Richard S. Mroz, Managing Director, Resolute Strategies, LLC, USA

Richard S. Mroz, Esq. has a long and distinguished career in law, government, business, and public service. His experiences are as a regulator, lawyer, lobbyist, banker, consultant and thought leader on issues including utility regulation, energy markets & technologies, cybersecurity, water & wastewater policy, and infrastructure development & financing in various industries. He is the Founding Member and Managing Director of Resolute Strategies and is Senior Director at Archer Public Affairs with offices in Trenton, NJ and Washington, DC. Mr. Mroz is also Senior Advisor to Protect Our Power, a national advocacy group for cybersecurity measures in the electric industry. Mr. Mroz is the immediate past President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) serving as chairman and chief administrative officer of the agency and functioned as the chief energy officer for New Jersey. He was appointed in September 2014 by Governor Christopher Christie to be President of the NJBPU from October 2014 until January 2018 and remained as a Commissioner until April 2018. Mr. Mroz has had various national and regional leadership positions in the energy and utility industries. He was Chairman of the Critical Infrastructure Committee for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). He led efforts for state regulators to analyze solutions for utility infrastructure security and resilience. He advanced efforts addressing cybersecurity, workforce development, and infrastructure improvements in the electric, gas, water and telecommunications industries.

Dr. Chris Beck as Co-Facilitator and EMP Panelist-SME, EIS Council, USA

Chris Beck is the Chief Scientist and Vice President for Policy at EIS Council, where he has worked since May 2011. He is responsible for the analysis, design, and promotion of critical infrastructure resilience for widespread, long-duration power outages initiated by Black Sky threats.

Dr. Beck is a technical and policy expert in several homeland security and national defense related areas including critical infrastructure protection, cybersecurity, science and technology development, WMD prevention and protection, and emerging threat identification and mitigation. Dr. Beck served as the Subcommittee Staff Director for Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Science and Technology and was the Senior Advisor for Science and Technology for the House Committee on Homeland Security (CHS), US House of Representatives, where he worked from May 2005 to May 2011. Prior to CHS, he worked in the office of Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez for three years, beginning as a Congressional Science Fellow and then as a legislative assistant.

Before government service, Dr. Beck was a postdoctoral fellow and adjunct professor at Northeastern University. He holds a PhD in physics from Tufts University (2001) and a B.S. in physics from Montana State University (1994). He served in the Marine Corps Reserve for five years (1987 – 1992).

Ranger Dorn, Exercise Director - EIS Council, USA

Ranger Dorn is the Exercise Program Director for the EIS Council and has helped with the development and delivery of EARTH EX as well as Black Sky Exercises since 2017. He is a founding member and Managing Partner with Utility Response Training Associates, LLC, providing training and exercises to utilities as well as private and public organizations throughout the US. Ranger served on Regional and National Incident Management Teams from 1997 to 2016 in the positions of Operations Section Chief, Deputy Incident Commander, and Incident Commander, responding to several incidents of national significance. Ranger is a Master Exercise Practitioner – MEP and has developed and delivered exercises from Tabletop to Full Scale nationwide. He has provided ICS training and course development to organizations throughout the US for FEMA, EMI, the National Sheriffs Association, the National Domestic Preparedness Coalition Inc., the US Coast Guard, several large electric, gas, and water utilities, as well as state and local government agencies.

Avi Schnurr, CEO - EIS Council, Israel

Avi Schnurr is CEO and President of the Electric Infrastructure Security (EIS) Council.
Mr. Schnurr has reviewed severe “Black Sky” hazards to lifeline utilities for a number of state and federal government departments and agencies, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the National Security Council, Congress, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Homeland Security, among others. He has been a leader in development and coordination of protection strategies for critical national infrastructures, working with senior executives of the nation’s largest power, water, and fuel companies, with other corporate sectors, and with key government and NGO stakeholders.

Mr. Schnurr has provided invited briefings for NATO, the European Union, Parliamentary Committees, government science advisors and energy ministries. He has reviewed U.S. defense policies for the Department of Defense, the White House Homeland Security Council, the National Academy of Sciences, Congress, NATO and a variety of other venues. Until the end of 2004, Avi Schnurr worked for Northrop Grumman’s Space Technology Sector in California, where he had system responsibilities for space payloads and other advanced systems and instruments, and also managed U.S. and international defense programs. He holds a number of patents in laser and optical systems and twice received the corporate Chairman’s Award for Innovation. Avi Schnurr received his M.Sc. Degree in Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California, San Diego.

Lihi Rotem Ganani, Director of Digital Transformation, EIS Council, Spain

Lihi joined EIS Council’s leadership team in 2020, serving as the Director of Digital Transformation. She is responsible for managing all the Council’s digital initiatives with the aim of building and growing the international online community, supporting new programs and initiatives. Lihi leads EIS projects related to marketing and branding, is in charge of social content, CRM implementation and the EIS academy.
Prior to joining the Council, Lihi conducted industry analysis and data strategy projects for FANS-LEAGUE, an Israeli mobile gaming start-up.
While living in Madrid, Spain, Lihi worked at the IE Business School, one of the world’s top business schools. With a skill for creating partnerships and focusing on innovation, she was involved in organizing yearly programs, designing the startup Lab – a startup acceleration program and the Business Impact Lab – an open innovation program. She ran “Challenge weeks”, one week Design Thinking programs with leading corporates and built a marketplace involving SMEs, corporates, and students for innovation-related consulting projects focused on growth.
In Israel, Lihi served as a judicial advisor in the Israeli circuit court and worked for boutique law firms. Lihi holds a BA in Business, an LLB in Law, a Master of Laws (LLM), and an MA in Digital Transformation and Innovation Leadership.

Eric Cote, Founder and Project Director, Powered for Patients, USA

Eric Cote is a subject matter expert in emergency power resilience for critical healthcare facilities. His expertise has been tapped by federal, state and local government agencies to develop and promote best practices that safeguard emergency power and accelerate government and private sector response when emergency power is threatened during a power outage. Most recently, Cote served as the project consultant for a multi-year emergency power resilience initiative for the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Agency. Cote has also developed subject matter expertise in power outage planning for life support patients living at home. He is currently leading Power Outage Partners, an initiative in Louisiana that is providing funding to life support users so they can purchase additional batteries to extend device runtime during outages. This support provides more time for safe evacuations and in short duration outages, may eliminate the need for evacuation.

Matt Christensen, Senior Director, Cybersecurity GRC, Intermountain Health, USA

Matt Christensen is a Cybersecurity and Risk Thought Leader, Listener, and Problem Solver. He has provided risk-based cybersecurity consulting services, program implementation, and program management for over 10 years. He traveled internationally for one of the world’s largest private sector employers as the lead Cybersecurity Fraud Examiner performing risk assessments and fraud investigations for several Fortune clients.  Industry experience includes: Healthcare, Insurance, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), and Non-Profit.  He has owned and operated several businesses and is enthusiastic about bridging the Technological gap with the Business and the Business gap with Technologists.  Matt received his Bachelor and Master degrees in Information Systems from the University of Utah and currently holds the following designations: CISSP–Certified Information Systems Security Professional | ISC2; ITPM–Insider Threat Program Manager | SEI-Carnegie Mellon; CRISC–Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control| ISACA; SANS GSLC–GIAC Security Leadership Essentials | SANS Institute; SANS GSEC–GIAC SecurityEssentials | SANS Institute; CFE–Certified Fraud Examiner | Association CFE; CCSK–Certificate of Cloud SecurityKnowledge | Cloud Security Alliance; ITIL v3–Information Technology Infrastructure Library | EXIN.  When not fighting cyber criminals, Matt is found spending time outdoors with his family, trail running, doing photography, traveling, consulting with small business start-ups, and eating diverse food.

Lisa Bisterfeldt, Cyber Resiliency Program Manager, St. Luke's Health System, USA

James Meece, Louisville Metro Government Chief Information Security Officer, USA

Thomas Jacobus, Principal Manager, Southern California Edison, USA