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Candidates for 2023 Board of Directors |
Running for President
James A. Walters, CISSP, CCSP, SSCP, CC
Former Vice-President 2022
James Walters is a technologist with over 20 years’ experience. James is currently the Chief Information Systems Officer (CISO) for Chesterfield County IT. Previous to this role James worked at Northrop Grumman Corporation as an Enterprise Services Operation Manager supporting managed IT services for the Virginia Information Technologies Agency and the Virginia executive branch agencies.
James is well-versed in cybersecurity, networking, systems administration and field services operations. He has held increasingly higher information technology roles in support of commercial, state and local government customers.
James' experience includes certifications and training from vendors such as; Cisco, CompTIA, DRII, Dell, EMC, EXIN, HDI, HP, ITIL, ISACA, ISC2, Microsoft and VMware. James completed information security management training from the University of California, Irvine in 2012.
James has been involved with CompTIA as a subject matter expert since 2016 for both the CompTIA Security+ and Cyber Security Analyst+ exams. James maintains the A+, Network+, Server+, Security+, CySA+, CASP+, Cloud+ and Project+ CompTIA certifications.
James holds the (ISC)2 CISSP, CCSP, SSCP, and CC certifications.
Running for Vice-President Angela Graves, CC Angela Graves is a Cyber Security Analyst at LL Flooring. She is responsible for supporting efforts to protect the organization against threat actors by identifying, researching, investigating and analyzing threats. She assists with the administration/creation of computer security policies and procedures. She is also responsible for creating and maintaining monthly and quarterly training and phishing campaign content for the Cyber Security Awareness Program. She has an avid interest and passion for everything cybersecurity and is committed to ensuring any and all environments are secure now and in the future. When not learning and looking for ways to keep our environment secure, Angela enjoys spending time at the beach, fishing and traveling. She’s an Air Force veteran and has a son that lives in California which she tries to visit at least once a year. Angela holds certifications for CompTIA IT Fundamentals+, A+, Project+ and ISC2 Certified in Cybersecurity (CC). |
Two Candidates Running for Treasurer Ben Goo, CISSP, CC Former Treasurer 2022 Benjamin Goo works on the Chesterfield County Information Security Team and also serves as the president of The Resource Ministry Database (RMDB). An organization he helped start that works to help different charities and churches integrate technology into their operations. Benjamin received his Masters in Business Administration from Aurora University in 2022 and his undergraduate degree in Philosophy from UC Santa Cruz in 2007. He has worked in the technology sector field for 15+ years and has held and maintains multiple certifications including, MCSE, MCITP, Network+, Security+, and the CISSP. Prior to working in his current positions, Benjamin managed all of the IT operations for North, Central and South America at the International Rescue Committee for three years and before this he managed all of the East Coast IT operations for the country's second largest lobby firm. Benjamin and his wife live in Moseley, VA on a 72 acre horse ranch with their daughter, dogs and other animals. David Leonard, ISC2 Associate Former Secretary 2022 Born in Richmond Virginia David lived in several cities around the United States before eventually returning to be closer with family. His love of knowing how things work led him originally to study economics and obtain a Bachelor of Science from George Mason University. His knack for computers caused him to switch gears, returning to school to pursue a Bachelor of Science in computer science, graduating with the highest honors from ECPI. Right after graduation he worked as an Incident Responder for General Electric responsible for start to finish analysis of security incidents generated by some 400,000 users and one million endpoints across the globe. He currently works at another Fortune 500 company and has also worked as lead SOC analyst at a bank, an analyst for an MSSP, and product developer for a DC-based startup. As well as several other industry certifications, David is an Associate of (ISC)2 eligible to become a full CISSP in 2021. He lives in Richmond with his bearded dragon and two cats. |
Running for Secretary
Julie Severson, CISSP
Julie Severson has over twenty-five years of work experience in IT and security. Her experience includes IT operations; systems development; business and IT strategic planning; developing and promoting security policies, standards, procedures and best practices; helping business leaders and teams understand and manage security risk; and addressing strategic and sensitive security issues. Julie has a BS in Business Administration and a Masters in Information Assurance. She also holds the CISSP, CRISC, CISM and CDPSE certifications, and is an ISACA certified instructor in security management and security risk.
Before retiring, Julie worked for a very large financial institution and provided security support and consultation to a large federal agency. Since retiring, she has remained active in the security community and has provided security education to school and community groups as an ISC SASO volunteer. She has also served as a volunteer Board member for a local organization, holding the positions of Secretary, Treasurer, and President.
Running for Membership-Chair
Joel Lothamer, CISSP
Former Membership-Chair 2021
Joel Lothamer has 28 years of experience in IT operations, project management, information security and functional management. He has experience building and leading teams that have supported the speed and uptime requirements of mission critical online products in the financial services space. He has also worked with consensus building and rigorous change controls needed to provide enterprise solutions compliant with export and information security regulations in the defense industry space. Joel lives in Charlottesville, VA with his wife. They are raising 3 kids and 5 pets. He enjoys working out and listening to music with friends.