ADVISORY BOARD
BGH Foundation Advisory Board
The advisory board is a volunteer group of outside Cybersecurity and Technology experts that give advice and support to the Board of Directors and Executive Team of BlackGirlsHack. Whereas the Board of Directors is charged with the day-to-day operations and decisions for the organization, the Advisory Board serves to help direct the strategic mission, direction, and longevity of the organization. The advisory board has no fiduciary duty to the organization outside of directing, mentoring and advising the Executive Director and Executive leadership team on the organization’s way forward. As BlackGirlsHack continues to grow, the advisory board will help to enhance the organization’s credibility and expand the organization’s networking contacts.
Eric Belardo
Eric is a US ARMY Military Intelligence Veteran of Bosnia and Kosovo with NATO; Eric Brings over 30 years of Cyber Security & Online Safety Experience across many industry domains including Civilian Government, Department of Defense, International, Financial, and Civilian markets. Where he has supported organizations in strategic direction, program assessments, remediation and monitoring, intelligence services (VIP & High Value individuals), and Security Risk Mitigation and Security Education.
Eric’s experience in the cyber security field encompasses the areas of Security Operations, Incident Response, Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery, Digital Forensics, Certification and Accreditation, Enterprise Security Architecture, and Security in Mergers & Acquisitions in over 20 Countries.
Eric Founded Raices cyber org in 2021, a non-profit foundation to support Hispanics, latinos, Latinas and latinX in the field of Cyber Security.
Eric is a sought after speaker on TV and in person, having performed keynote speeches/ webinars and many YouTube Videos and Livestreams
Staci Hill Okine
An award-winning systems engineering senior leader with two decades of sales engineering and cybersecurity experience, Staci Hill Okine exemplifies a confident mix of technical acumen, leadership excellence and ability to create elite teams and inclusive culture where people thrive. Staci currently serves as the US Commercial Director of Systems Engineering at Palo Alto Networks.
With a strong conviction for investing in people and nurturing tomorrow’s leaders, throughout her career Staci has coached, mentored, sponsored many women and underrepresented minorities in STEM. In her community, Staci volunteers with Ohio Cyber Women introducing young girls to cybersecurity, is a member of the Central Ohio Information Systems Security Association (ISSA), the New Albany Women’s network, and serves on the planning committee of the New Albany African American Parents Network.
Staci holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Spelman College and a Master
of Science in Telecommunications from the University of Pittsburgh. She was the first Black female systems engineering director at Cisco.
Dr. Dane Brown
Dane Brown is an Assistant Professor in the Cyber Science Department at the United States Naval Academy. He holds a B.S in Electrical Engineering (USNA ’05) and an M.S. in Computer Engineering (NPS ’06). He completed a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering (Virginia Tech ’19) with a focus on analyzing the security of firmware in ARM environments.
Dane has worked at the Naval Academy since 2010. Originally an instructor in the Electrical Engineering department, he quickly got involved in teaching and developing courses for the new Cyber additions to the Naval Academy core curriculum. In 2014, he was hired into the new Cyber Science department and charged with helping to create the curriculum and course sequence for the emergent Cyber Operations major. To this end, he has adapted and delivered a course which introduces students to computer architecture and design principles in a hands-on format.
Prior to joining the Naval Academy faculty, Dane Brown served as a Submarine Officer in the U.S. Navy responsible for maintenance, personnel, and operations. He still serves as a Naval Reservist to this day and has deployed to U.S. Central Command to work in the Joint Cyber Center in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Dane’s expertise lies in problem solving at the lowest levels of computer software, hardware, and networks.
He has a passion for information system security to include:
Binary Analysis
Reverse Engineering
Cryptography
Privacy and Trust
Microprocessors
Communications Protocols
Signal Processing
Biometrics
Cyber and STEM Education
Dr. Aunshul Rege
Aunshul Rege is an associate professor and director of the CARE Lab at Temple University. Her research has been supported by numerous National Science Foundation grants and focuses on the human, sociological, and psychological aspects of cyberattacks and cybersecurity. Aunshul is also passionate about cybersecurity education and runs free summer social engineering competitions for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students, as well as free workshops for educators. She is a proponent of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in research and education and has generated an “Organizations We Love” (OWL) list, which is an inventory of 286 organizations that strive to make tech and info/cybersecurity opportunities and experiences accessible to everyone. Aunshul currently serves as the research lead for the Social Engineering Community at Def Con.
Prior to her academic life, she worked as a software and QA/QC engineer in industry. Aunshul has a BSc and BA in Computer Science and Criminology respectively, a MA in Criminology, a MA in Criminal Justice, and a PhD in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University.
Tracy Z Maleeff
Tracy Z. Maleeff, aka @InfoSecSherpa, is a Security Researcher with the Krebs Stamos Group. She previously held the roles of Information Security Analyst at The New York Times Company and a Cyber Analyst for GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to joining the Information Security field, Tracy worked as a librarian in academic, corporate, and law firm libraries. She holds a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh in addition to undergraduate degrees from both Temple University (magna cum laude) and the Pennsylvania State University. While a member of the Special Libraries Association, Tracy received the Dow Jones Innovate Award, the Wolters Kluwer Law & Business Innovations in Law Librarianship award, and was named a Fellow. Tracy has been featured in the Tribe of Hackers: Cybersecurity Advice and Tribe of Hackers: Leadership books. She also received the Women in Security Leadership Award from the Information Systems Security Association. Tracy publishes a daily Information Security & Privacy newsletter and maintains an Open Source Intelligence research blog at infosecsherpa.medium.com. She is a native of the Philadelphia area.