Tech Valley Cybersecurity Symposium 2025
October 14, 2025 | Rivers Casino Event Center – Schenectady, NY
Protect Your Business With Help From Security Experts
The 4th Annual Tech Valley Cybersecurity Symposium is the most important digital security conference for business owners and executives in the Northeast. Hosted by LogicalNet, the Capital Region’s leading digital security provider, this free event is an unmissable opportunity to learn from industry experts and share ideas with likeminded business leaders – without distractions.
Why Attend?
The Cybersecurity Symposium is laser-focused on giving you the tools and insights to improve your security. You’ll hear practical advice from leading luminaries of digital security from industry-leading companies and organizations. And you’ll come away with actionable solutions to keep your operations safe.
With both scams and regulations on the rise, it’s never been more important to protect your business. That’s why the Symposium draws business owners and executives from across the Northeast.
The 2024 Cybersecurity Symposium attracted business leaders, including CEOs, CIOs, and CFOs, from sectors including:
- Healthcare
- Nonprofit
- Banking
- Government
- Higher Education
- Finance
- Manufacturing
- Insurance
It’s the perfect opportunity to connect with fellow leaders and build a digital security plan.
The Symposium is a forum for strategic insights, not sales pitches. It focuses on providing education, actionable insights, and best-practice strategies. It fosters meaningful discussions and trusted connections, ensuring you gain real value without the distractions of a sales-driven environment.
Who Should Attend?
The Cybersecurity Symposium is an educational and strategic forum where business leaders and decision-makers can share insights, best practices, and actionable ideas. It is not a sales or marketing event.
With that in mind, we kindly ask that Sales and Marketing professionals attend only if they’ll be accompanied by an executive decision-maker, key business leader, or business principal. This helps ensure that the conversations and takeaways from the event lead to meaningful outcomes for all attendees.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
What to Expect at the Cybersecurity Symposium
Learn
Attend presentations and discussions led by prominent cybersecurity thought leaders in the public and private sectors.
Plan
Build practical strategies to prevent or prepare for attacks and protect your business.
CONNECT
Engage in networking groups where you’ll build relationships with fellow leaders and renowned cybersecurity experts.
Event Schedule: October 14, 2025
Morning
- 8:00-9:00 – Registration, Breakfast Networking & Sponsor Visits
- 9:00-9:50 – Keynote Speaker Jason Manar | CISO – Kaseya
- Security Theater vs. Security Outcomes
- 9:50-10:30 – Presenter Paul Mazzucco | CISO – TierPoint
- Stopping AI-Driven Attacks Isn’t Science Fiction
- 10:30-11:00 – Networking Break & Sponsor Showcase
- 11:00-11:45 – Presenter Anna Mercado Clark | Partner/CISO – Phillips Lytle
- Data Privacy in the Social Media Age
Afternoon
- 11:45-1:00 – Lunch, Networking & Sponsor Visits (With Sponsor Lightning Round Intros Onstage at 12:45)
- 1:00-1:45 – Panelist Discussion | The Role of Leadership in Cybersecurity: Beyond the IT Department
- 1:45-2:30 – Expert Roundtable | Build Fast, Break Laws? Balancing AI Innovation with Compliance
- Chant Vartanian | Founder/CEO – M-Theory
- Erdal Ozkaya | Strategic Security Advisor – Morgan State University
- Ross Pingatore | Full-Stack Data Scientist – Cognizant
- James Herring | CIO – M-Theory
- 2:30-3:15 – Dexter Caffey | CEO – Smart Eye Technology
- The Real Threat Starts After Login: How AI Security Closes the Gap
- 3:15-4:00 – Mike O’Mara | CIO – LogicalNet
- Simplify the Security Stack and Understand the Risk
- 4:00-4:15 –Tush Nikollaj | CEO – LogicalNet
- Closing Remarks
- 4:15-6:30 – Open Networking
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Allyn Lynd, Senior Manager, GRC | Kaseya
Allyn Lynd is a 1989 United States Military Academy graduate who served as an Army Aviator in Desert Storm and Shield. He left the Army in March 1997 to join the FBI. He helped start the Cyber squad in Dallas in April 1998, where he investigated computer hackers, theft of trade secrets, cyber terrorism, cyber extortion, copyright and trademark infringements, identity theft, and other high-tech crimes until February 2013.
In 2013 he was selected as the Lab Director for the North Texas Regional Cyber Forensics Lab where he remained until he retired in March 2019. Since then, he has led digital forensics and incident response for Blue Cross Blue Shield, Experian, and consulting firms. He currently works at Kaseya as a Senior Manager in their GRC program.
PRESENTERS
Anna Mercado Clark | Partner and Chief Information Security Officer, Phillips Lytle LLP
Anna Mercado Clark, CIPP/E, CIPP/US, CIPM, FIP, is a partner at Phillips Lytle LLP and has extensive experience at the forefront of law and technology. She serves as the firm’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and is a member of the firm’s Governing Committee. She is Co-Leader of the firm’s Technology Industry Team, and serves as Leader of the Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Team and e-Discovery Team, as well as Co-Leader of the Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Team.
Anna specializes in cybersecurity, data privacy, AI-related compliance, transactions, and litigations, as well as complex e-discovery, digital forensics and complex commercial litigation. Anna also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University School of Law.
Chant Vartanian | Founder and CEO, M-Theory Group
Chant Vartanian is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of M-Theory Consulting Group, an IT services firm specializing in cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and emerging AI solutions. Chant founded GotByte.com in 1997, which evolved into M-Theory in 2007.
Under his leadership, M-Theory has grown into a services-integrated technology delivery platform that guides organizations in strengthening cyber readiness and modernizing their IT environments.
Chant’s forward-looking approach has solidified his reputation as a thought leader in the industry. In 2021, he was honored as the Los Angeles Times Small Business CEO of the Year. Chant has been married for 25 years and is the proud father of two children.
Paul Mazzucco | Chief Information Security Officer, TierPoint
As TierPoint’s Chief Information Security Officer, Paul Mazzucco is responsible for all corporate standards governing physical, information, and network security. He also acquires and maintains all industry-specific compliance certifications, including PCI, ISO, NIST, HIPAA, and federal security standards.
Paul has spent years developing and testing behavior-based information security policies, information security best practices, disaster recovery/business continuity plans, and forensic services. A veteran of the IT security market, his background includes security entrepreneur and defense contractor.
Paul is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), and Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), working with the FBI, the Secret Service, and the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (U.S. CERT).
PANELISTS
Dexter Caffey
CEO | Smart Eye Technologies
Dexter Caffey is the founder and CEO of Smart Eye Technologies. He is passionate about helping businesses close critical security gaps and protect their most sensitive data from today’s evolving cyber threats.
Sean Atkinson
Chief Information Security Officer | CIS Center for Internet Security
Sean Atkinson uses his broad cybersecurity expertise to direct strategy, operations, and policy to protect CIS’s enterprise of information assets. His job responsibilities include risk management, communications, applications, and infrastructure. Prior to CIS, Sean served as the Global Information Security Compliance Officer for GlobalFoundries, serving Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) across the globe.
Sean was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and lived in England for 18 years, graduating Sheffield Hallam University in 2000. After moving back to the United States, Sean has pursued multiple degrees and certifications in the IT arena.
Mike O'Mara
Chief Information Officer | LogicalNet
Michael O’Mara is responsible for LogicalNet’s success, security, and compliance. Michael has worked for LogicalNet for 16 years and helped transform the organization from an Internet Service Provider to a Managed Security Services and IT provider.
As a technology leader with 36 years of experience in the IT field, Michael has experience building successful service organizations in the software and MSP industries. Michael is highly experienced in project management, IT Infrastructure, and cybersecurity. He is responsible for deploying and managing cybersecurity and compliance initiatives for both LogicalNet and its clients.
Michael has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Siena College and is a lifelong resident of the Capital District.
Brendan Hall
Executive Vice President | Alliant Cyber
Brendan Hall is a Senior Vice President leading the cyber insurance brokerage and consulting practice at Alliant Insurance Services. In his role, Brendan focuses on business development, strategy and execution for the cyber vertical, which includes counseling clients on their insurability and designing cyber advisory solutions to improve resilience. Brendan also works closely with private equity clients helping them develop tailored cross-portfolio cyber risk mitigation solutions, as well as pre-transaction cyber diligence.
Eric Stern
Principal Investigator | Cybersecurity REsponse Studio (CREST)
Eric K. Stern, Ph.D., is Principal Investigator of the Cybersecurity REsponse Studio (CREST) and Professor at UAlbany’s College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity. An internationally recognized expert on crisis leadership and resilience, he has advised U.S. agencies including DHS, FEMA, the Coast Guard, and FBI, as well as
governments and organizations across Europe and Asia. Dr. Stern previously directed Sweden’s National Center for Crisis Management Research and Training and currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Crisis Analysis. He brings decades of experience helping leaders prepare for and navigate complex crises.
From the 2024 Cybersecurity Symposium
I speak at a lot of cybersecurity events all over the world, and this one was so special. A lot of folks that came were not in cybersecurity roles.
What you’re going to come away with are tangible realities, useful things that will make your business better.
– Wes Spencer, Co-Founder of Empath MSP and VP of Cybersecurity Strategy at CyberFOX
Sponsors of the 2025 Cybersecurity Symposium
DIAMOND
PLATINUM
GOLD
SILVER
