With more than 20 years of technology leadership, Carmen Krueger serves as Corporate Vice President for Microsoft’s US Federal business, leading the company’s mission to empower government agencies to serve the public securely, responsibly, and at scale. Carmen is responsible for shaping and executing Microsoft’s U.S. Federal strategy , advancing secure modernization, accelerating cloud and artificial intelligence adoption, and enabling mission outcomes across civilian, defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure agencies through trusted partnerships and innovation.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Carmen spent more than 20 years at SAP in senior leadership roles supporting global and Americas businesses. Most recently, she served as the North America Chief Operating and Business Officer, where she oversaw SAP’s cloud lines of business with end-to-end responsibility across revenue, demand generation, renewals, digital engagement, and presales for the company’s largest region. She also served as the first Chief Operating Officer for SAP’s Global Marketing and Solutions organization and led post merger integration for SAP’s largest acquisition, Qualtrics, ultimately managing the Qualtrics Americas Enterprise business.

Carmen has held notable leadership roles across Federal, State and Local Government, Aerospace and Defense, and critical infrastructure sectors. She served as Managing Director of SAP Regulated Industries, overseeing eight industry segments, and as the first General Manager of SAP National Security Services (SAP NS2) Cloud Line of Business, founding and scaling the organization from the ground up. Under her leadership, SAP NS2 achieved Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) authorization for SAP Cloud solutions, advancing secure cloud adoption in highly regulated markets. Her contributions to federal technology innovation earned her recognition as a FedScoop Top Women in Technology honoree.

Recently, Carmen has been recognized as a 2026 Wash100 Award recipient, honoring the most influential leaders shaping the future of government and the federal technology ecosystem. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) and Innovate@UCLA CEO Advisory Board.

Earlier in her career, Carmen held roles at Siebel Systems spanning venture investment, global sales operations, and public sector product marketing. Before entering the technology sector, she served in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps and is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and in the State of Arizona.

Carmen holds a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science, summa cum laude, from Arizona State University.

Christina Stokes is a cybersecurity executive, Chief Information Security Officer, and strategic advisor specializing in cyber risk, governance, emerging technology, and security leadership. She leads cybersecurity initiatives at the intersection of business resilience, regulatory expectations, and technology transformation, helping organizations translate complex threats into practical, measurable security priorities.

Her work focuses on post-quantum cryptography readiness, cryptographic agility, AI governance, risk management, and the evolving security implications of quantum computing. As CISO at EnQode, she contributes to advancing quantum security as an executive and board-level priority, including the discovery, prioritization, and orchestration of cryptographic migration activities. As a member of WiCyS, Christina advocates for women’s leadership, visibility, and opportunity in cybersecurity and for developing the next generation of security leaders.

Christina is also a doctoral researcher in Intelligence & Global Cybersecurity, examining the intersection of artificial intelligence, quantum security, governance, and geopolitical risk. She holds a Master’s in Cybersecurity and an MBA and brings a multidisciplinary perspective shaped by international experience, technology, and executive cybersecurity leadership.

Sunita Patel has more than 20 years of experience in cybersecurity, supply chain security, and national security. She has devoted her career to helping policymakers, practitioners, and the public understand the risks and benefits of information technology, both in moments of crisis and in everyday operations. She brings a proactive, practical, and ethical approach to every stakeholder she advises.

Sunita is Senior Assistant General Counsel for Product Security at Micron, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of the memory and storage solutions that power the digital economy. Before joining Micron, she served at the White House Office of the National Cyber Director and at several U.S. government agencies, including the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She is a member of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security and the International Association of Privacy Professionals, and she advises several organizations dedicated to growing the cyber and national security workforce.

Sunita holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs and Political Science from the University of California, Irvine, and a Juris Doctor from Syracuse University.

Rebecca Banghart is the Founder and Principal Advisor of Meridian Capability Group, where she helps organizations strengthen workforce capability, readiness, and resilience. Her work brings together workforce strategy, cybersecurity, learning, organizational development, and more than two decades of experience helping people and organizations navigate change.

Rebecca’s own career journey has not followed a straight line. She began as a middle school teacher, later moved into instructional design and cybersecurity workforce development, and then stepped into cybersecurity herself as an Information Systems Security Officer. That experience gave her a firsthand understanding of what it takes to enter a new field, build technical confidence, and translate knowledge into real capability. It also shaped her belief that people do not need one “right” background or career path to make a meaningful contribution to cybersecurity.

Rebecca has since designed and led workforce and cybersecurity initiatives across the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of the Navy, NOAA, and the Department of Homeland Security. Most recently, she served as Director of Innovation for DHS’s Cybersecurity Talent Management System, helping advance a new approach to recruiting, developing, and retaining cybersecurity talent across the federal government.

An educator at heart, Rebecca is passionate about helping people recognize the value of the experience they already bring while creating clearer pathways for them to grow. She is known for making complex workforce and organizational challenges practical, approachable, and centered on the people doing the work.

Alicia Gutschow is a Principal Advisor at MajorKey, with more than two decades of work in cybersecurity. Her path has run through nearly every seat in the field: customer running a program, architect building them, and now advisor, across financial services, healthcare, higher education, retail, manufacturing, and government.

Her primary focus is identity, where security requirements meet business outcomes. The constant tension is finding the problem an organization is actually trying to solve.

That often starts with something she’s never seen before, and just as often ends with an answer no one expected. The threats keep moving, and AI is changing both what’s possible and what’s at risk. Alicia is a CISSP and enjoys helping others navigate the journey.

Prior to leading cyber policy for an aerospace and defense company, Caroline was a military intelligence officer with 3rd Infantry Division & 3rd Armored Cavalry in the Middle East where she led unmanned systems teams. She enjoys leveraging her experience, education (JD/MBA), and technical certs (Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) + Lead CMMC Certified Assessor (LCCA)) to develop technical policy solutions across information domains. Caroline chairs the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) Cyber Committee and continuously seeks new ways to integrate technical innovation to protect sensitive data.

Sara is a SOC specialist with a fascination with investigation and a passion for creating inclusive spaces wherever she goes. With a background of extensive travel and global connection, she sees the importance of human connection and value show up in varying ways within the cyberspace and irl of course.

Blain’s journey began in pre-med and healthcare management, but an unexpected pivot into cybersecurity led her to a field and community she quickly became passionate about. Today, she is a cybersecurity graduate student at Georgetown University and works on a Cyber Threat Intelligence team. Her hands-on experience began with KC7, where she climbed the leaderboard investigating simulated cyber intrusions and now helps others learn by contributing to training content and workshops, while attending and supporting industry events like Black Hat and DEF CON. Beyond her technical work, Blain founded ServeCyber.org, which connects people with cybersecurity volunteer opportunities, and she serves as IT Co-Chair for her local Volunteer Fire Department. At the heart of it all, she believes cybersecurity skills grow best through play, practice, and community.

Domenica (Lee) Crognale is a SANS Senior Instructor, co-author of FOR585: Smartphone Forensic Analysis In-Depth, and a Security Engineer and DFIR Curriculum Lead with the SANS Institute. Before joining SANS full-time, she spent 15 years as a contractor supporting federal government agencies across both law enforcement and the Intelligence Community, conducting digital forensic investigations and advising on cybersecurity best practices. Her training work has reached military special forces, the United States Coast Guard, the FBI, and others. Outside the classroom, she evaluates mobile forensics utilities and conducts security assessments for mobile applications.

Lee holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Old Dominion University and a Master of Science in Cybersecurity Management from Purdue University Global.

For more than 20 years, Amy Navarro has had a front-row seat to leadership in action. Through her career in executive HR, she has worked alongside leaders at every level and seen firsthand how communication, trust, decision-making, and behavior can shape teams and culture.

Those experiences shaped a belief that still guides her work today: you can hit every goal on paper and still lose the people around you. Leadership is not only about results, but also the trust you build and what you bring out in others.

Today, Amy works in executive and personal coaching and leadership development. She is an ICF Associate Certified Coach, a certified Executive and Personal Coach through the CaPP Institute, and a John Maxwell Certified Leader.

For Amy, leadership also means service. She volunteers with Hire Heroes USA and the Lung Cancer Initiative and serves on the board of her local SHRM chapter.

Destiny Staton is a Cloud Solutions Architect at Microsoft, cybersecurity professional, U.S. Army veteran, and creator focused on the intersection of technology, career development, and professional visibility. With both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in cybersecurity, Destiny has built her career by embracing opportunities to learn, ask better questions, and continuously push beyond her current limits.

Destiny is also a member of LinkedIn’s Next Gen Voices Creator Program, where she is developing her voice as a technology and career creator while exploring how professionals can use LinkedIn to build credibility, communicate their expertise, and create meaningful opportunities.

She is passionate about helping professionals, particularly women in technology, become more intentional about how they show up, build relationships, and position themselves for the rooms and opportunities they want to access

JoJo D, The Chaos Guru also professionally known as Jothi Dugar in her federal leadership work, is a senior cybersecurity executive, transformational speaker, and human-centered leadership strategist. She currently serves as a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in the Federal Government, bringing more than 25 years of cybersecurity and technology leadership experience helping organizations navigate complex security, technology, and leadership challenges.

She is also the Co-founder of Chaos & Signal, a human-centered advisory firm dedicated to strengthening cybersecurity by strengthening people. Through keynote speaking, executive advisory services, leadership development, and the growing Cyber Wellness movement, Chaos & Signal helps organizations build resilient leaders, high-performing teams, and sustainable cultures where people are recognized as critical infrastructure.

Beyond her cybersecurity leadership, JoJo is an international bestselling author, certified wellness coach and practitioner, dance director, podcast host, Adjunct Professor, and motivational speaker. She is passionate about helping individuals and organizations transform chaos into clarity through resilience, innovation, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance.

Ty Hughes, known as The AI Alchemist, is a senior cybersecurity executive, AI strategist, and human-centered leadership advocate. He currently serves as a Cybersecurity Director in the Federal Government, bringing more than 25 years of experience across technology, cybersecurity, and mission leadership helping organizations navigate complex security challenges, digital transformation, and organizational change.

He is also the Co-founder of Chaos & Signal, a human-centered advisory firm dedicated to strengthening cybersecurity by strengthening people. Through keynote speaking, executive advisory services, leadership development, and the growing Cyber Wellness movement, Chaos & Signal helps organizations build resilient leaders, high-performing teams, and sustainable cultures where people are recognized as critical infrastructure.

Beyond his federal leadership, Ty is a speaker and Adjunct Professor at George Mason University. Grounded in his belief that people are critical infrastructure, his work brings together artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and human operating capacity to help leaders build resilient organizations and translate disruption into innovation. He is passionate about helping organizations transform chaos into clarity while ensuring that technology strengthens both mission outcomes and the people who deliver them.

Varsha Dwarakanathan is a Senior Product Security Engineer at Bloomberg, where she navigates the often “impossible” middle ground between rapid innovation and rigorous defense. Through architecture and design reviews, threat modeling, and hands-on technical engagement, she helps engineering teams build resilience into systems from the outset and address security risks at scale. With a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in cybersecurity, Varsha brings a pragmatic approach to complex security challenges, helping multidisciplinary teams with competing priorities find solutions that balance security with real-world engineering needs. She is particularly interested in how AI and automation are changing the way security teams work, while reinforcing the importance of technical rigor and human judgment. Outside of work, Varsha is an enthusiastic tennis player and a regular on the competitive circuit, driven by equal parts discipline and the delusion that going pro is still on the table. An animal lover at heart, she channels that energy into her growing plushie collection, at least until she can retire to her own animal sanctuary.

Salini Mishra is a Senior Product Security Engineer at Bloomberg, where she focuses on scalable vulnerability detection and strengthening application security. Her work sits at the intersection of security engineering and AI-assisted workflows, exploring how emerging technologies can help security teams find, understand, and address vulnerabilities more effectively at scale. With a background in computer engineering and cybersecurity, Salini brings a breaker-fixer mindset and a deep curiosity about how complex systems can be both broken and secured. She is particularly interested in how AI is reshaping security engineering – from the threats organizations face to how practitioners discover vulnerabilities, make decisions, and scale human expertise. Outside of work, Salini’s curiosity refuses to sit still – sometimes literally. Trained in Indian classical dance, she’s an avid escape-room enthusiast, hosts murder-mystery nights, and has a long-standing fascination with espionage and spycraft. When she’s not decoding puzzles, she stays active by learning boxing, happily trading keyboards for gloves.