6 NREN Partner CISO’s, spanning the country (BC, AB, MB, ON, QC, AT), will gather in a fishbowl fashion discussing cybersecurity topics as provided by the audience and chosen from out of an actual fishbowl. The fishbowl mechanism will include an empty chair and the individual who submitted the question will be invited to join the fishbowl discussion. The Fishbowl will/may be seeded with a few of the following topics:

  • Cyber Spend - is there a correlation to better security?
  • We have national assessment results - so now what?
  • Active Security (not passive) - Like Mitre Engage
  • Small Giants - how does being small affect an organization in its Cybersecurity pursuits? 
  • Mono-cropping Cybersecurity (one vendor to rule them all???)
  • Wellness in Cybersecurity

This kind of discussion provides a full view of the interactions that take place between CISO peers on cyber-related subjects.

 

CURTIS BLAIS Summit 2023

Curtis Blais

Shared Chief Information Security Officer, Cybera

Mr. Blais is a multi-discipline certified IT professional, cleared to Secret with over 30 years of experience in the IT industry. His career spans numerous disciplines in IT including application development; design, build and operations of internetworking environments; design, construction/maintenance of information security architectures; governance, risk, and compliance consulting; enterprise risk management; and strategic security leadership as a shared Chief Information Security Officer. Mr. Blais has provided services to every level of government and held numerous positions in the private sector including Board of Director appointments for privately held corporations and a non-profit. In conjunction with his multiple certifications in networking, security and risk, Mr. Blais holds a masters degree in leadership and organizational change from Royal Roads University; is the author/creator of a Risk-based Information Security Model; completed Harvard’s Cyber Risk Management program at the top of his cohort; was the principle author of the National Cybersecurity Assessment Report on the state of cybersecurity in higher learning in Canada; and is currently working on a manuscript for a book detailing a simple mechanism to formalize Information Security programs.

Summit Speaker

Gerrit Bos

CISO, MRNet

Gerrit Bos is the Chief Information Security Officer at MRnet, the Manitoba NREN partner. In this role he supports Brandon University, Université de Saint-Boniface, and The University of Winnipeg in the maturing of their Information Security posture. Prior to this role he worked for over 30 years at the University of Guelph in Information Technology, the most recent 10 years as Information Security Officer. Gerrit holds a B.Sc. (Engineering) and an M.A. (Leadership) from the University of Guelph. He lives with his family in Calgary, Alberta.

2024 Program Committee

Ivor MacKay

Director of Cybersecurity and IT, BCNET

Ivor is responsible for fulfilling and planning the future of BCNET's internal IT needs. He facilitates cybersecurity collaboration and future service direction through the BCNET Cybersecurity and Identity Management Services Committee. Ivor has 29 years of experience in management and 22 years as an IT professional. He began his IT career working at the world track and field games in Edmonton, where he led the rolling out and support of desktops and servers for the games. Following his work at the games, he worked in IT for CBC in Edmonton for 10 years. He moved from Edmonton to join Coast Mountain College (formerly known as Northwest Community College) as the director of IT. 

Technology Track

Session Format
Roundtable Discussion (45 mins)