Speakers

I am active with various organizations and have been a Treasurer with ISSA BR for many years. I also served as a Vice President of Programs seeking talent for ISSA NOVA in obtaining speakers; and, maintaining my status over the past three years as a Cyber Executive member serving the government and military. I have been a consultant with Q and TS SCI security. Agencies contact me through a business to advise government leaders. I also serve as the Chair for the Baltimore Section for IEEE having served as the Vice Chair last year. I support various initiatives in engineering with cloud architecture, forensics, and mechanics. I have several ongoing projects and incorporate innovations for education and scientific development. I was a government and military leader and executive for several decades (i.e.: Computer Scientist, Functional System Security, Privacy Officer, Deputy for Office of General Counsel, and Executive with the Inspector General for the VA, etc.). I have also collaborated with IEEE and NIST for over 11 years in developing policies. I have six degrees with honors and I worked for the EPA for 17 years many years ago as a Technical Information Specialist, I also served in the military as a Military Police Officer and JAG over a few decades. I was a technical professional at an early age designing software and hardware innovations. I am a leadership volunteer with IEEE, NIST, INSA, ISSA, etc. I had my own business for consulting leaders since I left the government in 2014. I inactivate the business for high security venues and have been a temporary government employee for other organizations such as the National Science Foundation (NSF). I have been a full Professor as an adjunct instructing graduate and doctoral students. I have been designing security coures and serve as a partner with CompTIA for the government.

Laura Harder is an experienced cyber-security leader with over 22 years of military service and 19 years in the private sector. Currently a Cloud Solutions Technical Strategist at VMware, she has served as a cybersecurity director at multiple companies. An ISSA Fellow, she serves on ISSA International board of directors, leads the Northern Colorado ISSA chapter, and is part of the Women in Security Small Interest group. She holds multiple Information Technology certifications, including CISSP, CompTIA Security +, Project +, Scrum Agile, and Microsoft certifications.