant with The Boston Consulting Group in Dallas, where he worked on a wide variety of projects with clients in the aerospace & defense, consumer finance, telecommunications, oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and education industries.

Earlier in his career, he served nine years with distinction as an officer in the U.S. Navy's SEAL teams.

He earned a master’s degree in business administration from Stanford University, and graduated with merit with a bachelor of science in aeronautical engineering from The United States Naval Academy.

Phil Gardner

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Having built IANS’ end-user research offering, Phil now oversees all strategic and operational decisions at IANS. Phil began his career in security with seven years with the U.S. Navy as a Strike Fighter Pilot & Ordnance Requirements Officer. After receiving a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, he joined Goldman, Sachs & Co. in Mergers & Acquisitions and later became an associate with McKinsey & Company in Boston, MA. In 1996, Phil became one of the founders of Provant, Inc., a publicly traded training company serving the Fortune 1000 and Federal Government. He left Provant in 2000 to launch IANS. He graduated at the top of his class in US Navy Flight School.