Jeremiah Wyka, Director

Currently, Jeremiah Wyka is an accomplished cybersecurity professional with a successful track record in executive leadership, business development, and IT cybersecurity sales. With a broad background in cybersecurity, including experience with managed services, GRC, and most recently SAAS solutions, Jeremiah has helped clients recognize threats, improve their security posture, and provided consulting to executives on complex solution-based products. Jeremiah is recognized for his strategic thinking, problem-solving abilities, and an exceptional capacity to lead high-performance teams. 

Frederick Lehrman, Director

Currently, I am the IT and ITGC auditor for Richardson Electronics Ltd. (RELL) (Critical Manufacturing). I also assist in Cyber Security and am responsible for the ERM reporting. As ESG is ramping up, I will be responsible for testing the ESG for RELL. At RELL I am also on the Cyber Attack, Incident, and Hazmat Response teams. I have been an auditor throughout my career. This includes being a SOX Manager, Sr. Audit Manager, Audit Director, and Chief Audit Executive for two organizations for a total of 15 years. As a consultant, I acted as the Chief Audit Executive for another company. I also have been a controller of a steel plant and controller of two sales companies. Both my graduate and undergraduate degrees are from Western Illinois University. I am a Non practicing CPA and CFSA. I have been a member of InfraGard for 25 months. In the past, I have been on the boards of the RUSH Associates and Snow City Arts.

Outside of RELL, I volunteer as a trail patrol (security and safety) person for the Morton Arboretum, active in CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), and active on my house of worship’s Usher and Greeting teams. Married to a teacher and have three Dachshunds.

InfraGard has assisted me in performing my position and volunteering activities.

Fred Kwong – VP, Chief Information Security Officer, DeVry University

Dr. Fred Kwong has been in the information security and technology field for the past 20 years in working in education, financial, telecommunication, healthcare, and insurance sectors.  He is an award-winning thought leader in security and currently works at a DeVry University where he currently serves as the VP and Chief Information Security Officer. He is a member of several advisory boards and is a frequent speaker at national security forums on cyber security and information technology and is often asked to consult on matters of security and leadership

Fred also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Roosevelt and Benedictine Universities. He received his Bachelor of Arts in psychology and professional communications, Master of Business Administration in management information systems from Roosevelt University, and holds his Doctorate in organization development from Benedictine University. Fred has earned several certifications including the CISSP, CISA, CISM, CDPE, PCIP, PMP and ITILv3f.

Steve Weber is currently a Consulting Security Executive with IT Assurance. Steve previously served as Information Security Officer with Catamaran Corporation, a health service company.  As Information Security Officer, Steve built Catamaran Corporation’s information security and IT compliance program over 6 years. This required extensive integration capabilities for complex IT environments in a heavily regulated industry with HIPAA, NIST, SOX, PCI, HITRUST and URAC compliance and external SaaS/SOC needs. At the time UnitedHealth Group’s Optum division acquired Catamaran in 2015 for $21.5B, the program was responsible for protecting 45M+ patient records and 1B+ annual business processing transactions. Steve has an additional 13 years of combined experience spanning the healthcare, manufacturing, judicial system, and the insurance industries. In addition, Steve previously held information security and IT audit management positions at CVS Health (Caremark), as well as  senior positions at Sears and Arthur Andersen.

Steve’s prior Board  experience includes serving as a board member of the International System Security Association (ISSA) Chicago Chapter for 6 years. Steve has been a member of the Infragard Illinois – Chicago Member Alliance Chapter for 8 years, ISC(2) for 15 years and the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) Chicago Chapter for 27 years.

Steve holds CISSP, CISM, and CISA professional certifications and has been a conference presenter and panelist for several local professional associations or industry events.

In the at Large role, Steve would like the opportunity to support the Chapter’s Board to further strengthen the public and private sector relationship through robust communication. His prior experience on the ISSA Chicago Chapter board and membership with other associations will be a source for additional ideas for members and partnerships, which will further support the Chapter’s continued growth goals.

I am the Director of Information Security at Kirkland & Ellis. With over twenty six years of IT and Information Security experience, I have worked in organizations across the financial, managed security, insurance, transportation, government and legal sector. Over 80% of my career has been focused on information security.

As Director of Information Security in my current position, I am accountable for oversight and management of the Governance, Compliance, Security Risk Assessment, Threat/Vulnerability Management and Incident Response program. In a previous role as CISO for the City of Chicago, I was accountable for measuring, communicating and responding to cyber risks for City of Chicago assets.  I lead the Information Security Office (ISO) in delivering and enforcing key objectives around strategy, framework, policy and procedures that align to the City’s needs as well as legislative, regulatory and industry best practices.

I have a strong track record of delivering IT and Information Security solutions around people, process and technology to provide business value while mitigating risk.  Among other career achievements, I have optimized team resources and improved productivity through automation, sourcing, process improvements, definition of services and self service capabilities, led sourcing engagements, and delivered a strategies for Information Security departments to leverage managed security services for operational capabilities to expand and enhance their services.

I am currently a Co-Chair for the ChicagoFIRST Cyber Work Group and member of the Threat Intelligence Committee with LS-ISAO. Other memberships include Chicago CISO Group, ISACA, ISC2, and InfraGard. I hold an MBA in Organizational Behavior and certifications include CISM – Certified Information Security Manager, CISSP – Certified Information Systems Security Professional, ITIL – Information Technology Infrastructure Library v3, ITIL – Information Technology Infrastructure Library Security Management, ITIL – Information Technology Infrastructure Library Service Management Essentials.

For additional information, view my linked in profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-b-604bb31/

Thank you.

Paul Bivian

Michele Piazza is a Global IT Executive who brings a unique blend of technology and business leadership experience as your strategic trusted advisor and security partner.

Michele is the Founder & Principal of MP Global Ventures, LLC, a woman-owned, independent, business focused security and technology management advisory firm.  Michele aligns with C-Level IT Security, Business and Operations executives to provide sustainable security ,technology , risk management  and privacy  solutions. Michele recently launched Mountain View Partners, Inc , an advisory firm focused on Security and Privacy for the Remote Worker and K-12 Sectors.

Born in Indiana, Michele came from a family of 5 girls where her parents instilled independence, a strong work ethic, integrity, problem solving, and service as core values.  Michele began her technology career as a young programmer at US Steel in Chicago, where she was selected for a two-year international assignment in Venezuela as part of US Steel’s Consulting technology team. Her experience continued to blossom through various leadership positions in technology at Beatrice Foods Company, Citibank and American National Bank.  She was instrumental in 5 mergers: American National Bank into First Chicago, First Chicago NBD, Bank One, WaMu, and finally JPMorgan Chase.   Prior to launching MP Global Ventures, LLC, she had a 20+year career at JPMorgan Chase as a Senior Vice President.  She progressed through multiple management positions in both technology and business.  Her experience reflects direct management of all aspects of technology, including system development, operations, business intelligence, project management & governance, mergers & acquisitions, vendor management, risk management, security and compliance, domestically and globally. 

Michele has also been featured in the CBS Small Business Pulse: http://smallbusinesspulse.cbslocal.com/2015/08/17/interaction-collaboration-successfulbusiness/

Michele holds an Executive MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and a Bachelor’s degree from Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN. She is an active member of SIM (Society of Information Management), ISACA (Information Systems Audit & Control Association), SWIT (Senior Women in Technology,) , ISSA (Information Systems Security Association) and InfraGard.

Michele became a YWCA Metropolitan of Chicago Board Member in July 2105 and brings her energy and resources to empower women through the YWCA  programs: techGYRLS, Innovation & Technology Institute, & Developing Digital Diversity. She is also an active member of the YWCA Audit and Enterprise Risk Management Committees. As a passionate Advisory Board Member for the Naperville- based innovation incubator ,hub88 , she has led TechTalks on topics such as “CleanTech”, Privacy and CyberSecurity.

Michele is an avid runner and achieved “Marathon Maniac” status following the completion of her 8th marathon.  She enjoys yoga, cycling, hiking and international travel. She recently laced up her boots to hike Mt Kilimanjaro in January 2016 with her husband, David. In November 2019, they traveled with National Geographic to explore Antarctica.

She resides in the western suburbs with her husband David and their blended family of 6 children. 

Arvin is a highly motivated and talented cybersecurity professional focusing in Information Assurance, Cyber Frameworks, Policies, Standards & Guideline management, Risk Management, Strategy Development, Enterprise Architecture, Systems Integration, Business Process Management, Process Efficiency, Lean Operations, IT Innovation and IT Business Operations. His Meyers-Briggs Personality Type is INTJ. He is currently a cyber risk management specialist at PepsiCo.

Arvin is a graduate of Northern Illinois University’s College of Business with a bachelors degree in Management Information Systems and a graduate of DePaul University’s College of Computing and Digital Media with a masters degree in Information Systems.

Throughout his life, Arvin has been a naturally inquisitive individual. As a result, he has a unique ability of not only understanding complex and technical issues but utilizing current IT solutions and capabilities with existing technologies to address the protection requirements of today’s cyber threats. Arvin is also known to create solutions when existing solutions can’t address current/future needs.

During his time at Boeing, he submitted 4 invention disclosures with 1 submission being granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office and was recognized with the prestigious title of ‘Boeing Inventor’ for his contributions.

Arvin is ISC2 CISSP certified, CompTIA Security+ certified and ISO 27001 Lead Auditor certified. He is currently working on obtaining the CCSP and CRISC certifications.

Outside of his professional civilian career, Arvin is proudly serving as a direct commission officer in the US Navy Reserves as a Cryptologic Warfare officer (Designator 1815). Additionally, he is a research fellow with the Cybersecurity Forum Initiative and guest lecturer at several universities across the State of Illinois.

In his spare time, he likes to keep physically active, collect guitars and vinyl records as well as work on classic and high end sports cars.

Walter Lefmann is currently Director of Security at CTC Trading Group LLC, a capital markets trading firm. That role has included Information Security, Physical Security and Life Safety, Privacy, and BCP/DR.

He has been practicing cybersecurity with varying focus for his entire professional career. The balance has shifted back and forth over time between technology engineering/operations and security over the years, which has led to a well-balanced business-focused approach to security.

The professional journey to CTC came by way Goldman Sachs, Hull Trading Company, and Motorola; from an early career as an experimental physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Walter holds a PhD, MPhil, and MA in Physics from Columbia University, and a BS in Physics from Stevens Institute of Technology.

While at Columbia University, Walter also served for five years as a volunteer NYC Auxiliary Police Officer and Sergeant. The experience of working closely with the public sector to serve and improve the community was tremendously rewarding, and has shaped a lifelong respect for the dedicated people who face the challenges of that service!

Walter participates in many professional and public/private outreach organizations, including FBI InfraGard (currently serving as a Chicago Chapter board member), US Secret Service Cyber Fraud Task Force, Chicago FIRST, FS-ISAC, the National Technology Security Coalition, and ASIS, and is one of the founders of the ChiBrrCon security conference.

Walter received the Infragard North Central Region “Meeting the Challenge” award for 2022, and the 2022 “Chicago CISO of the Year” award in the MIDCAP category.

Outside of work, Walter is an avid scuba diver (even diving in Lake Michigan … yes, it’s COLD!), sings tenor in the Harper Festival Chorus community group, and dances with his wife whenever he can.

Tiffany Bostrom is the Director of the Threat and Violence Risk Management team at Jensen Hughes. Her primary responsibilities at Jensen Hughes include managing a team of open-source analysts, research and analysis of open source information from social media platforms and other online media sources, supporting clients with time-sensitive intelligence related to workplace violence prevention, background investigations, behavioral threat assessments, crisis management and executive protection. She has been employed at Jensen Hughes since December 2015.

Prior to working at Jensen Hughes, she received her Master’s Degree in Forensic Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Tiffany was a mental health professional at a juvenile psychiatric hospital in Streamwood, Illinois and a correctional officer for two juvenile correctional centers in St. Anthony, Idaho prior to working in the private sector. She has been volunteering as a member of the programming committee since 2015 and has been a board member and the co-treasurer/treasurer of the InfraGard Chicago Member’s Alliance since January 2019.

John Kellerhals, Security Operations Manager at CF Industries, has more than 20 years of experience in information security, incident response, governance and risk management, business continuity, disaster recovery, security operations, and auditing.  He currently holds the CISSP, CISA, CISM, and CRISC certifications.  John is a governing body member of the CISO Executive Summit and a board member of the Chicago Chapter of Infragard.  John previously served as the Finance Commission Chairman for the Village of Mount Prospect.

Kellerhals holds a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering from Northwestern University.