Board Members

Eric S. Ackerman, Ph.D. is currently the Vice President of Commercial Technology at Perry Ellis International, Inc. Dr. Ackerman has been active in the engineering and information sciences field for over 30 years. His recent experiences includes working as a Vice President at Magic Leap (Augmented Reality (AR) startup) and being the Dean of NSU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Dr. Ackerman has been involved in numerous engineering projects including designing space hardware that has flown on the three Space Shuttles (STS-91 Discovery, STS-134 Endeavour, STS-135 Atlantis). Active in the local community Dr. Ackerman was a past President of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) South-Florida InfraGard chapter and currently is an advisor to the Board of Directors.

He is a graduate of the FBI’s Citizens Academy and has consulted with local, state, and federal agencies on cybersecurity topics. Dr. Ackerman is currently involved in multiple leadership positions within IEEE and was a past IEEE-USA Vice President. He is a senior member of IEEE, ACM, ASEE, AIS, AIAA, and Upsilon Pi Epsilon. In his past time he collects and restores vintage computers, arcade, and pinball machines. To learn more go to his Linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericsackerman/

Email: president@infragardsofl.org

Nancy Bianco was Past President and Vice President InfraGard South Florida 2010 -2019. Also, Ms. Bianco was an InfraGard Member (San Francisco 1997-2010, So FL 2010-present), FBI Auxiliary Academy and Alumni Group, FBI Citizens Academy, Quantico and  InfraGard Awards Committee.

As a seasoned security professional, Ms. Bianco has had the opportunity to play many roles in startup and established companies.  In the roles of Director (Sales Manager etc.), individual contributor and Training specialist, Nancy has used her broad working knowledge of Enterprise Management to translate policy and requirements into those products and services, (off the shelf or custom) to support existing compliance policies. Nancy’s infosec and internet technology knowledge has been broadened by participation in national security groups, Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) in board positions, and CISO task force member, InfraGard, President, Vice President (liaison between the private and public sector) and PKI forum to name a few.

It is Nancy’s mission, to give back to the infosec community all that has given her so much. The groups below, illustrate her commitment to this mission.

Current Focus: Cyber Security Innovation

Current Positions: Cyvent, Director Innovation Shipyard Alliance. Vice President and Co-Founder

Education: University of Connecticut, BA, Storrs, CT
PKI Forum and many additional Cyber Courses

Mr. Kirschner is presently the president of Lasula Consulting & Mediation, Inc. He is a Certified Public Accountant and Florida Supreme Court Certified County Mediator & Circuit Civil & Family Trained Mediator. Since moving to Florida in 2004, from New York where he was partner in a CPA firm. he has continued to consult as a senior financial reviewer of entities that include homeowner associations, condominiums, real estate companies and non-profits. He mediates in South Florida and volunteers as a county mediator in the 15th Judicial District in Palm Beach County.

During his various positions, Mr. Kirschner has testified before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the New York State Supreme Court, and has represented clients before the Internal Revenue Service, NY State Department of Taxation and Finance, NYC Department of Finance, and other federal, state and local government agencies.

He was an Adjunct Professor of Accounting at Lynn University in Boca Raton, FL, as well as an Instructor in Public Accounting at New York Community College, City University of New York, in Brooklyn, New York. Steve has a B.S. in accounting from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

In addition to proudly serving as Treasurer on the Board of InfraGard, South Florida, he also volunteers on the Boards of several other South Florida non-profits, and as Executive Volunteer (Fiscal Reviewer) for Non-Profits First in Boynton Beach.

In addition to his CPA Licenses in Florida and New York Steve is a Graduate of the FBI Citizens’ Academy, the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Citizens’ Police Academy, a member of the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants and numerous other professional associations. He can be contacted at stevekirschner@mediatorcpa.com.

My name is Mindy Jacobs Beck and I am the Secretary to InfraGard’s Board of Directors. Originally from Havertown, PA and reside in Davie, Florida for the past 35 years. My background includes 29 years of Healthcare industry, ten years of Information Technology, and administrative operations experience.

Graduated from the Town of Davie Police Civilian Academy and Town of Davie Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). Also, enrolled in the FBI Civilian Academy beginning October 3, 2019.
Email: secretary@infragardsofl.org

Sanjay Deo combines over 25 years of Cyber Security and Compliance experience. At 24By7Security, the corporate mission is to assist clients with building a “defensible platform” in the face of rising Cybersecurity incidents and increased Regulations and Legal Action.

Company clients include healthcare, financial services, media & entertainment, travel and cruise and industrial companies.

• Designed various assessment methodologies for HIPAA, GLBA and Cyber Security.
• Assisted in the implementation of EMR, Population Health and Patient Engagement Solutions.
• Conducted HIPAA-HITECH readiness audit, and risk assessment for a multi-center healthcare provider organization based in South Florida with over two hundred and forty centers located nationwide.
• Conducted HIPAA Security Risk Assessment for a major South Florida medical center and participated in the subsequent remediation and implementation of enhanced security measures and comprehensive ongoing risk management program.
• He currently serves on the Board of the South Florida CIO Council, he is also Co-Chairs the South Florida CISO Forum.
• Sanjay is a member of the South Florida FBI-InfraGard Alliance and Sector Chief for the Information Technology track.

Yair Levy, Ph.D. is a Professor of IS and Cybersecurity at Nova Southeastern University (NSU), the Director of the Center for Information Protection, Education, and Research (CIPhER), and chair of the Cybersecurity Faculty Group at the college. He earned BS.c. in Aerospace Engineering (Technion), MBA and Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from Florida International University. During the mid to late 1990s, Dr. Levy assisted NASA to develop e-learning platforms as well as manage Internet and Web infrastructures.He heads the Levy CyLab, which conducts innovative research from the human-centric research areas of: cybersecurity, social engineering, and cyber threat mitigation. He authored numerous peer-review publications and his publications were cited over 4200 times.

He was trained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on various topics as part of the Citizen’s Academy, and actively serves as a Board Member and the Education Sector Chief of the FBI/InfraGard South-Florida chapter, as well as consults local, state, and federal agencies on cybersecurity topics. He advices the National Security Agency (NSA) on cybersecurity education matters and recently received $128K grant from NSA. He is frequently invited as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on cybersecurity topics to provide keynote talks at national and international meetings, as well as regular media interviews in print, radio, and TV. Click Here to find out more about Dr. Levy and his research lab.

Sergio Piñon, Senior Vice President & Director of Security Ocean Bank
Sergio Piñon is currently the senior vice president and director of security for Ocean Bank. He is a former Intelligence Officer with expertise in terrorism and espionage. He is a former US Army Specialist war veteran who earned the Bronze Star Medal for bravery during a special Rescue operation in the Republic Vietnam.

He is a graduate of the US Army Missile & Munitions School at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama where he trained in Improvised Explosive Devices. He is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, US Secret Service Miami Electronic Crimes Task Force and currently Sector Chief of the Financial Sector of InfraGard South Florida Chapter.

Aldo M. Leiva, ESQ. practices with the Baker Donelson Data Protection, Privacy and Cybersecurity Team, and counsels clients on compliance and litigation matters in this rapidly evolving field.

Mr. Leiva closely monitors legal and technological developments in emerging technologies, including autonomous vehicles and systems, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and is honored to serve on the Board of the South Florida Chapter of Infragard. Mr. Leiva can be contacted at aleiva@bakerdonelson.com and (954) 768- 1622.

Mr. Island retired from the F.B.I. in 2002 and founded the Inquesta Corporation, a risk/threat intelligence and solutions company. As an F.B.I. special agent he investigated terrorism, espionage, financial crimes, drug trafficking, and Russian/Eurasian organized crime groups, with collateral duties as a hostage negotiator and crisis manager. Before the FBI, he was a regional security officer (attaché) with the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service at various posts in Latin America and a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer in Vietnam and Germany. He is the author of “Your Plan Is Your Parachute: A Simplified Guide to Business Continuity and Crisis Management” (paperback and eBooks) and an expert in personnel and information security. Among Inquesta’s services are background screening and investigations to mitigate insider threats through robust personnel integrity programs, and identity theft prevention (FACTA Red Flags), and continuity of operations planning and exercises.

Jim Murray is the Executive Director for Corporate Information Security (CISO) at NCCI in Boca Raton, FL. Founded in 1923, the mission of the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) is to foster a healthy workers compensation system. In support of this mission, NCCI gathers data, analyzes industry trends, and provides objective insurance rate and loss cost recommendations. These activities—combined with a comprehensive set of tools and services—make NCCI the trusted source workers compensation information.

In his role as CISO, Jim and his team are responsible for developing, implementing, and managing information security controls designed to protect and enable the organization for the purpose of achieving its vision, mission, and strategic goals. Jim has also previously taught various Information Security courses for the SANS Institute and participates in various security organizations such as ISSA and Infragard.

Jim has been working in the IT industry for over 25 years with more than 19 years of that time in the Information Security space. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Systems, a Master’s Degree in Cybersecurity and is a graduate of both the FBI CISO and Citizen’s Academies. He also holds numerous security certifications in the areas of Information Security, Risk Management, Wireless Security, Security Compliance, Incident Handling, and Forensics.”

Tom Markert is a highly accomplished business person, author, and Public Board Director. For 25 years, he has held senior positions with some of the world’s most respected companies including Procter & Gamble, Citi, Nielsen, and Office Depot.

Mr. Markert is currently the COO of Perksy, Inc., a technology based start-up company in the marketing information space and has served on the Boards of State Auto Financial Corporation(STFC/NASDAQ) and The True Value Corporation. Mr. Markert also served as the Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce while living in Australia and is a former member of Young Presidents Organization(YPO) in the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Tom has written two business books published globally by HarperCollins including the bestseller YOU CAN’T WIN A FIGHT WITH YOUR BOSS.

Board Advisors
Ned Thompson
Hernan Lando
Aaron Palazzola

Joseph R. Pinon, presently, Vice President of South Florida InfraGard Chapter; Member of AFIO-(Association of former Intelligence officers), RDSTF and JISTF; Chief Operation Officer for SFM Security Services, Inc.; Senior Advisor to the U.S. Department of State in charge of the reconstruction in Iraq in Salah Adin Province; Director of Homeland Security for Miami Dade County; Assistant City Manager for the cities of Miami and Miami Beach in charge of operations including Police, Fire, and Public Works; Police officer in the City of Miami Beach; U.S Marine Corp and Vietnam War Combat Veteran.

FBI Private Sector Coordinators:
SA Brian Waterman- blwaterman@fbi.gov
SA Daniel Gaitan- dgaitan@fbi.gov

Armin Torres: National Information Technology Subject Matter Expert (SME)

Anjni Rabadia: Webmaster