Digital Transformers
Episode 41

Let's start talking to our younger generations about cyber education because at the end of the day, they're the ones that are going to be taking on this digital divide that's smaller and smaller and running with it. So what does the next generation look like in cybersecurity?

-Chetrice Mosley-Romero

Episode Summary

When you hear “Director of the Indiana Security Council,” you might guess an IT background, but it’s actually Chetrice Mosley-Romero’s liberal arts education that helps her unite and empower communities across the state in the name of cyber hygiene. In this episode, sponsored by AT&T Business, Chetrice joins Kevin L. Jackson to discuss how she helps balance competing priorities across the state, tips for maneuvering the influence of politics on cybersecurity initiatives, how to dismantle the digital divide and empower equitable cybersecurity messaging, and more.

Watch on-demand sessions of the Securing the Everything 2022 Cybersecurity Conference featuring Chetrise here: https://security-conference.att.com/#sessions

Episode Transcript

Intro/Outro (00:01):

Welcome to Digital Transformers, the show that connects you with what you need to build, manage, and operate your digital supply chain. Join your host in a timely discussion on new and future business models with industry leading executives. The show will reveal global customer expectations, real world deployment challenges, and the value of advanced business technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and robotic process engineering. And now we bring you Digital Transformers.

Kevin L. Jackson (00:32):

Hello everyone. This is Kevin L. Jackson, and welcome to Digital Transformers on Supply Chain Now. Today’s show is sponsored by AT&T Business and the 2022 AT&T Security Conference presented by the AT&T Chief Security Office. During this year’s conference, experts from AT&T government, industry, and across the security spectrum helped explore how we can secure everything. If you missed this year’s event, you can still catch it on demand at securityconference.att.com.

 

Kevin L. Jackson (01:19):

So, on today’s show, I am honored to have one of my favorite event speakers, Ms. Chetrice Mosley-Romero, Director of Indiana Security Council. Chetrice works collaboratively with public and private stakeholders to administer the development and implementation of the state’s cybersecurity strategy and policy through the Governor’s Executive Council on Cybersecurity. Prior to her current role, she was the executive Director of External Affairs for the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, where she led the public relations policy and consumer affairs. Welcome to the show, Chetrice.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (02:11):

Oh, I’m happy to be here. I mean, when you read my bio, I’m just super tired all of a sudden.

Kevin L. Jackson (02:18):

Wow. You have very impressive, impressive career.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (02:24):

Yes. I’m glad.

Kevin L. Jackson (02:24):

But before we dig into your cybersecurity role for the state, how did you get there? Where did you start in your career? And how did it actually lead you to your current position?

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (02:36):

Yeah. It’s quite an amazing story when you, like, consider when I’m talking, especially, to students and we’re always talking and professors are always telling them how you can get into cybersecurity can come from a variety of ways. So, I always kind of do the, “How many of you think my background is IT?” And everybody thinks my background is IT. And I am actually a Liberal Arts Major in Communications as well as a Journalism Major in Public Relations through the Indiana University. So, I come actually from public relations, crisis communications, business strategy, external affairs policy.

 

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (03:19):

And this role kind of came about in a kind of an interesting way through my position at the Utility Regulatory Commission. You know, I think at the very basis of it, it really just kind of comes to the problem. You know, when you look at the problem of cybersecurity is, we’re looking at what Verizon report says, 80 to 85 percent now is all human error. The solution is not more tech. The solution is having somebody who understands people, having somebody who understands how to strategically align things that are happening on the technical side along with things they’re having on the human side, and just being able to approach it, I think, from a much more collaborative sense, and then ready to basically deal with a bad day. That’s where my crisis communication kicks in. So, it’s been an interesting road.

 

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (04:10):

I think if you would’ve told me in college or even my first job as a public relations specialist that I would end up to be the cybersecurity director for the state of Indiana – which, I’m the first in this role, so it wasn’t even a role that even existed – I would’ve been like, “You don’t understand me. I don’t know how to turn on my computer half the time.” So, it’s quite a remarkable kind of way I got here, but it’s been an amazing ride, and I love what I do, and, unfortunately, I think cybersecurity is going to be where I end up because once you get into cyber, it’s just kind of hard to leave.

Kevin L. Jackson (04:49):

Well, one thing you had mentioned, I mean, liberal arts and communications, isn’t that one of the most important aspects of cybersecurity though?

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (04:59):

Absolutely. Yes. I would agree. I think, you know, a lot of times people think it’s all about the certificates or the tech side of it. But, really, it comes down to – and I always tell – any employer and any university is always looking for the critical thinkers, the ones that communicate something complicated and simplify it, the ones that can think outside the box. And so, I use on a daily basis the skills I learned from my Bachelor’s in Liberal Arts. So, it’s kind of a funny world, right? But I think it took a while for tech to kind of realize that. I mean, you know, typically executive councils, in government, it was led by tech people. While that’s great and they’re most certainly the amazing such a matter experts that I count on, on a regular basis, sometimes there is a stereotype out there that tech people are not the best communicators and tech people are not the best people-people. So, I think my ability to kind of cross over from both sides and have a deep understanding of the human side of things has really allowed Indiana to really be able to improve its stature and cybersecurity in the nation.

Kevin L. Jackson (06:20):

I tell you, that’s something I always say about myself, my superpower is being able to translate complex technical aspects into something that sounds like English.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (06:34):

I agree. Yes, I agree.

Kevin L. Jackson (06:37):

And according to the Executive Council website, your task also includes forming an understanding of Indiana’s cyber risk profile and identify priorities, establishing – big word – strategic framework of Indiana’s cybersecurity initiatives and leveraging the body of talent to stay on the forefront of cyber risk environment. Wow, that sounds like a Herculean task. How does that look from your viewpoint, really?

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (07:16):

You know, I have the most amazing wine collection – no, no, no. Not wine collection.

Kevin L. Jackson (07:24):

Well, you may need a wine collection to get through the day, right?

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (07:26):

I may need one, yes. I definitely have great coffee. The council is made up of people that I have worked very hard in my position within government to empower them. That’s not something that’s very comfortable for government to do sometimes to bring in subject matter experts within the council. We have, like, more than 250 members on the council, and that’s not because I was looking for a prize for how crazy can you get Chetrice. But when we looked at cybersecurity from the beginning of my role as I developed the framework in which we work right now, it really wasn’t going to work if we focused on just one section.

 

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (08:11):

I mean, technology is moving so fast. So, some states, because of resources, because of access to collaborations, may only be focusing on workforce development or economic development, or maybe a certain sector, or maybe they’re focusing inward. They have sectors in the room to get best practices to learn from and use within their state networks, and also maybe push down some of those best practices to local government networks. But what I found was, in cybersecurity, we need the whole ecosystem involved. I mean, we really do need to attack the whole elephant. Now, how you go about that is you not having 30 people that represent whole sectors, and, really, honestly, in an unfair way. Because even if the person who is coming from a small organization or a bigger organization, either way, they still won’t completely understand what it takes to do cybersecurity in the most efficient way and the most effective way for the opposite organization.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (09:11):

So, big company, while they may understand and sympathize with the others that are in small companies, with cybersecurity changing so much, we really need everybody at the table. So, it was really, really important for me that we had not just the breadth of cybersecurity knowledge on the council – which is what most states do. And I absolutely understand why they stopped there, because it is a lot of work – but it was so important for me to have the depth and to allow people to be experts within their right.

 

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (09:46):

So, for example, I always kind of tell people, you you don’t have your CIO write your news releases. You don’t have your CIO do crisis communications. And you don’t have your CIO writing your cyber incident response plan for the entire organization because that’s an operations item. That’s typically what the CO or emergency manager or the writing of news releases with your PR. So, why would we not approach cybersecurity in a strategic way with those various pieces involved. So, we have 15 committees all with the depth of knowledge within each of those committees, so we have a committee that deals with emergency response. And who staffs that committee? It’s not CIOs and CISOs. It’s emergency responders who have been doing it for decades, who understand how to simplify emergency management and principles for cyber instant response planning that others can use that will never hire an emergency manager because that’s not their cards for the organization because they’re too small.

 

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (10:51):

And then, likewise, we have finance and we have utilities, water, energy, elections. Why would we combine all those groups and not allow them to be able to speak with people that understand their world to figure out the solutions of incorporating better cybersecurity practices in their sector? And then, the amazing bonus of the council is that when a sector does that, because I’m kind of seeing that’s all happening, maybe a sector is thinking about doing a best practice manual SCADA systems. But part of that has cyber hygiene principles, like generic cyber hygiene principles. Well, maybe they’re doing that in utilities, but finance is actually doing something very similar, except they’re just focusing on cyber hygiene principles. Why would we not connect those people in a strategic sense so that we’re not creating additional work?

 

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (11:51):

I do not believe in recreating the wheel. And I’m also been in government my entire career. So, I’m used to doing things with no budget. So, you always kind of be thoughtful of how it really works out on the ground level. And it has worked just so greatly. And so, how I can do the Herculean tasks, I am just surrounded by really great people. And it is just me overseeing the whole council. I have a communications manager who runs our website and runs our social media. But from the strategic sense of things, it is just one person for the State of Indiana. But it’s amazing when you’re surrounded by the right people.

Kevin L. Jackson (12:38):

Well, when you said you had like 200 people, the first thing that popped into my mind was, “What? She had someone from every town and every county?” And then, I thought about it, I said, “Well, response from Indianapolis area, an urban area to cybersecurity, will be different than a rural county.” I know we’re going to talk a little bit more about that. But is that an important part of your diversity on the council as well?

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (13:12):

Absolutely. Actually, every committee is required to have certain demographics. So, you’re required to have a large organization within that sector, a small organization association. You’re required to have regional representation of Indiana because, you know, sometimes capitals, like Indianapolis, get really stuck on everything that stays in the capital is the capital, but they’re making decisions that affect the whole state. The way that Northern Indiana operates from a population perspective, from a collaboration perspective, because our Northern Indiana is connected to Chicago. I mean, a lot of things, factors, are different from Evansville and our Southern Indiana that is on the border of the Southern State.

 

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (13:58):

So, when you’re looking at that, we’re like, “We need representation to have a good understanding.” And when we develop the state strategy plan, that I can honestly say our plan is a state strategy plan. It’s not a plan developed by the state that is the states, but doesn’t quite include the states. And that’s what was important too. So, it was very important for me to have diversity, different perspectives.

 

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (00:14:25):

It’s quite amazing, I have a legal insurance team where they have competing law firms coming up and developing projects together that is beneficial, not only to themselves, but for everyone. And the fact that you can do that, where, typically, you imagine lawyers – which I’ve still not met a lawyer exactly like this, the ones, at least, the government – they’re like, “Well, how much are you paying me every 15 minutes?” You have some amazing lawyers that really do love the law, but they want to figure out how can they simplify it.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (15:00):

And I appreciate you talking about being able to simplify it. You know, I always kind of go back to the Einstein quote of, “If you really understand a subject, you can simplify it.” And so, it’s always kind of a red flag to me if somebody can’t get there. I can help with it, but if they can’t get there, it makes me wonder do they really understand. Can we really distill such a complex aspect of cybersecurity into something that could be usable for the community that is just never going to hire a CISO? And it’s just not going to be in their cards anytime soon. So, how can we help them in small organizations, medium-sized organizations in our critical infrastructures? These are things that are the backbone of our society, the backbone of our communities.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (15:45):

We’re not purposely going for just things that aren’t helpful. But at the same time, whenever I look at things – personally, I review things – I’m always like, “All right. Can a local government use this? And bonus, can a small business use it?” How does, you know, Debbie’s cupcake store use this information? Because Debbie’s cupcake store is just never going to hire a cybersecurity firm. They’re never going to hire a CIO. They’re going to hire another baker. That’s their world, and appropriately so. So, I always kind of view things from the lens. And I’m grateful that the council members also view things from that lens. They’re always thinking, ” All right. We have these best practices, these large amazing organizations that have countless numbers of cybersecurity people in there to do their job and develop training and develop these practices, how can we simplify that and package it for the person who just will never be at that point?”

Kevin L. Jackson (16:48):

Well, I tell you, we’re talking about the difference between the northern part of the state and the southern part of the state. I’m here in Virginia, just outside of Washington D.C., and you would think that Southern Virginia would want to excommunicate us or something because things are so different in Northern Virginia than it is from Southern Virginia. But you are also tasked, however, with collaborating with other states to protect personal and government data that’s stored on state systems, as well as developing statewide plans to combat cyber attacks against these information technology networks. How do you tackle that requirement? I mean, is it easy to work, like risk the State of Virginia or California or Mississippi?

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (17:53):

Yeah. You know, I always kind of joke, but it’s true, the best part of working in government is you don’t have a net profit, the worst part of government is you don’t have a net profit. So, one of the best parts of my job is being able to help the people that we were talking about, being able to grow students, and be able to mentor them. And the next one to that is being able to just give all my templates and all my advice and all my lessons learned to other state counterparts that are trying to do the same thing.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (18:31):

And I’ve done that over the years. You know, people are like, “How do you do this? We can’t even get the regulator and the utility in the same room. And you have multiple regulators and utilities in the same room.” And so, you know, I give them advice. It’s complicated waters when it comes to regulators and the regulated, and government, and private sector, and vendors. But I just found that being transparent and sharing best practices is the best that we can do, and just being there, because it’s a hard job. It doesn’t pay nearly the amount of money that other cybersecurity professionals make. But I would say that the impact of it is quite amazing and important. And it’s just needed when it comes to the kind of threats that are out there.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (19:18):

And that’s not just myself. I know that our office technology works a lot with other states in sharing best practices. I know that our Indiana Department of Homeland Security does the same and they support each other. So, you look at, yeah, it’s 50 states, but it is just 50 people who are doing this similar things. So, you know, it’s helpful to know that, one, you’re not alone. And two, there are things you can learn from each other. And I always tell people when they meet with me, like, “Listen. I’m not going to be offended if that’s dumb for our state, because your state can be totally different than us. So, take what you like and leave the rest.” And I think that’s a benefit that, at least, if we kind of just keep an open door and collaborate.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (20:05):

The beauty of cybersecurity, for me, it’s apolitical. So, when you’re dealing with other states that may be dealing with their own politics and that kind of thing, when it comes to cybersecurity, it does become much more ones and zeros. And when we deal with the issue of cybersecurity, which is people, I mean, the way that people learn and communicate is the same across the world. The way that we respond to emotional things, it’s a study, psychology, it’s psychiatry. So, we can learn a lot in those aspects through psychology, sociology to really learn how can we make an effect on a larger population with regards to cybersecurity, cyber hygiene, and just protecting yourself.

Kevin L. Jackson (20:56):

Well, I’m sorry, but you kind of opened a door there that I’m hesitant to go through, you said that cybersecurity is apolitical. I mean, a couple of years ago I thought healthcare and medicine was apolitical. And we found that to be not quite true. So, how does politics get into cybersecurity?

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (21:27):

Oh, yes. And when I say it’s apolitical, I mean the nature of the core of it is apolitical. Leave it to humans to mess that all up, right? To muck up and add the grade to the ones and zeros world, right? And I completely agree, yes, I mean, I think with the Federal Government doing all the great stuff they’re doing, there’s still distrust from some groups, and that happens in state government, that happens in local government. The politics between the local governments and the state governments have always been complicated in all states, and Indiana is no exception. But we are working really closely with local governments to figure out how do we break that barrier down. Because, yes, in other areas, I always tell local governments, I’m not saying the state is perfect. The state, sometimes, does things that just hurts you guys, and there doesn’t seem to be apology following.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (22:22):

But I’ve gone into meetings and say, “On behalf of the state, I’m sorry. Let’s try to do the right thing with cyber. Let’s try to focus on cyber and be the case study that shows that if we approach it with empathy, if we approach it with empowerment, if we approach it with, “Listen, we know that you love your community, you want to secure it, we want do the same thing. We may come from different backgrounds, but at the end of the day, this is the goal, and focus on that.” I think there’s a power to that.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (22:53):

And I just think that as politics get more involved in cybersecurity, because it definitely is the issue that’s not going to go away, we just got to remember, from my perspective, the core reason is we need to protect our critical infrastructure. We need to protect the people of our nation. And what are we talking about? Is it going to serve that main purpose? And how can we not just serve that main purpose, but empower those that you’re trying to task with these things, and making sure that they have everything they need to do the best that they can with everything.

 

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (23:32):

So, I think that’s kind of how I approach politics, which is probably why I’ve worked under several governors. I really kind of just lean in on the, “I’m not here to be political. I’m here to show you that this is the expertise I have. And here’s quantitative results of the success and here’s what I can do for the people of Indiana because that’s who I serve.” And it’s been a blessing, most certainly. And I’ve been very lucky that everyone’s kept me around.

Kevin L. Jackson (24:01):

Well, you certainly have a great viewpoint and a great attitude. I really love that about you. The other thing is that, during the AT&T CSO Conference, you spoke on something that I think is a real passion of yours, and that’s managing risk and the digital divide. In its most basic form, the digital divide was defined as the opportunity gap between those with the reliable internet access and those without it. What is it to you and how has this manifested itself in Indiana?

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (24:44):

Yeah. I mean, I think across the nation we’re hearing about the broadband, getting internet and the Internet of Things. So, it’s not just internet and they’re going to just open up and the flood gates open to data. But they’re also opening up to things like smart T.V.s and smart security systems, things they wouldn’t otherwise be able to run without having the backbone of the infrastructure of the tech. So, it is really important to me when I’m having discussions with leadership of the states and in the private sector in that area, especially communications, when we’re talking about, “Hey, this is great that we’re doing this.” And I’m a big believer, you know, there are some in cyber security that’s like, nobody should do anything. You shouldn’t be on any social media. You should go off grid. You should –

Kevin L. Jackson (25:31):

Put your head in the hole in ground.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (25:32):

Exactly. Find your bunker and get in there, right? The thing is I’m a mother of four. Like, even if I try to be off grid, I can’t because the teachers require me to have an app to do daily communication. Even though I would like to not have to be on Facebook, that’s the way that I get events for certain things, that’s the way that I do stay connected with people I otherwise wouldn’t be connected with because I’m so busy doing this whole job and being a mother. So, I always kind of approach it with, the answer is not to not do it. The answer is let’s do it. Let’s increase our technology. Let’s embrace it. But we need to also embrace education alongside it. Not an afterthought, but along with it.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (26:22):

So, when we’re bringing broadband and interconnectivity into the rural areas, I think it’s hard for people in urban areas where it’s natural for us. Like, we can’t even imagine a life without being able to easily connect. We get annoyed if after five episodes on my Netflix past, when Netflix starts judging me, Netflix does a little pause for five seconds, and I’m like, “Oh, my gosh. This is the worst thing in the world.”

Kevin L. Jackson (26:52):

It’s buffering again.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (26:53):

I know. It’s buffering again because all my devices are on because I have four kids. It’s easy to get stuck in that and not realize that there are communities here in Indiana that people still have to walk five miles to get to the library to have really crappy internet service, but that’s how they’re getting it. And so, as we are improving that divide and we’re crossing that. It’s so important that we also teach these people who are brand new to cyber in a lot of ways. They don’t have the infrastructure that we have now. They don’t have the smart technology that they’re going to have.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (27:31):

This is an opportunity that’s saying, “Hey, with this great power comes great responsibility.” You’re going to get this amazing gift that smart people have developed around the world. And now we have this where it’s nothing like it was 20 years ago or 40 years ago. But with it, comes here’s how to protect yourself with it, here’s precautions to start with. So, we should be educating them alongside, if not a little bit of head when they get that, so that they’re starting off on the right foot on protecting their identity, protecting the organizations, and, as importantly, protecting our critical infrastructures as critical infrastructures in those areas are also coming online. So, yeah, I’m very passionate about that because I feel like it’s difficult responsibility to take to provide these services. I feel it’s just as much of a responsibility to provide education around those services.

Kevin L. Jackson (28:28):

Well, one thing you really highlighted during your talk at the conference was the difference between rural and urban populations in Indiana. The thing that caught my attention was your observation that rural families actually limited the number of computers that they had in their homes in order to conserve bandwidth. How does that even translate in an IoT world based on entertainment and smart appliances and connected cars in the garages and you’re connected home?

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (29:08):

Yeah. I mean, I’m working right now on a local government pilot and kind of, again, figuring out that barrier between. And one of the things I’m learning is, a lot of times, the only connectivity they have is their smartphone. And it’s a smartphone that they may be getting from their government because they work for the government, their local government. Or their local government may have six computers and it’s tired of the government. And, yes, they’re super old computers. And, yes, they definitely probably need a lot of help in the cybersecurity infrastructure side. But, again, that’s been their world. I always kind of tell people, imagine rural Indiana as what we were 20 years ago. That’s where they’re at. The good old dial up tones. When we started getting smart technology before fiber and before those kind of upgrades were made, 5G, we were also struggling with keeping our online, having computer going, and a smart TV going.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (30:14):

And so, with the various populations, again, that has never had this before, they’re making adjustments to them themselves. But how are we also helping them make adjustments to their security posture and their cyber hygiene, which is, I think, so critical on protecting themselves? And, also, better using the systems because I always kind of like to think the backbone of the system is still vulnerable if everyone on the system is vulnerable. So, we want to be cognizant of strengthening the lowest common denominator, and that is just people.

Kevin L. Jackson (30:51):

You know, it sounds like you’re saying that people are still doing dial up and listening to “You’ve got mail.” I mean, it’s kind of weird with such a wide gap in society. How does the state address education around cybersecurity and cyber hygiene? I mean, that’s so different.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (31:20):

Yeah. If I had my wand and all the money in the world, it would be a personal delivery of a fun thing with a new laptop computer that has all secured and everything taken care of. But I don’t have that, so I would say, cybersecurity can’t be solved by one entity alone. The State of Indiana most certainly shouldn’t be the only one solving this. And I think our communities and our partners appreciate the fact that, as a cyber director, I really rely on their expertise and their collaborations and their organizations that are in the communities, that serve the communities, that are developed, that are funded by the communities, and they’re well-connected into those areas.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (32:09):

So, the street is coming down and saying, this is what you should be doing while entertaining may not hit home. But a friend of the family who also works at the university that is doing a cyber security program and hygiene program education, giving that to key people members of that local community is going to be well-received and more effective. And so, I think one of the things that I’ve learned is, we have to connect people with the people that they trust. Word of mouth is still the number one way of things getting through. So, as government, I can say over and over – I think the Federal Government is the same way – these are the things you have to do. But until somebody that you care about says it, it just doesn’t stick as much as we would hope so.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (32:59):

So, the way that I approach that is collaborations. We have to collaborate. We have to empower people with the right messages that we’re all consistent. And we have to just let them go. You know, from my perspective, I don’t require my council members to approve every single thing through me. I let my council members know, “Hey, go forth and do great things. And just come back so that we can also all celebrate in your win, but also learn from your win, so that others that are looking for that same kind of thing can learn from it and maybe use it too.” And I just found that that is the best way that I’ve seen in my career versus just only the state owns it, the state pushes it out, the state controls the message.

 

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (33:47):

With cyber hygiene, the message is pretty consistent across the board, multifactor, you know –

Kevin L. Jackson (33:55):

[Inaudible].

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (33:55):

Exactly. User access, good passwords, updates, patch, and have your backups and have a plan. I mean, no matter what an area of industry, it’s the same key ones, at least at the very top, that take care about a majority of the cyber attacks. So, let’s start with the simple things too. Let’s not go in and start talking about, you know, putting in a bunch of systems and doing these check things and stuff like that. I mean, not to say that that isn’t what we should be doing, but let’s start with the human aspect of it, not clicking the link. Let’s do cyber education in a fun way.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (34:33):

And, also, let’s start talking to our younger generations about cyber education. Because at the end of the day, they’re the ones that are going to be taking on this digital divide that’s smaller and smaller and running with it. So, what does the next generation look like in cybersecurity? And I really believe that you’ll have the people who enable cybersecurity and the technical side of things. But other than that, we should all be cyber ambassadors at the very least in just being aware of what we can do for ourselves and our family and our organization to protect it. And if everyone’s doing what is little for individuals, I mean, how powerful can that be? It’s kind of that whole drop in the ocean. Well, drops are just drops until it’s an ocean.

Kevin L. Jackson (35:18):

You tell me. Maybe all our cybersecurity leaders should have a liberal arts background.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (35:25):

I could probably argue that, yes. I could probably argue that.

Kevin L. Jackson (35:30):

So, you’ve mentioned the human side of cyber quite a few times, but when the governor established this council for cybersecurity, was that part of their thought process? What does it really mean to address the human side? You talk about training and education, yes, but how does your office really focus on the human side?

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (36:05):

So, this pilot has just been so amazing already because what I learned is, it’s not enough to have your CIO or equivalent, your IT director, and your leadership to understand the importance of cyber and push down the policies. Because policies to the day-to-day employee are just that, they’re just policies. It’s like a pirates thing. It’s a guide, not really law, right? Just kind of what they consider. What I have found though is, when I speak to the middle management, when I speak to the people who have direct connection to the people that are running everything, that when I connect with them through it’s important from a perspective that we talk regularly about how important they are in the organization and how important it is that they protect the organization. But here’s the thing, people pay attention to that, and they sometimes will pay attention to that but leave it at the office when they go home.

 

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (37:06):

So, what if we connect to people and the people world. Let’s connect to the parents who care about their kids online. Let’s connect to the people who are about to retire, who wants to protect their assets and their finances. And that’s the stuff that the bad actors are going for. Let’s look to see how people will protect their elderly parents and their grandparents and the people they love and care most about. And I feel like if we focus more on the human side of things, we focus more on what makes us human, which is the people we care about, the things we care about, our future, our dreams, those kind of things. All those skills that we’re teaching them there, don’t click the link, use multifactor in your social media, make sure you’re backing things up not on the same computer if you care about all those pictures on your computer of your loved ones, those kind of things translate perfectly into the organization. It doesn’t always go from the organization home that we see.

 

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (38:07):

So, I feel like when we talk about the human factor side, we need to interlay cybersecurity into the culture of an organization at every level of the organization, but not through the organization’s advantage and perspective, but through the people and the employees and their lives, where we can really address the thing. Because that’s where behavior change happens. When people are motivated to protect the things they care about, the people they love, they change the habits.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (38:36):

If you’re telling a disgruntled employee, “Don’t click the link or you’re going to take down our company,” what do you think a disgruntled employee is going to do? Probably nothing. They’re going to be like, “Well, that’s your problem, not mine. I still get to leave at 5:00.” So, I feel like that’s one element of it.

 

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (38:54):

And then, I really do believe in the children. You know, I feel like much like the drug campaigns, the DARE campaigns, or smoking campaigns, or the fire alarm campaigns, you have kids coming home and telling their parents, “I noticed we use the same password for everything. We shouldn’t be using the same password. Anyone can get our information.”

Kevin L. Jackson (39:20):

They’re teaching their parents, right?

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (39:22):

They’re teaching their parents, and that’s a powerful thing, right? And more importantly, those kids are going to grow up to be parents that will have that innately or will have that in them so that they can also then teach the next generation. So, how do we change cybersecurity culture in our society? We have to start at really looking at the people, which is the biggest problem in cyber, but addressing them like people and not just like additional endpoints on a system. And I feel like that’s the way to do that.

Kevin L. Jackson (39:55):

So, you want to create digital natives, I guess.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (40:00):

I like that. Yeah. Getting ingrained.

Kevin L. Jackson (40:01):

Yeah. Getting ingrained into it. And it’s clear that government plays a significant role in helping society transition to our connected future. But does that role really align with industry’s profit minded focus? I mean, if you’re not making money, you’re not going to have a job. How does government and industry play together in the same sandbox of cybersecurity?

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (40:37):

You know, I get that question a lot because I have so many people at the same table, again, that regulars and regulated. And at the end of the day, the risk is still the same across the board. For example, energy companies don’t want the energy grid to go down. Regulators don’t want the energy grid to go down. The goal is still the same. So, incorporating cybersecurity into the culture of an energy company, whether it’s being required by regulators or not, even on their own, we’re finding industry is saying we need to get this incorporated into our culture because we need the person to care about and learn and change their behavior to be more cautious online, to be more cautious about what they’re putting in our system, be more cautious about what they’re clicking, to make sure that they’re enabling multifactor, and those kind of things.

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (41:30):

So, it’s a kind of a mutually beneficial goal. And I think that’s where a lot of our collaboration hits. It’s a mutually beneficial goal. There’s no talk outside of what our main goal is within our council. It really is all about that and everything else that is going on outside of that where they may be at each other a little bit for. Just, again, I’m very lucky, people just put that aside for the cybersecurity discussions, and they just jump in and want to make the difference.

 

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (42:05):

So, I think, it isn’t going to be as hard. I think when it gets difficult for industry and government is when government goes down the path of regulation. And regulation, well, it has its place most certainly. I do feel like, again, if we’re looking for the mutual benefits for all of us working together, like we have in Indiana, we can do a lot without laws being written. Like, nothing forced us to all work together. It was really literally just me saying, “Hey, I know you care about this. I care about this. Tell me what you want that makes it better for you. I’ll tell you what I think might make it better. And if we disagree, let’s figure out and understand each other why we disagree. And maybe we walk away from that part of it and maybe we don’t.” And I think that just that respect of understanding where everybody is, it makes a big difference.

Kevin L. Jackson (43:00):

Wow. I’ll tell you, I really appreciate you sharing your insight and knowledge about the human side of cybersecurity. But, unfortunately, our time has come to an end. I could talk with you forever on this, and I’m sure the audience wants to learn more. So, can you tell the audience how to reach out to you in order to follow up and to become better liberal arts practitioners when it comes to cybersecurity?

Chetrice Mosley-Romero (43:33):

Yes. So, the website that we have for the state of Indiana is in.gov/cybersecurity, so definitely go there. That has our strategy. That has our appendices toward the strategy, literally the templates that I used, again, all about transparency, where it’s appropriate. And then, my information, I’m sure you can post on the thing, but you can look me up on LinkedIn, romeroclm@iot.in.gov. And I am more than happy to talk to people who are passionate about this. I want to learn from people. If people find or even you, Kevin, find a great article or here’s a different perspective than you, I want to know that because that’s the only way we get better at this, is learning from each other.

Kevin L. Jackson (44:19):

Okay, great. And we will definitely put your contact information in the show notes. Thank you. Thank you very much. So, in closing, I would like to invite everyone to check out a wide variety of industry thought leadership at supplychainnow.com. And you can find Digital Transformers and Supply Chain Now wherever you get your podcast, so be sure to subscribe. On behalf of the entire team here at Supply Chain Now, this is Kevin L. Jackson wishing all of our listeners a bright and transformational future. We’ll see you next time on Digital Transformers.

Intro/Outro (45:05):

Thank you for supporting Digital Transformers and for being a part of our global Supply Chain Now community. Please check out all of our programming at supplychainnow.com. Make sure you subscribe to Digital Transformers anywhere you listen to or view the show, and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on Digital Transformers.

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Chetrice Mosley-Romero is an experienced Executive Director with a demonstrated history of working in the business, government, non-profit, communications, public relations, public policy, and regulatory industries. Over the course of her career, she has continued to strengthen her skills in strategic planning, project management, primary and secondary research, issue management, budgeting, public affairs, media relations, marketing, supervision of employees, public outreach campaigns, crisis communications, Latino community relations, employee communications, policy and legislative affairs, emergency planning, regulatory affairs, writing, editing, and much more. Connect with Chetrice on LinkedIn.

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Kevin L. Jackson

Host, Digital Transformers

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Kim Winter

Host, Supply Chain Now

The founder of Logistics Executive Group, Kim Winter delivers 40 years of executive leadership experience spanning Executive Search & Recruitment, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, Corporate Advisory, Motivational Speaking, Trade Facilitation and across the Supply Chain, Logistics, 3PL, E-commerce, Life Science, Cold Chain, FMCG, Retail, Maritime, Defence, Aviation, Resources, and Industrial sectors. Operating from the company’s global offices, he is a regular contributor of thought leadership to industry and media, is a professional Master of Ceremonies, and is frequently invited to chair international events.

He is a Board member of over a dozen companies throughout APAC, India, and the Middle East, a New Zealand citizen, he holds formal resident status in Australia and the UAE, and is the Australia & New Zealand representative for the UAE Government-owned Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), the Middle East’s largest Economic Free Zone.

A triathlete and ex-professional rugby player, Kim is a qualified (IECL Sydney) executive coach and the Founder / Chairman of the successful not for profit humanitarian organization, Oasis Africa (www. oasisafrica.org.au), which has provided freedom from poverty through education to over 8000 mainly orphaned children in East Africa’s slums. Kim holds an MBA and BA from Massey & Victoria Universities (NZ).

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Joshua Miranda

Marketing Specialist

Joshua is a student from Institute of Technology and Higher Education of Monterrey Campus Guadalajara in Communication and Digital Media. His experience ranges from Plug and Play México, DearDoc, and Nissan México creating unique social media marketing campaigns and graphics design. Joshua helps to amplify the voice of supply chain here at Supply Chain Now by assisting in graphic design, content creation, asset logistics, and more.  In his free time he likes to read and write short stories as well as watch movies and television series.

Donna Krache

Director of Communications and Executive Producer

Donna Krache is a former CNN executive producer who has won several awards in journalism and communication, including three Peabodys.  She has 30 years’ experience in broadcast and digital journalism. She led the first production team at CNN to convert its show to a digital platform. She has authored many articles for CNN and other media outlets. She taught digital journalism at Georgia State University and Arizona State University. Krache holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans. She is a serious sports fan who loves the Braves. She is president of the Dave Krache Foundation. Named in honor of her late husband, this non-profit pays fees for kids who want to play sports but whose parents are facing economic challenges.

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Vicki White

Controller

Vicki has a long history of rising to challenges and keeping things up and running. First, she supported her family’s multi-million dollar business as controller for 12 years, beginning at the age of 17. Then, she worked as an office manager and controller for a wholesale food broker. But her biggest feat? Serving as the chief executive officer of her household, while her entrepreneur husband travelled the world extensively. She fed, nurtured, chaperoned, and chauffeured three daughters all while running a newsletter publishing business and remaining active in her community as a Stephen’s Minister, Sunday school teacher, school volunteer, licensed realtor and POA Board president (a title she holds to this day). A force to be reckoned with in the office, you might think twice before you meet Vicki on the tennis court! When she’s not keeping the books balanced at Supply Chain Now or playing tennis matches, you can find Vicki spending time with her husband Greg, her 4 fur babies, gardening, cleaning (yes, she loves to clean!) and learning new things.

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Katherine Hintz

Creative Director, Producer, Host

Katherine Hintz, MBA is a marketing professional who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.

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Kim Reuter

Host, The Freight Insider

From humble beginnings working the import docks, representing Fortune 500 giants, Ford, Michelin Tire, and Black & Decker; to Amazon technology patent holder and Nordstrom Change Leader, Kimberly Reuter has designed, implemented, and optimized best-in-class, highly scalable global logistics and retail operations all over the world. Kimberly’s ability to set strategic vision supported by bomb-proof processes, built on decades of hands-on experience, has elevated her to legendary status. Sought after by her peers and executives for her intellectual capital and keen insights, Kimberly is a thought leader in the retail logistics industry.

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Kristi Porter

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Kristi Porter is VP of Sales and Marketing at Vector Global Logistics, a company that is changing the world through supply chain. In her role, she oversees all marketing efforts and supports the sales team in doing what they do best. In addition to this role, she is the Chief Do-Gooder at Signify, which assists nonprofits and social impact companies through copywriting and marketing strategy consulting. She has almost 20 years of professional experience, and loves every opportunity to help people do more good.

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Sofia Rivas Herrera

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Sofia Rivas Herrera is a Mexican Industrial Engineer from Tecnologico de Monterrey class 2019. Upon graduation, she earned a scholarship to study MIT’s Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management and graduated as one of the Top 3 performers of her class in 2020. She also has a multicultural background due to her international academic experiences at Singapore Management University and Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg. Sofia self-identifies as a Supply Chain enthusiast & ambassador sharing her passion for the field in her daily life.

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Demo Perez

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Demo Perez started his career in 1997 in the industry by chance when a relative asked him for help for two just weeks putting together an operation for FedEx Express at the Colon Free Zone, an area where he was never been but accepted the challenge. Worked in all roles possible from a truck driver to currier to a sales representative, helped the brand introduction, market share growth and recognition in the Colon Free Zone, at the end of 1999 had the chance to meet and have a chat with Fred Smith ( FedEx CEO), joined another company in 2018 who took over the FedEx operations as Operations and sales manager, in 2004 accepted the challenge from his company to leave the FedEx operations and business to take over the operation and business of DHL Express, his major competitor and rival so couldn’t say no, by changing completely its operation model in the Free Zone. In 2005 started his first entrepreneurial journey by quitting his job and joining two friends to start a Freight Forwarding company. After 8 months was recruited back by his company LSP with the General Manager role with the challenge of growing the company and make it fully capable warehousing 3PL. By 2009 joined CSCMP and WERC and started his journey of learning and growing his international network and high-level learning. In 2012 for the first time joined a local association ( the Panama Maritime Chamber) and worked in the country’s first Logistics Strategy plan, joined and lead other associations ending as president of the Panama Logistics Council in 2017. By finishing his professional mission at LSP with a company that was 8 times the size it was when accepted the role as GM with so many jobs generated and several young professionals coached, having great financial results, took the decision to move forward and start his own business from scratch by the end of 2019. with a friend and colleague co-founded IPL Group a company that started as a boutique 3PL and now is gearing up for the post-Covid era by moving to the big leagues.

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Mary Kate Love

VP, Marketing

Mary Kate Love is currently the VP of marketing at Supply Chain Now focused on brand strategy and audience + revenue growth. Mary Kate’s career is a testament to her versatility and innovative spirit: she has experience in start-ups, venture capital, and building innovation initiatives from the ground up: she previously helped lead the build-out of the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific and before that, MxD (Manufacturing times Digital): the Department of Defense’s digital manufacturing innovation center. Mary Kate has a passion for taking complicated ideas and turning them into reality: she was one of the first team members at MxD and the first team member at the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific.

Mary Kate dedicates her extra time to education and mentorship: she was one of the founding Board Members for Women Influence Chicago and led an initiative for a city-wide job shadow day for young women across Chicago tech companies and was previously on the Board of Directors at St. Laurence High School in Chicago, Young Irish Fellowship Board and the UN Committee for Women. Mary Kate is the founder of National Supply Chain Day and enjoys co-hosting podcasts at Supply Chain Now. Mary Kate is from the south side of Chicago, a mom of two baby boys, and an avid 16-inch softball player. She holds a BS in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Adrian Purtill

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Adrian Purtill serves as Business Development Manager at Vector Global Logistics, where he consults with importers and exporters in various industries to match their specific shipping requirements with the most effective supply chain solutions. Vector Global Logistics is an asset-free, multi-modal logistics company that provides exceptional sea freight, air freight, truck, rail, general logistic services and consulting for our clients. Our highly trained and professional team is committed to providing creative and effective solutions, always exceeding our customer’s expectations and fostering long-term relationships. With more than 20+ years of experience in both strategy consulting and logistics, Vector Global Logistics is your best choice to proactively minimize costs while having an exceptional service level.

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Kevin Brown

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Kevin Brown is the Director of Business Development for Vector Global Logistics.  He has a dedicated interest in Major Account Management, Enterprise Sales, and Corporate Leadership. He offers 25 years of exceptional experience and superior performance in the sales of Logistics, Supply Chain, and Transportation Management. Kevin is a dynamic, high-impact, sales executive and corporate leader who has consistently exceeded corporate goals. He effectively coordinates multiple resources to solution sell large complex opportunities while focusing on corporate level contacts across the enterprise. His specialties include targeting and securing key accounts by analyzing customer’s current business processes and developing solutions to meet their corporate goals. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.

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Jose Miguel Irarrazaval

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Jose Manuel Irarrazaval es parte del equipo de Vector Global Logistics Chile. José Manuel es un gerente experimentado con experiencia en finanzas corporativas, fusiones y adquisiciones, financiamiento y reestructuración, inversión directa y financiera, tanto en Chile como en el exterior. José Manuel tiene su MBA de la Universidad de Pennsylvania- The Wharton School. Conéctese con Jose Manuel en LinkedIn.

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Nick Roemer

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Nick Roemer has had a very diverse and extensive career within design and sales over the last 15 years stretching from China, Dubai, Germany, Holland, UK, and the USA. In the last 5 years, Nick has developed a hawk's eye for sustainable tech and the human-centric marketing and sales procedures that come with it. With his far-reaching and strong network within the logistics industry, Nick has been able to open new avenues and routes to market within major industries in the USA and the UAE. Nick lives by the ethos, “Give more than you take." His professional mission is to make the logistics industry leaner, cleaner and greener.

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Allison Giddens

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Allison Krache Giddens has been with Win-Tech, a veteran-owned small business and aerospace precision machine shop, for 15 years, recently buying the company from her mentor and Win-Tech’s Founder, Dennis Winslow. She and her business partner, John Hudson now serve as Co-Presidents, leading the 33-year old company through the pandemic.

She holds undergraduate degrees in psychology and criminal justice from the University of Georgia, a Masters in Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University, a Masters in Manufacturing from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Certificate of Finance from the University of Georgia. She also holds certificates in Google Analytics, event planning, and Cybersecurity Risk Management from Harvard online. Allison founded the Georgia Chapter of Women in Manufacturing and currently serves as Treasurer. She serves on the Chattahoochee Technical College Foundation Board as its Secretary, the liveSAFE Resources Board of Directors as Resource Development Co-Chair, and on the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association Board as Membership Chair and is also a member of Cobb Executive Women. She is on the Board for the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Northwest Area Councils. Allison runs The Dave Krache Foundation, a non-profit that helps pay sports fees for local kids in need.

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Billy Taylor

Host of Dial P for Procurement

Billy Taylor is a Proven Business Excellence Practitioner and Leadership Guru with over 25 years leading operations for a Fortune 500 company, Goodyear. He is also the CEO of LinkedXL (Excellence), a Business Operating Systems Architecting Firm dedicated to implementing sustainable operating systems that drive sustainable results. Taylor’s achievements in the industry have made him a Next Generational Lean pacesetter with significant contributions.

An American business executive, Taylor has made a name for himself as an innovative and energetic industry professional with an indispensable passion for his craft of operational excellence. His journey started many years ago and has worked with renowned corporations such as The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) leading multi-site operations. With over 3 decades of service leading North America operations, he is experienced in a deeply rooted process driven approach in customer service, process integrity for sustainability.

A disciple of continuous improvement, Taylor’s love for people inspires commitment to helping others achieve their full potential. He is a dynamic speaker and hosts "The Winning Link," a popular podcast centered on business and leadership excellence with the #1 rated Supply Chain Now Network. As a leadership guru, Taylor has earned several invitations to universities, international conferences, global publications, and the U.S. Army to demonstrate how to achieve and sustain effective results through cultural acceptance and employee ownership. Leveraging the wisdom of his business acumen, strong influence as a speaker and podcaster Taylor is set to release "The Winning Link" book under McGraw Hill publishing in 2022. The book is a how-to manual to help readers understand the management of business interactions while teaching them how to Deine, Align, and Execute Winning in Business.

A servant leader, Taylor, was named by The National Diversity Council as one of the Top 100 Diversity Officers in the country in 2021. He features among Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs and maintains key leadership roles with the Executive Advisory Board for The Shingo Institute "The Nobel Prize of Operations" and The Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME); two world-leading organizations for operational excellence, business development, and cultural learning.  He is also an Independent Director for the M-D Building Products Board, a proud American manufacturer of quality products since 1920.

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Tandreia Bellamy

Host, Supply Chain Now

Tandreia Bellamy retired as the Vice President of Industrial Engineering for UPS Supply Chain Solutions which included the Global Logistics, Global Freight Forwarding and UPS Freight business units. She was responsible for operations strategy and planning, asset management, forecasting, and technology tool development to optimize sustainable efficiency while driving world class service.

Tandreia held similar positions at the business unit level for Global Logistics and Global Freight forwarding. As the leader of the Global Logistics engineering function, she directed all industrial engineering activies related to distribution, service parts logistics (post-sales support), and mail innovations (low cost, light weight shipping partnership with the USPS). Between these roles Tandreia helped to establish the Advanced Technology Group which was formed to research and develop cutting edge solutions focused on reducing reliance on manual labor.

Tandreia began her career in 1986 as a part-time hourly manual package handling employee. She spent the great majority of her career in the small package business unit which is responsible for the pick-up, sort, transport and delivery of packages domestically. She held various positions in Industrial Engineering, Marketing, Inside and On-road operations in Central Florida before transferring to Atlanta for a position in Corporate Product Development and Corporate Industrial Engineering. Tandreia later held IE leadership roles in Nebraska, Minnesota and Chicago. In her final role in small package she was an IE VP responsible for all aspects of IE, technology support and quality for the 25 states on the western half of the country.
Tandreia is currently a Director for the University of Central Florida (UCF) Foundation Board and also serves on their Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Previously Tandreia served on the Executive Advisory Board for Virginia Tech’s IE Department and the Association for Supply Chain Management. She served on the Board of Trustees for ChildServ (a Chicago child and family services non-profit) and also served on the Texas A&M and Tuskegee Engineering Advisory Boards. In 2006 she was named Business Advisor of the Year by INROADS, in 2009 she was recognized as a Technology All-Star at the Women of Color in STEM conference and in 2019 she honored as a UCF Distinguished Aluma by the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.

Tandreia holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Systems from UCF. Her greatest accomplishment, however, is being the proud mother of two college students, Ruby (24) and Anthony (22).

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Mary Kate Soliva

Host, Veteran Voices

Mary Kate Soliva is a veteran of the US Army and cofounder of the Guam Human Rights Initiative. She is currently in the Doctor of Criminal Justice program at Saint Leo University. She is passionate about combating human trafficking and has spent the last decade conducting training for military personnel and the local community.

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Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

As the founder and CEO of Supply Chain Now, you might say Scott is the voice of supply chain – but he’s too much of a team player to ever claim such a title. One thing’s for sure: he’s a tried and true supply chain expert. With over 15 years of experience in the end-to-end supply chain, Scott’s insights have appeared in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and CNN. He has also been named a top industry influencer by Thinkers360, ISCEA and more.

From 2009-2011, Scott was president of APICS Atlanta, and he continues to lead initiatives that support both the local business community and global industry. A United States Air Force Veteran, Scott has also regularly led efforts to give back to his fellow veteran community since his departure from active duty in 2002.

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Greg White

Principal & CMO, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain Now and TECHquila Sunrise

When rapid-growth technology companies, venture capital and private equity firms are looking for advisory, they call Greg – a founder, board director, advisor and catalyst of disruptive B2B technology and supply chain. An insightful visionary, Greg guides founders, investors and leadership teams in creating breakthroughs to gain market exposure and momentum – increasing overall company esteem and valuation.

Greg is a founder himself, creating Blue Ridge Solutions, a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader in cloud-native supply chain applications, and bringing to market Curo, a field service management solution. He has also held leadership roles with Servigistics (PTC) and E3 Corporation (JDA/Blue Yonder). As a principal and host at Supply Chain Now, Greg helps guide the company’s strategic direction, hosts industry leader discussions, community livestreams, and all in addition to executive producing and hosting his original YouTube channel and podcast, TEChquila Sunrise.

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Chris Barnes

Principal, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain is Boring

Talk about world-class: Chris is one of the few professionals in the world to hold CPIM-F, CLTD-F and CSCP-F designations from ASCM/APICS. He’s also the APICS coach – and our resident Supply Chain Doctor. When he’s not hosting programs with Supply Chain Now, he’s sharing supply chain knowledge on the APICS Coach Youtube channel or serving as a professional education instructor for the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistic Institute’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) program and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Center for Professional Education courses.

Chris earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Bradley University, an MBA with emphasis in Industrial Psychology from the University of West Florida, and is a Doctoral in Supply Chain Management candidate.

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Tyler Ward

Director of Sales

Tyler Ward serves as Supply Chain Now's Director of Sales. Born and raised in Mid-Atlantic, Tyler is a proud graduate of Shippensburg University where he earned his degree in Communications. After college, he made his way to the beautiful state of Oregon, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.

With over a decade of experience in sales, Tyler has a proven track record of exceeding targets and leading high-performing teams. He credits his success to his ability to communicate effectively with customers and team members alike, as well as his strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.

When he's not closing deals, you can find Tyler on the links or cheering on his favorite football and basketball teams. He also enjoys spending time with his family, playing pick-up basketball, and traveling back to Ocean City, Maryland, his favorite place!

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Kevin L. Jackson

Host of Digital Transformers

Kevin L. Jackson is a globally recognized Thought Leader, Industry Influencer and Founder/Author of the award winning “Cloud Musings” blog.  He has also been recognized as a “Top 5G Influencer” (Onalytica 2019, Radar 2020), a “Top 50 Global Digital Transformation Thought Leader” (Thinkers 360 2019) and provides strategic consulting and integrated social media services to AT&T, Intel, Broadcom, Ericsson and other leading companies. Mr. Jackson’s commercial experience includes Vice President J.P. Morgan Chase, Worldwide Sales Executive for IBM and SAIC (Engility) Director Cloud Solutions. He has served on teams that have supported digital transformation projects for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US Intelligence Community.  Kevin’s formal education includes a MS Computer Engineering from Naval Postgraduate School; MA National Security & Strategic Studies from Naval War College; and a BS Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy. Internationally recognizable firms that have sponsored articles authored by him include CiscoMicrosoft, Citrix and IBM.  Books include “Click to Transform” (Leaders Press, 2020), “Architecting Cloud Computing Solutions” (Packt, 2018), and “Practical Cloud Security: A Cross Industry View” (Taylor & Francis, 2016). He also delivers online training through Tulane UniversityO’Reilly MediaLinkedIn Learning, and Pluralsight.  Mr. Jackson retired from the U.S. Navy in 1994, earning specialties in Space Systems EngineeringCarrier Onboard Delivery Logistics and carrier-based Airborne Early Warning and Control. While active, he also served with the National Reconnaissance Office, Operational Support Office, providing tactical support to Navy and Marine Corps forces worldwide.

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Enrique Alvarez

Host of Logistics with Purpose and Supply Chain Now en Español

Enrique serves as Managing Director at Vector Global Logistics and believes we all have a personal responsibility to change the world. He is hard working, relationship minded and pro-active. Enrique trusts that the key to logistics is having a good and responsible team that truly partners with the clients and does whatever is necessary to see them succeed. He is a proud sponsor of Vector’s unique results-based work environment and before venturing into logistics he worked for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). During his time at BCG, he worked in different industries such as Telecommunications, Energy, Industrial Goods, Building Materials, and Private Banking. His main focus was always on the operations, sales, and supply chain processes, with case focus on, logistics, growth strategy, and cost reduction. Prior to joining BCG, Enrique worked for Grupo Vitro, a Mexican glass manufacturer, for five years holding different positions from sales and logistics manager to supply chain project leader in charge of five warehouses in Colombia.

He has an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and a BS, in Mechanical Engineer from the Technologico de Monterrey in Mexico. Enrique’s passions are soccer and the ocean, and he also enjoys traveling, getting to know new people, and spending time with his wife and two kids, Emma and Enrique.

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Kelly Barner

Host of Dial P for Procurement

Kelly is the Owner and Managing Director of Buyers Meeting Point and MyPurchasingCenter. She has been in procurement since 2003, starting as a practitioner and then as the Associate Director of Consulting at Emptoris. She has covered procurement news, events, publications, solutions, trends, and relevant economics at Buyers Meeting Point since 2009. Kelly is also the General Manager at Art of Procurement and Business Survey Chair for the ISM-New York Report on Business. Kelly has her MBA from Babson College as well as an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College and she has co-authored three books: ‘Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals’, ‘Procurement at a Crossroads’, and ‘Finance Unleashed’.

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Constantine Limberakis

Host

Constantine Limberakis is a thought leader in the area of procurement and supply management. He has over 20 years of international experience, playing strategic roles in a wide spectrum of organizations related to analyst advisory, consulting, product marketing, product development, and market research.Throughout his career, he's been passionate about engaging global business leaders and the broader analyst and technology community with strategic content, speaking engagements, podcasts, research, webinars, and industry articles.Constantine holds a BA in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA in Finance & Marketing / Masters in Public & International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.

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Amanda Luton

Vice President, Production

Amanda is a production and marketing veteran and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience across a variety of industries and organizations including Von Maur, Anthropologie, AmericasMart Atlanta, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Amanda currently manages, produces, and develops modern digital content for Supply Chain Now and their clients. Amanda has previously served as the VP of Information Systems and Webmaster on the Board of Directors for APICS Savannah, and founded and managed her own successful digital marketing firm, Magnolia Marketing Group. When she’s not leading the Supply Chain Now production team, you can find Amanda in the kitchen, reading, listening to podcasts, or enjoying time with family.

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Clay Phillips

Business Development Manager

Clay is passionate about two things: supply chain and the marketing that goes into it. Recently graduated with a degree in marketing at the University of Georgia, Clay got his start as a journalism major and inaugural member of the Owl’s football team at Kennesaw State University – but quickly saw tremendous opportunity in the Terry College of Business. He’s already putting his education to great use at Supply Chain Now, assisting with everything from sales and brand strategy to media production. Clay has contributed to initiatives such as our leap into video production, the guest blog series, and boosting social media presence, and after nearly two years in Supply Chain Now’s Marketing Department, Clay now heads up partnership and sales initiatives with the help of the rest of the Supply Chain Now sales team.

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Trisha Cordes

Administrative Assistant

Trisha is new to the supply chain industry – but not to podcasting. She’s an experienced podcast manager and virtual assistant who also happens to have 20 years of experience as an elementary school teacher. It’s safe to say, she’s passionate about helping people, and she lives out that passion every day with the Supply Chain Now team, contributing to scheduling and podcast production.

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Chantel King

Social Media Manager

My name is Chantel King and I am the Social Media Specialist at Supply Chain Now. My job is to make sure our audience is engaged and educated on the abundant amount of information the supply chain industry has to offer.

Social Media and Communications has been my niche ever since I graduated from college at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. No, I am not a West Coast girl. I was born and raised in New Jersey, but my travel experience goes way beyond the garden state. My true passion is in creating editorial and graphic content that influences others to be great in whatever industry they are in. I’ve done this by working with lifestyle, financial, and editorial companies by providing resources to enhance their businesses.

Another passion of mine is trying new things. Whether it’s food, an activity, or a sport. I would like to say that I am an adventurous Taurus that never shies away from a new quest or challenge.

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Lori Sofian

Marketing Coordinator

Lori is currently completing a degree in marketing with an emphasis in digital marketing at the University of Georgia. When she’s not supporting the marketing efforts at Supply Chain Now, you can find her at music festivals – or working toward her dream goal of a fashion career. Lori is involved in many extracurricular activities and appreciates all the learning experiences UGA has brought her.

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Katherine Hintz

Sales and Marketing Coordinator

Katherine is a marketing professional and MBA candidate who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.

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