The founder of Fortalice, Theresa Payton is not your average computer security consultant. She’s a “cyber sentry.”

From May 2006 until September 2008, Payton worked for the Bush administration as the White House chief information officer (CIO). She was the first woman to hold this position, and her team served the president and the 3,000+ members of the Executive Office of the President.

Now the chief advisor and CEO of Fortalice Solutions, LLC, and the co-founder of Dark3, LLC, a cybersecurity software company, Payton delivers security, risk and fraud consulting services to private and public organizations. One person at a time, she’s fighting back against cyber criminals and, by extension, supporting internet security for us all.

Payton is a graduate of Immaculata University and now serves on the institution’s Board of Trustees. She earned a Master of Science in management information systems from the University of Virginia.

She is the co-author of two books, “Protecting Your Internet Identity: Are You Naked Online?” and “Privacy in the Age of Big Data.”  Payton and “Privacy in the Age of Big Data” were featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Jeffrey Lipson
Executive Director, Layer 8 Security

Lipson has over 20 years of management and consulting experience with cybersecurity, technology research initiatives and infrastructure design, implementation and maintenance in business and military environments. He has managed multimillion-dollar cyber operations with service and maintenance teams.

Lipson has been instrumental in cyber innovation, identifying technical gaps and developing proposals for new tools and techniques to meet current and future needs for national defense and Fortune 500 companies. He raised $2.5 million in venture capital to develop a novel wireless mapping tool, among other efforts for DoD clients.

As a founder at Marine Forces Cyber Command, Lipson, a colonel in the Reserve, led a team of joint and interagency intelligence community professionals within the cyber warfare mission who were engaged in full-spectrum cyber activities against high-priority enemy targets.

Lipson has TS/SCI security clearance with Counter-Intelligence Polygraph.

Lipson earned a Bachelor of Arts in history and geography from Villanova University and a Master of Science in management information science from Pennsylvania State University. He is a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCMA).

Catherine M. Reich
Cybersecurity Requirements Consultant

As a cybersecurity requirements consultant, Reich provides contractor support to government clients through conducting risk assessments to baseline their current security posture, and she identifies areas for improvement in accordance with Risk Management Framework (RMF).

Prior to holding her current role with a prominent government contractor, she provided contractor support to the Department of Defense (DoD) test and evaluation (T&E) community.

From 2010-2016, Reich served as a project manager for the test capabilities directory database project, managing a technical team and engaging with stakeholders, serving as the interface of the project with data providers and system users.

Because of her passion for promoting technical education to the workforce of tomorrow, she served as lead contract support for the organization’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce development initiative. This effort was designed to bridge the talent gaps   that exist in the test and evaluation workforce by connecting talented college students with hands-on internships at DoD test ranges across the country.

Prior to serving as a defense contractor, Reich supported the Library of Congress, the International Association for Dental Research and the Arlington Chamber of Commerce.

Reich completed her master’s degree in cybersecurity from the University of Maryland, University College in August 2015 and acquired her Security+ certification in April 2016. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in mass communications and marketing from York College of Pennsylvania.  She, her  husband, and their children reside in Springfield, VA, just outside of Washington, D.C.

James K. Murray Jr., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry & Chemistry Department Chair, Immaculata University

Murray received his M.S. (1998) and Ph.D. (2003) in organic chemistry from Drexel University. He has had a growing interest in cybersecurity during the past six years, in particular studying the role of operations and the integration of cybersecurity practices into daily operations and planning.

Murray has worked as an analytical chemist analyzing polymer modifiers at Rohm & Haas Corporation and as an organic chemist in the medicinal chemist department of GlaxoSmithKline. Murray has over 20 years’ experience in organic synthesis, product isolation/purification, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic analysis.

Murray’s research interests are in the areas of organic chemistry and organic chemistry education. He is interested in developing experiments that introduce new methodologies and techniques that can be used as effective teaching tools.