Leadership
Steven Chen
Founder
CEO, Hard Tech Investor, Serial Entrepreneur
Board Observer: ThreatQuotient, DeepSig, SecureG
Board Member: N5 Sensors
Advisor: AEGIS.NET, Dover Microsystems, Smart Imaging Systems
Partner, Blu Venture Investors
Founder/CEO, 3eTI
Founder/CEO, Totus Solutions
CTO, Corp Dev, EFJ
Carlos Aguayo Gonzalez
Founder and CTO
PhD degree on PFP, 2005-2010
PI for NSF, DoD, DHS and DARPA
Industrial experience with Texas Instruments Wireless Infrastructure Group
Jeffrey Reed
Founder and CSO
Informal advisor to the White House and Congress
Founding Director of the Hume Center for National Security and Technology
Founder of Wireless @ Virginia Tech
IEEE Fellow
Serial Entrepreneur (Third sStartup)
Honorable Gordon England
Chairman, President & CEO
Gordon England served as Deputy Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Navy, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and President of General Dynamics Fort Worth Division, President of Engineering at General Dynamics Land Systems, and as corporate Executive Vice President of General Dynamics Information Systems and Technology Sector, Ground Combat Systems Sector and the International Sector.
Honorable Gordon England
Chairman, President, CEO
Gordon England is Chairman of the Board of Directors of V1 Analytical Solutions Inc., Chairman, President and CEO of the Board of Directors for PFP Cybersecurity Inc., a consultant for Fujitsu Defense Systems, and is a General and limited Partner of GLILOT Capital Partners.
England served as Deputy Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Navy, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and President of General Dynamics Fort Worth Division, President of Engineering at General Dynamics Land Systems, and as corporate Executive Vice President of General Dynamics Information Systems and Technology Sector, Ground Combat Systems Sector and the International Sector.
England graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from University of Maryland and a master’s degree in business administration from Texas Christian University.
John Czupak
Board Member
John Czupak serves on the Advisory Board at Sonatype, PFP Cybersecurity and Cybrary as well as on the Board of Directors at ThreatQuotient.
Czupak was General Manager of the FireAMP business in Sourcefire (then Cisco) and led corp dev activities involved with Cisco’s $2.7B acquisition of Sourcefire (3rd largest cyber M&A deal historically). He was also Senior Vice President, Corporate & Business Development and International & Business Development at Sourcefire.
Before joining Sourcefire, Mr. Czupak was the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales for Mountain Wave, Inc., the Vice President of Worldwide Channels for Riverbed Technologies, and the General Manager, EMEA for Aether Systems, Inc. Mr. Czupak was an original member of the management team and Vice President of Asia Pacific and Latin America at Axent Technologies, Inc.
Czupak holds a B.S. in Marketing from Towson State University and an MBA from the University of Maryland.
Hal Shelton
Board Member
Hal Shelton is a Principal at Blu Venture Investors and member of Executive Committee. Board member for two portfolio companies. Former CFO and SVP for USEC Inc. a NYSE listed alternative energy company — quarterbacked its privatization via a $1.5B IPO and $.5B debut debt offering. Former VP Finance for Sun Oil Company’s major subsidiaries (R&M, E&P, Ship building) located in US and UK. Former Board member of NASDAQ listed IT learning company and managed its going private transaction. Former Board member and CFO for several non-profits. Certified SCORE small business mentor and author of book on writing a successful business plan.
Shelton received his BS from Carnegie Mellon University and his MBA from University of Chicago.
Steve Chen
Founder
Steven Chen is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. He has founded 4 companies. He was the founder and CEO of Totus Solution, Inc. which is a 40-person, growth company with $15M raised capital and a management team which has built multiple companies with $500M+ exits. He was the Founder & Former CEO of 3eTI, a secure wireless company and an Intel Capital portfolio company with favorable exit. He is also a member of the Blu Venture Investors, an angel investment group with 20 active members. Chen was the CTO and VP of Corporate Development of EFJohnson, a $200M public company. He belongs to multiple entrepreneur networks: the Mindshare Alumni (700+ CEO), the FounderCorps (100+ serial entrepreneurs), MissionLink (100+ CXO in national security) and MJDC (400+ professionals).
Chen has built teams and companies, and has taken multiple cyber security products to market successfully. At 3eTI, he enhanced the Intel Centrino, received the necessary certifications, and added Cisco as a reseller. Honeywell OEM’s the 3eTI secure wireless products and resells globally. 3eTI has a Navy contract and is deployed with the smart meters. At EF Johnson, he formed a partnership with Cisco. At Totus, the team has attracted partnership with global channel partners such as Johnson Controls.
Chen received his BS in Electrical Engineering from Tamking University in Taipei, Taiwan and his MS in Electrical Engineering from SUNY Buffalo.
Dr. Jeffrey Reed
Founder and CSO
Dr. Jeffrey H. Reed is one of the founders of PFP Cybersecurity and the Willis G. Worcester Professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. He currently serves as Director of Wireless @ Virginia Tech, one of the largest and most comprehensive university wireless research groups in the US.
Reed’s area of expertise is in software radios, smart antennas, wireless networks and communications signal processing. He has authored, co-authored, or co-edited numerous books, textbooks, articles and conference papers. In 2010, he founded the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology and served as its interim director. Reed also cofounded Cognitive Radio Technologies and Federated Wireless and served on the President’s Council of Advisors in Science and Technology (PCAST) Working Group.
Reed received his BS and MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UC Davis. He also received his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UC Davis.
Jim Cheng
Board Member
Jim Cheng is Senior Advisor at Pamunkey Indian Enterprises – Professional Services. Of Counsel to the Lee and Hayes Law Firm, teaches Entrepreneurial Finance at the UVA Engineering School, and serves on numerous boards of non-profit organizations and for-profit startups and mid-sized companies. Cheng is also the former Commerce Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Before his role in state government, Cheng was an active angel and private equity investor specializing in technology companies as well as the President of Totus Lighting Solutions.
From 1994-2005, Cheng was the founder and CEO of CHM.
Cheng holds a BS Degree in Computer Science from Old Dominion University, a MBA from the Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business (UVA) and a JD from Georgetown University Law Center.
Tom Weithman
Board OBSERVER
Tom Weithman is Managing Director of Virginia Venture Partners (formerly CIT GAP Funds). He has established and grown CIT GAP Funds. Weithman formed GAP Fund I and, building on its success, launched the GAP BioLife Fund and the GAP Tech Fund in 2007. Weithman maintains leadership for all day-to-day fund operations, investment strategy, and portfolio management activity for CIT GAP Funds.
Weithman also serves on the board of the Virginia Tech Intellectual Property Foundation and enjoys affiliations with Irish Angels and Catholic Charities of Northern Virginia. He is active in numerous angel investment, venture capital, and entrepreneurial support organizations.
Weithman holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame, an MBA from Michigan State University and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
LtGen Robert S. Walsh, USMC (Ret.)
Advisor
Lieutenant General Robert Walsh retired from the Marine Corps on 1 October 2018 after more than 39 years of service, completing his career as Deputy Commandant for Combat Development and Integration and Commanding General of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command.
A 1979 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Lieutenant General Walsh served as an
F/A-18 pilot at all levels, including commanding VMFA-115, Marine Aircraft Group 31, and 2d Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was an instructor at the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TopGun). He has received several writing awards. As a general officer, his staff assignments focused on designing and building the future Navy and Marine Corps as Assistant Deputy Commandant for Aviation, Assistant Deputy Commandant for Combat Development and Integration, and Director of Expeditionary Warfare, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. His operational and joint assignments included serving as commanding general, 2d Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) Iraq, and Director of Operations, U.S. Northern Command.
RADM David Simpson, US NAVY (Ret.)
Advisor
Rear Admiral David Simpson is CEO at Pelorus Consulting; Partner at DeepWaterPoint; Professor at Virginia Tech. He has influenced National Defense and Homeland Security policy and provided cutting edge Information, Communications Technology and Cybersecurity solutions for more than 30 years. He previously served as Chief of the Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau from 2013 to 2017. As Bureau Chief, he oversaw public safety, homeland security, and cybersecurity activities for more than 30,000 commercial companies in the telecommunications sector. Simpson served as the vice director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) from 2011 to 2013. In that capacity, he helped lead an organization responsible for planning, developing and providing interoperable global communications for the Defense community. He also served as a senior delegate to the 2012 ITU World Radio Telecommunications Conference and to the World Conference on International Telecom (WCIT). Simpson’s extensive career includes assignments with responsibility for networks, IT, and crisis communications for afloat and other deployed forces in the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America.
Bob Flores
Advisor
Bob Flores is a co-Founder of Cognitio Corp, an independent consulting firm specializing in mergers & acquisitions due diligence, cyber security assessments, and advisory services. Flores also serves on the Board of Directors or Advisory Boards of several companies. Prior to Cognitio, Flores spent 31 years in the US Intelligence Community where he held various technology positions, including that of Enterprise Chief Technology Officer at CIA.
Flores holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Statistics from Virginia Tech.
Todd Headley
Advisor
Todd Headley was the Chief Financial Officer of Sourcefire, a Columbia, Maryland based cyber security firm from 2003 until it’s acquisition by Cisco in October of 2013. Headley joined Sourcefire in 2003 when it had 35 employees and about $2M in annual revenue. Over the course of the next 10 years, Headley was instrumental in helping grow the business to over 700 people with nearly $300M in annual revenues. Sourcefire raised a total of $55M in venture financing, completed a $94M IPO in 2007, made two technology acquisitions and was ultimately sold to Cisco for $2.7B.
From 1992-2003, Headley held key financial management positions in 4 local area venture-backed technology start-ups, each of which was acquired – Riverbed Technologies, Roadshow, BioNetrix and POMS. Headley has helped build and guide companies from their early stages through significant growth periods, and he has handled several M&A transactions, negotiated significant technology partnership arrangements and spear-headed international expansion. Headley began his career in 1985 as a public accounting with Arthur Andersen.
Headley is a CPA and holds a BS degree in Accounting from Virginia Tech.
Robert D. Rodriguez
Advisor
George Schu
Advisor
George Schu is active as a member of the Imagination Stage, Board of Trustees, a member of the Washington Board of Trade, Cyber Task Force, and an advisor to the MACH-37 Cyber Accelerator.
Schu created Avanti Solutions in 2013. Prior to Avanti Solutions, he was a Booz Allen Hamilton Partner and Senior Vice President, was Vice President of the Public Sector at VeriSign, led a team at Oracle Corporation focused on growing the Oracle Information Security solutions. Before joining the commercial workforce, Schu was a Captain in the US Navy.
Schu has a Masters degree in Security Studies from Georgetown University and is a graduate of the Defense Language Institute and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
Alan Wade
Advisor
Alan Wade serves on the boards of the Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, CA, Professional Project Services in Oak Ridge, TN, Assyst Inc in Herndon VA, and on public sector advisory boards of several technology companies.
Wade has held a series of senior positions at CIA, including the Director of Communications, Director of Security, and Chief Information Officer. Since retirement from the CIA, Wade has served on the boards of Safeboot N.V. (acquired by McAfee in 2007), Detica DFI (acquired by BAE Systems in 2008), Composite Software (acquired by Cisco in 2013) and Applied Communications Sciences (acquired by The SI Organization in 2013).
Wade graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and received his Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from The George Washington University.
Jason Syversen
Advisor
Jason Syversen is an entrepreneur and investor with experience in technology innovation, program development and execution gathered in industry and government roles.
Syversen founded Siege Technologies in 2009. Apart from Siege Technologies, he has been a Partner at 10X Ventures, and has served as a board member at several companies, including Minim and 418 Intelligence Corp..
Syversen has a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and is a graduate of the University of Maine, with a Bachelor degree in Computer Engineering.
Rick Gordon
Advisor
Rick Gordon is an expert on security technology, business strategy and early-stage venture development. Mr. Gordon serves on the advisory board of the United States Naval Academy Center for Cyber Security Studies, and the AlphaTech group in addition to PFP Cybersecurity. He also serves on the board of directors for Atomicorp.
Gordon served as Managing Partner of Mach37 TM, the premier accelerator for cybersecurity entrepreneurs and startups. Prior to this role, Gordon served as Vice President of Product Management at KEYW Corporation, COO of Lookingglass Cyber Solutions, Managing Director at the Civitas Group and CEO of Tovaris. He also served on the founding Board of Directors of Invincea. Gordon has been a frequent contributor and speaker on such issues as security innovation and investing, cloud security, and Internet threat intelligence.
Gordon served as a submarine officer in the U.S. Navy. He received his MBA from the University of Virginia and his B.S. in engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy.