Tuesday, 13 September 2022
Debra Jordan
Talk Title: Staying Connected: A Public Safety Imperative
Abstract: Communications networks and services are critical public safety tools but there are both challenges to and opportunities for improvement. The FCC is a key stakeholder in this effort. Debra Jordan, Chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, will discuss the bureau’s latest initiatives to bolster network resiliency, disaster preparedness and response, and emergency communications.
Bio: Debra Jordan is Chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, where she oversees public safety, homeland security, emergency management, cybersecurity, and disaster preparedness activities at the FCC. She leads efforts to ensure that the nation’s first responders and the public have access to effective and reliable communications. Under Ms. Jordan’s leadership, the Bureau develops and implements policies to strengthen 911, emergency alerting, network reliability and security, and first responder communications. The Bureau also collaborates closely with Federal government partners responsible for protecting the Nation’s communications infrastructure.
Prior to assuming the role of Bureau Chief in January 2022, Ms. Jordan served as Deputy Chief of the Bureau, where she led emergency preparedness and response efforts and represented the FCC at various interagency committees and task forces related to cybersecurity, supply chain risk management, national security, and continuity.
Before joining the FCC in 2015, Ms. Jordan served as a civilian within the Department of Defense, where she managed a variety of critical information and communications systems. While at DoD, Ms. Jordan served as the Command Information Officer for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, where she led the Navy’s development of a cybersecurity roadmap for critical utilities and facilities infrastructure. She also served numerous assignments to enhance Navy communications networks and telephony services across the Pacific region. As Executive Agent for the U.S. Pacific Command, she led the establishment of E911 and Public Safety Answering Points for the DoD’s command and control communications system in the State of Hawaii, including an integrated fail-over capability with county and state first responders. She also served as DoD’s representative to the Hawaii State Public Utilities Commission for numerous communications issues. As Executive Director for Commander, Navy Region Hawaii, she oversaw the migration of emergency communications systems, including integrating communications with state and local first responders.
Ms. Jordan, a native of Hawaii, has received multiple Navy Superior and Meritorious Civilian Service Awards.
Wednesday, 14 September 2022 (AM)
Drew Morin
Bio: Drew Morin currently serves as the Senior Director of Product Security in T-Mobile’s Cybersecurity Trust and Protection (CTP) organization. In this role, he is responsible for driving enhancements to tools and process to mitigate vulnerabilities in products and services for delivery to T-Mobile customers. He also serves on various industry and federal government collaborative forums that are focused on network resilience, cybersecurity, and risk mitigation. In addition, Drew is the T- Mobile representative to the Department of Homeland Security Information and Communication Technology Supply Chain Risk Management Task Force where he co-chaired the Threat Evaluation Working Group. He also serves as an Executive Committee member and Treasurer on the Communications Sector Coordinating Council and as a co-chair for the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions/Department of Defense 5G Supply Chain Risk Management Working Group.
Drew has over 40 years of experience in the communications technology and cybersecurity industries and has been granted 9 US patents. Before joining T-Mobile, Drew co-founded TeleCommunication Systems, Inc., serving as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer.
Drew holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia and a Master of Science degree in Systems Engineering from George Mason University.
Wednesday, 14 September 2022 (PM)
Shahid Ahmed
Talk Title: Insights from Industry Visionary
Bio: Shahid is Group EVP at NTT Ltd responsible for New Venture and Innovation. As an innovation leader, NTT is perfectly positioned to drive new digital experiences, offerings and technologies that create growth unlocking value for companies with new technologies and business models.
Shahid was previously a Managing Partner at Imagine Wireless, a consulting firm driving digital transformation across the Telecoms and the Industrial sectors. He was also a co-founder and COO of EQITII – a blockchain-based foundation that enables enterprise businesses to securely exchange and share data. Shahid is also a visiting professor teaching Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) course at McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University.
Between October 2015 and January 2017, Shahid was a Partner at PwC responsible for several digital businesses including Emerging Technologies, IoT, Data & Analytics, PwC’s Emerging Technologies Lab, and PwC’s Center for Technology and Innovation. As the practice leader, Shahid transformed PwC Consulting into a digital business. Shahid was also the New Ventures Lead helping PwC launch innovative new businesses in the consulting marketplace.
Before joining PwC, Shahid was a Managing Director with Accenture for 20 years, where he had P&L responsibility for Accenture’s North America Telecoms $1B+ business. In this role, Shahid helped telecommunications clients build new digital capabilities, operate more efficiently and drive new growth. He was also responsible for the Global Network Solutions Practice helping enterprise businesses adopt Cloud and SaaS solutions. During his 20-year tenure at Accenture, Shahid was involved in creating many practices including the formation of the wireless practice, the Accenture Cisco Business Group and the Accenture Alcatel-Nokia Business Group.
Prior to Accenture, between 1992-96, Shahid held several management positions at Sprint where he spent four years expanding Sprint’s wireless services in North America. Shahid was also responsible for rolling out the first cellular digital packet data (CDPD) network in the US to support industrial IoT applications.
In February 2014, Shahid was appointed as an Advisor to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) advising on technology issues facing the United States. Shahid has worked on several network policy issues and currently serves as the chair for IoT and 5G working groups.
Shahid was also a commencement speaker at Northwestern University’s McCormick Engineering School in June 2015.
Shahid holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Elmhurst College and a Masters in Engineering Management from Northwestern University. He resides in Chicago.
Thursday, 15 September 2022
Dawn Manga
Talk Title: Priority Communications: Meeting Users Where They Are
Bio: Ms. Dawn Manga is the Associate Director, Priority Telecom Services Sub-division. She also serves as Program Manager of both the Next Generation Networks Priority Service Phase 1 Program and Next Generation Networks Priority Service Phase 2 Program. In her roles, she helps lead the nationwide team effort to deliver priority capabilities in telecommunications commercial and government networks in support of Public Safety, Critical Infrastructure and the National Security / Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) community.
Prior to joining CISA in October 2020, Ms. Manga was the acting Deputy Director of the Enterprise Security Services Division, as well as the Program Manager of the HSPD-12 Program for the DHS Enterprise. The HSPD-12 Program, a level 3 program, manages the lifecycle of DHS credentials from policy, to technical implementation, operations, and logistics. Ms. Manga joined DHS in 2016.
In a previous assignment, she served as a Technology Fellow within the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group (CNO SSG) where she worked in strategic planning for the U.S. Navy. Ms. Manga also operated out of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division where she focused on Anti- Terrorism/Force Protection, Intrusion Detection, and Biometric Access. She has also been the lead engineer on various Virtual Perimeter Monitoring System testbeds that are deployed via an interagency agreement with the TSA Intermodal Program Office. In addition, Dawn has a background in sonar and unmanned systems. She worked as a civilian for the U.S. Navy for 10 years prior to joining DHS.
Ms. Manga received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of South Florida and earned a Master of Science degree in Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. She also holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification and is a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM).