2025 SC Cyber Awareness Presenters
Paul Ihme
Soteria
Paul Ihme is a cofounder at Soteria, a Charleston-based cybersecurity firm that provides tailored security solutions for organizations across the globe. Paul began his career in the US Air Force, where he served in roles planning, coordinating, and executing offensive cyber operations supporting the National Security Agency and US Cyber Command. Following his Air Force career, he worked as a defense contractor supporting NSA missions in a planning and advisory capacity. Paul has also worked in security operations positions at the Internal Revenue Service and JP Morgan Chase.
Dr. Gerald Auger
Dr. Gerald Auger is a cybersecurity educator, content creator, and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in the field. He holds a PhD in Cyber Operations from Dakota State University and maintains industry certifications including CISSP, CISM, and CISA. As the founder of Simply Cyber, Dr. Auger has built a thriving community of over 250,000 subscribers across YouTube and LinkedIn, delivering daily cybersecurity news analysis and practical career guidance to practitioners worldwide. His Daily Cyber Threat Brief podcast won the 2024 SANS Difference Makers “Podcast of the Year” award. Through Simply Cyber Academy, he provides accessible GRC and offensive security training to aspiring and active cybersecurity professionals. Dr. Auger is also Director of Strategy at Kairos Sec and serves as an Adjunct Professor at The Citadel, where he teaches cybersecurity principles.
Daniel Poliquin
Deloitte
Daniel has been with Deloitte for over 26 years providing account leadership on many accounts. In this role, he works closely with his clients to bring innovative ideas and business solutions that make a tangible impact. He is focused on digital relationship and experience, from the mobile device to the browser, he wants to make sure constituents have an intuitive and efficient way to get what they need.
Michael Gregg
Palo Alto
Prior to joining Palo Alto Networks, Mr. Gregg held CISO roles in public, private, and as an expat cyber leader. As the former CISO of North Dakota, he used a “whole of State” approach to expand coverage from 20,000 to 200,000 endpoints, created the nation’s first Joint State SOC, and expanded services to tribal nations. As an expat CISO, Mr. Gregg led large-scale change through mergers and acquisitions that grew global operations to more than 45 worldwide locations. He established a standardized cyber operating model globally and matured the security organization using an outsourced model from the ground up.
Mr. Gregg has authored/co-authored more than 20 books; some include: Inside Network Security Assessment, SAMS; Hack the Stack, Syngress; and Security Administrator Street Smarts, Sybex. He has testified at the state level and the United States Capitol. He was invited to speak at The White House about cyber security. He has served as an expert commentator for network broadcast outlets and print publications. Most recently, he was voted Visionary CISO of 2024, Top 25 Public Sector Doers, Drivers, and Dreamers of 2024, and was awarded Top 100 CISOs in the United States for 2023.
Nick Travis
Palo Alto
Nick Travis is a Principal Solutions Architect for State, Local, and Education (SLED) customers at Palo Alto Networks, bringing over 24 years of extensive IT experience, with 12 years specifically dedicated to the public sector. He is renowned for his ability to quickly and meaningfully connect with customers, partners, and internal teams, translating complex technical challenges into clear, actionable solutions. With a robust background in cybersecurity, Nick excels at developing multi-product architectures and articulating both their technical and business value to executive leadership. His expertise spans network, cloud, and endpoint security architectures, enabling him to guide strategic accounts through significant security transformations.
Throughout his career, Nick has consistently led complex transformational projects for large public sector organizations. As a Systems Engineer, he gained a proven track record of working directly with customers’ engineers to map their strategic objectives to the full product portfolio. Later, as an Solutions Consultant Manager, he cultivated strong CXO relationships and served as a trusted strategist for them. His experience also includes 10 years as an adjunct instructor for Computer Science, where he focused on bringing real-world knowledge into the classroom and providing students with hands-on learning, further enhancing his ability to connect with leadership and design tailored technical solutions.
Ryan Truskey
SC CIC Director
Ryan Truskey serves as the Director of SC CIC. In addition, Ryan is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for SLED, where he oversees the division’s cybersecurity strategies and technology infrastructure.
With a strong background in intrusion detection, incident response, and security management, Ryan has cultivated deep expertise in cybersecurity operations. His leadership of SC CIC has involved direct engagement with organizations spanning all critical infrastructure sectors, such as energy, healthcare, transportation, and government services. This broad engagement has provided Ryan and his team with a unique understanding of the evolving cybersecurity risks and challenges that impact communities across the state.
Bert Hayes
Cribl
Bert Hayes is an accomplished Senior Solutions Engineer with extensive experience in data streaming and cybersecurity. Currently at Cribl, Bert is responsible for establishing a new team dedicated to supporting State and Local Governments and Education organizations. Prior experience includes significant roles at Confluent, where Bert provided engineering support for public sector sales, crafted custom demos, and enhanced information security initiatives. Previous positions at Duo Security, Splunk, and the Texas Education Agency showcase a strong background in network security analysis, incident response, and technical leadership. Bert holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of Texas at Austin.
Derek Gleich
Cribl
Derek is an accomplished technology leader with over a decade of expertise in the Public Sector technology domain. His career began with Federal service at the U.S. House of Representatives, setting a solid foundation for his subsequent venture into the private sector. Derek’s notable roles at leading companies such as Cisco, AppDynamics (a Cisco company), and Cribl, underscore his extensive experience and success both within both public sector and commercial markets. Presently at Cribl, Derek leads the Public Sector Solutions Engineering team, dedicated to serving state, local, and educational institutions, as well as the U.S. Federal government, across the United States. His leadership and experience in both government and private industry has been critical to navigating and understanding the unique technological needs and challenges of IT and Security professionals in the public sector space.
Ben Willis
State Chief Information Security Officer
Division of Information Security
Jeff Johnson
Deputy CISO, Enterprise Security
Division of Information Security
David Lohnes
Deputy CISO, Cyber Risk Management and Compliance
Division of Information Security
Will McGee
Deputy CISO, Audit and Assessment
Division of Information Security
