WHO WE ARE

Cara Wolf is a recognized thought leader and C-suite entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience growing technology companies profitably. She has over 10 years of information security experience spanning multiple industries and is an award winning, published author and speaker. She serves on the cybersecurity committees or at the Advisory Board and Director level for many organizations including the Board of Governors UCalgary, Council of Innovation and Entrepreneurial Leadership UCalgary, Automotive Parts Manufacturing Association, NGen and vCISO Catalyst.

Cara successfully founded and exited 2 firms and has robust experience negotiating several enterprise-level multi-million-dollar contracts. She has led multiple software development projects and is the former VP of a social media technology company that earned $12MM revenue in its 1st year. She is the former Vice President of Business Development of a $120MM energy company and has worked with importing and commercializing new dual-use technologies created for the U.S. Department of Defense. Cara has advised over 300 companies from fast growing start-ups to enterprise on technology creation, adoption and commercialization.

She is a past Executive Director of the Calgary Council of Advanced Technologies, a SHEInnovator with UN Women and a business technology mentor with Technovation and Alberta Status of Women. Cara was recognized as TECTERRA’s inaugural Woman of Impact and is the 2019 Distinguished Graduate at UCalgary. She was awarded the STEM Trailblazer Woman of Inspiration award and Top 20 Women in Cybersecurity. Cara was selected as 1 of 2 Canadian women leaders to participate in the Select USA Global Women in Technology Global Network Mentoring Program spearheaded by Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.

Ken Muir is recognized as one of the Top 100 Global Cybersecurity Thought Leaders. He is an Information Technology leader with over 30 years of experience in Information Security and Managed Security Services.

Ken has extensive experience as a senior level security integrator, trainer, senior threat analyst, Red Team consultant, security architect and senior manager of multiple security teams. He has been a principal security consultant in many multi-billion-dollar global enterprises for over 20 years, architecting, implementing, managing, analyzing, and consulting on a wide-array of security initiatives at both the operations level, as well the executive and board level. He has advised hundreds of organizations in multiple industries including the US and Canadian Governments, Aerospace, Automotive, Energy, Education and Retail sectors.

Before entering the information security industry, Ken managed sales, finance and marketing for a leading auto industry manufacturer in the United Kingdom. Ken believes that this experience, combined with his deep domain expertise, creates innovative approaches to solving today’s complex cybersecurity challenges. Ken has published many articles, is writing a book on cybersecurity and is a sought after keynote presenter and a panelist on many global cyber events. In addition to holding multiple global security industry and technology specific certifications, Ken earned both CISSP and CRISC certifications.

Eric Schappert is a seasoned professional with a diverse range of experience in the energy sector. He is currently serving as the Global Director of Sales at Ammolite Analytx .

Eric had a long tenure at Ensign Energy Services where he held various positions over 16 years throughout Canada and the United States. Eric’s diverse experience equips him with a unique blend of industry knowledge, leadership, and problem-solving skills, making him well-suited to drive technological advancements while clearly understanding client needs, industry relationships, and changes to existing systems and architectures.  

Mike Wilkes is a Chief Information Security Officer that has built, transformed and protected companies such as SecurityScorecard, ASCAP, Marvel, AQR Capital, ING Bank, Rabobank, CME Group, Sony, Macy's as well as European banks and airlines.

Nominated in 2020 to the World Economic Forum as a technology pioneer, he provides thought leadership on cyber resilience in the oil and gas industry as well as quantum security working groups. A graduate of Stanford University and author of a book for Cisco Press in 2002, he is a featured speaker at technology conferences for Black Hat, SANS, and Gartner and is a professor at NYU teaching cybersecurity courses.

An avid jazz fan and musician, he is also on the board of trustees for the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and advisor to several startups.

Kelby Price is part of the founding team of XQ Message and services as Vice President of Corporate Development and Partnerships. Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Kelby started her career in investment banking and quickly helped found her first technology startup in capital markets. Since then, Kelby has become a formidable serial technology founder and has been recognized as one of Canada's top 10 women in technology. 

Junaid Islam is a cybersecurity expert with 30 years of experience in secure communications. His background spans field operations to the design and development of protocols. Junaid’s technical contributions have been incorporated into a broad range of commercial and government networks. Junaid started his career in 1989 building data networks for the US and Canadian governments in South America and the Middle East. From 1993 onwards Junaid focused on the development of network protocols including Priority PVC Frame Relay which became the DoD’s first MLPP implementation, IP-ATM interworking protocol which became the foundation for MPLS at Cisco, and the first Mobile IPv6 client for Net-centric Warfare. Currently, Junaid is leading the development of Zero Trust Architecture and Quantum-Safe communications systems.

Bill Dunnion is a thought leader in the realm of information security and has held roles including Sr. Director of Converged Physical and Cyber Security at Calian, Director of Operations and Delivery at 2Keys, an Inerac Company as well as other high profile positions in Bell Canada and Mitel. Bill has been at the forefront of the world of Cyber Security for more than 20 years, leading teams on large and robust cyber security projects, most notably for the Government of Canada’s Identity and Access infrastructure program. He currently works with organizations to provide fractional vCISOservices for the NRC IRAP and CDAP grant programs. Certification assessment and remediation planning for CMMC L2, ISO 27001, NIST, CIS, SOC 2, PCI, GDPR and HIPPA compliance.  He is also the co-founder of the Canadian Cyber Forum (formerly the Ottawa Cyber Security Meetup Group) and appears regularly as a subject matter expert, speaker and thought leader on national media including CBC, CTV, BSides, MISA InfoSec, INFONEX, SecTor and more.

Aniko Kiss is a highly experienced and talented computer forensic investigator. She has delivered Mac and iOS forensics training to international law enforcement including the FBI, US Department of Defense Cyber Crime Centre, the Dutch National Police Academy, the United Kingdom (UK) police as well as local law enforcement agencies. She has conducted numerous computer forensic investigations for Law Firms, Investigative Agencies, Corporations, and Law Enforcement.

Ms. Kiss has assisted in the preparation of legal proceedings both in civil and criminal matters at all levels of court. Her cases have involved first-degree murder, fraud, assault and others. She has been declared an expert in Computer Forensics, mobile devices, iOS devices, photo, audio, and video analysis in the Superior and Ontario Courts of Justice. Ms. Kiss has spoken at numerous conferences, the most recent being the Human Resource Professional Association. She is the current chairman of the ASIS Professionals Best Practices Seminar.

Bruce G. Gilkes is the managing partner of a new disaster and incident risk-reduction technology company called ALTS, which is providing services in Canada and abroad. He is the past Chair for the Western Canadian Defense Industries Association (WCDIA).  During his time at WCDIA he grew the scope and scale of the organization and encouraged a higher degree of participation from Western Canadian small and medium businesses within the Aerospace and Defense sector and worked closely with federal and provincial government agencies to obtain support for a variety of activities.

Bruce is the former Founder, President and CTO of C4i Consultants Inc., a Calgary-based software development and professional services company.  Grew C4i into one of Canada’s Top 40 Defense Companies in under six years and later into a multinational organization with nearly 85 personnel deployed across four continents. He has worked for General Dynamics Canada as a System Architect on a $2B communications project for the Canadian Army.

Bruce is the former CTO for an Ontario airport service company, where he developed a “smart airport” suite of technologies and led a development team in the design, and delivery of several systems to the US Air Force, the Canadian Air Force and several commercial airports in Canada and the USA. He is a Retired Lieutenant Colonel, after serving full time and part time in the Canadian Army for 29 years. Bruce is the recipient of the Canadian Forces Decoration and the NATO Special Service Medal. He owns several patents and was awarded the Alberta Centennial Medal for “achievements that have benefited fellow Albertans, their communities and the province”.

Charles Hobby is a retired Chief of Police with 40+ years of experience.

Charles is an expert in criminal behaviour both physical and cyber. He works as a private security contractor for high-risk security operations. He regularly liaises with the Secret Service when the President of the United States visits the city.

Charles raised and trained canines for the police force (canine officers). He completed the Police Academy in Missouri and worked for the Lincoln County Sheriff Department as Reserve Deputy for 27 years.

He is an experienced small business owner for over 10 years and worked at Lockheed Martin, building C5A aircraft. Charles served in Vietnam as part of the U.S. Air Force.

Kimberley Van Vliet founded WāVv over 15 years ago.  WāVv is a strategic consulting company specializing in the transfer of commercialized technology from one industry and implementing it in another. Industries of focus are Aerospace, Defence, & Security, Energy, Tech, Ag, Military, Mining.

Kimberley is the founder and creator of CONVERGX® - the first and only annual 2.5 day global congress that creates  a community of decision makers that look for cross-sector investment and business development opportunities in the aforementioned industries.  

Kimberley has also recently accepted the contract of Director of Aviation, Aerospace, & Logistics for Invest Alberta Corporation - a Crown Corp.

Most recently, Kimberley's efforts have taken her to NATO HQ, NORAD & NORTHCOM, she has been appointed to the NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG) and works closely with NATO's Allied Command Transformation Unit (ACT).  She was awarded one of the Top 20 women in Defence in Canada by Esprit de Corps Magazine, and most recently is part of the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference (GGCLC) for 2020/2021.

Her work continues beyond her current efforts in a variety of philanthropic endeavors & associations. Kimberley also is a proud wife, Mum of an 8yr old boy, a Pilot and Divemaster Diver.