Securing the Future: How Top Security Leaders Are Navigating a New Era
From enterprise advisory services to retail/service, financial institutions and critical transportation hubs, every sector faces a unique set of security challenges—yet many of these issues are shared across different environments. This panel brings together security leaders from diverse industries to share their biggest sector-specific pain points and how those challenges shape the technologies they adopt, the policies they enforce and their response to an increasingly unpredictable threat landscape.
This session will explore:
- Pressing security challenges in each sector today: Whether it’s protecting legacy systems, securing OT/IT convergence or dealing with compliance uncertainty
- How these challenges influence technology selection: From the trade-offs between innovation and reliability to vendor lock-in, interoperability and cost-risk analysis
- Adapting to policy and regulatory flux: Understanding how shifting standards impact operational security
- Double-edged sword of AI: With a focus on the practical difficulties in implementation, including explainability, hallucination risk and integration into existing workflows
Speakers
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Julaine SimmonsSenior Vice President, Security and Electronic SystemsJulaine Simmons oversees division operations, customer growth and employee development to keep the company at the forefront of the security industry. She also serves as a program executive for federal agencies and commercial sector customers. Having worked with M.C. Dean for more than 14 years, she has helped the company expand relationships with some of our top U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence community customers, advancing M.C. Dean’s mission-critical capabilities.
Simmons is a member of the Security Industry Association’s board of directors and serves on the Voice of the Industry and NavigateHER subcommittees. board of directors and serves on the Voice of the Industry and NavigateHER subcommittees. She is also an executive sponsor of Women at M.C. Dean, an affinity group established to support female employees across professional fields. She represents the company at universities and industry organizations, such as the Society of Women Engineers and Women in Technology, providing mentorship and advocating for career growth of women in engineering and technology.
Prior to joining M.C. Dean, Simmons worked at Lucent Bell Labs in the chief technology office working to transfer technologies in non-linear optical communications from Bell Labs into the telecommunications Industry, then she moved over to working in startup companies to develop fiber optic and security technologies for the solve problems and fill in the gaps in the market.
Simmons earned her Master of Science in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech with a focus on fiber optics communications and telecommunications. She was GRA in 160 Gbps Femtosecond Ultrafast Laser Communications at Georgia Tech.
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Christine BergeronSenior Director of Global Physical Security TechnologyChristine Bergeron, senior director of global physical security technology at Visa, has worked in corporate security for nearly 27 years, managing electronic security systems, projects and life cycles via the development of design standards and strategic planning as well as managing the global teams responsible for these processes. Prior to her current time at Visa, she was vice president of corporate security technology for nearly 16 years at Morgan Stanley. Bergeron has been part of the NPS program since 2020, when she participated as a judge panelist during the virtual years, and eventually moved to the NPS Awards Committee, where she had previously been vice chair for the last two award shows.
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Candace BrownAssistant General ManagerCandace Brown manages Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s badging and credentialing, ATL Enforcement, access control and insider threat program and maintains a collaborative relationship with the Atlanta Police Department. With over 17 years of airport public safety, security, and program management experience, Candace holds the Accredited Airport Executive (AAE) and Airport Security Coordinator (ASC) designations from the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE.) She earned a Bachelor of Science in Professional Aeronautics with a double minor in Aviation Safety and Aviation Business and a Master of Science Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
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Karen FrankManaging Director and Head of Firm Security ServicesKaren Frank is managing director and head of firm security services at KPMG. She brings executive leadership experience in enterprise security, risk management, justice administration, law enforcement and global IT infrastructure and service delivery built across 24 years. Frank is the former Critical Manufacturing Council Executive Committee, CISA, U.S. Department of State.
A Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified Protection Professional (CPP) and 6Sigma Black Belt, Frank is a council member and chair, Constituent Advocacy Committee, for the Overseas Security Advisory Council, a board member for ASIS Global and a former board member for the CSO Center for Leadership and Development.
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Cheryl SteeleChief Security Officer
