CenturyLink Cybersecurity Executive to Keynote 9th SWFL Technology Awards Dinner

Dave Mahon presents
“Cybersecurity - Best practices and proactive strategies
to mitigate threats”

R. David (Dave) Mahon, chief security officer, CenturyLink, Inc. and former supervisory special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigations will be the keynote speaker at the 9th annual Technology Awards presented by the Southwest Florida Regional Technology Partnership (RTP).


Mahon’s presentation will be “Cybersecurity - Best practices and proactive strategies to mitigate threats.” The awards dinner is May 17, 2017 at 5:30 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza at Bell Tower Shops in Fort Myers.

The RTP produces the only technology awards event in southwest Florida and recognizes businesses and professionals with awards for Innovention, Transformation, Women in Technology and Partnership. CenturyLink is the Pinnacle sponsor of the RTP and the Premier sponsors are Hertz, eMaint and 21st Century Oncology. Tickets are available at www.swfrtp.org until May 12.

Mahon’s presentation centers on understanding that breaches will occur and how security executives must work with senior leaders and boards of directors to assess value, measure costs, and identify risk to then properly architect and implement a comprehensive security program. Topics will include perspective from a board of directors, balancing threats versus compliance, dealing with ever increasing regulatory and litigation actions and how to develop a cyber risk management strategy.

Mahon was appointed chief security officer for CenturyLink, Inc. in April 2011. He is responsible for enterprise wide security strategy, information security, cyber defense, critical infrastructure protection, physical security, network fraud and abuse, industrial security, international travel security, threat intelligence, workplace violence prevention, executive protection, investigations, and liaison with the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Council (NSTAC), National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), as well as federal and state law enforcement and homeland security agencies.

Before the merger with CenturyLink, Inc., Mahon was the vice president of corporate security for Qwest Communications International, Inc., from August 2006 until March 2011 and responsible for similar corporate security programs that he is currently responsible for at CenturyLink, Inc.

Prior to his corporate security positions, Mahon was a supervisory special agent with the FBI and responsible for investigating violations of federal statutes in which the Internet, computer systems and networks were exploited as the targets of terrorist organizations, foreign government sponsored intelligence operations or criminal activities. During his career with the FBI, he also managed programs related to white collar crime, crisis management, critical infrastructure protection and violent crime.

Mahon received a Bachelor of Science in business administration from the University of Scranton. He holds numerous certifications from the FBI and the Kellogg School of Management.

He is a member of the U.S. Department of State’s Overseas Security Advisory Council, International Security Management Association, Telecommunications Security Association, Domestic Security Advisory Council, and Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI.

Naples, Fla. (February 9, 2017) - In partnership with the Regional Technology Partnership (RTP), SkyLink Data Centers will host an all-access tour and networking event on February 23 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at 801 Orchid Drive, Naples, FL 34102. 

The tour is limited to 40 people and online registration is available at www.swfrtp.org. The catered event is free for RTP members and $25 for future members.

SkyLink has been named to CIO Review's 20 Most Promising Data Center Solution Providers for 2016 and is one of the most wired buildings in southwest Florida. The state of the art technology center stands as a fortress along the Tamiami Trail and is the only HIPAA Compliant data center between Tampa and Miami.

Attendees will be eligible for discounts and prizes for SkyLink including a virtual private Windows server 2012/2016, with 4 vCPU, 8GB RAM, 100 GB SSD Storage and includes managed firewall service, 5Mbps unmetered Internet and one outside IP address.

Hosted Image Gallery

SkyLink Data Centers logo: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz9nhxhfvfLnRDBZTzExVl9IZms/view?usp=sharing

Regional Technology Partnership logo:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz9nhxhfvfLnYThmZkR6XzAyQ1k/view?usp=sharing

SkyLink Headquarters:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz9nhxhfvfLnYTFMQjhQREV6QjQ/view?usp=sharing

About the RTP

The Southwest Florida Regional Technology Partnership (RTP) was chartered in 2008 and is a member of Lee County’s Horizon Council. It is the only group dedicated solely to the growth of the technology cluster in southwest Florida. The RTP is comprised of technology companies and technology users, economic development groups and higher education institutions. Through its strategies of catalyze, cultivate and connect, the RTP produces educational seminars, career forums, professional networking events and the only regional awards program dedicated to technology development and implementation. Membership and sponsorship information is available at www.swfrtp.org.

About SkyLink Data Centers

SkyLink Data Centers is a full-service co-location hosting and managed services provider serving more than 40,000 users worldwide. The Naples, Florida headquarters is the only PCI and HIPAA compliant data center in southwest Florida and the only vendor neutral facility between Tampa and Miami. Learn more at www.skylinkdc.com.

Technology Partnership elects officers and welcomes New Board Members

The Southwest Florida Regional Technology Partnership has selected two new board members.  Kevin Barnhill, CTO of Smart Companies, returning as an original founding board member and James Sampel, CIO of Alico, who was also elected Vice President. Other board members are: Marc Farron, Kadima Consulting, President; Greg Scasny, Cybersecurity Defense; Warren Baucom, Lee County Economic Development Office; Randy Mitchelson, iPartnerMedia; Stephen Craig, Chico’s FAS; Gabriel de Paz, 21^st Century Oncology; Peg Elmore, CareerSource Southwest Florida; Frederic Kunzi, LCEC; John LaFreniere, Hertz Corporation; Tracey Lanham, Fisher School of Technology at Hodges University; Judy Wynekoop, Lutgert College of Business at FGCU.   Deborah Johnson, Administrator of SWFRTP, was elected Secretary and Matt Bernhardt, Stickboy Creative, was elected Treasurer. Bios on all can be found at www.swfrtp.org.
        

Florida SBDC To Host Annual Access To Capital Fair

Thursday, July 21 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Holiday Inn, Fort Myers Airport, 9931 Interstate Commerce Dr. 

The event is free and a light breakfast will be provided. Registration is requested due to limited space. Register HERE. 

This year’s fair will bring business owners face-to-face with traditional and non-traditional lenders, including a speakers’ panel discussion on SBA loans, non-traditional financing, and crowdfunding. Panelists include: Skip Soper of Small Business Lending; Pam Tedesco of Access Florida Finance; Miguel Gonzales; with the Small Business Administration; Dieter Kondek, CEO of RocketLounge; Steve St. Clair with Florida Capital Bank; and Krishan Arora, founder of The Arora Project.

Arora will be hosting a special session on “How to Launch a $1,000,000 Crowdfunding Campaign: Acquiring Non-Dilutive Capital to Grow Your Idea.”  He has raised more than $3 Million on Kickstarter and Indiegogo for several businesses. Having been the lead strategist of many large crowdfunding projects, Arora has created a detailed curriculum on how to be successful in the crowdfunding world and is currently developing a crowdfunding accelerator program.   

Participating bank sponsors include:  Accion; Access Florida Finance; BankUnited; BB&T;  Busey Bank; C1 Bank; First Florida Integrity Bank; Fifth Third Bank; Florida Capital Bank; Florida Community Bank;  IDS Corp.; One Source Business Capital; Small Business Lending; Marquette Commercial Finance; United Capital Funding and Wells Fargo Bank. Sponsorship opportunities are still available. Find out more about sponsorships and event registration at www.fsbdcswfl.org.

The Southwest Florida Regional Technology Partnership (RTP) announces the award finalists for its Eighth Annual Awards Dinner.

Finalists for the Transformation Award, for a business that has achieved success through implementation of IT to overcome a challenge are: Amerispec SWFL, 21^st Century Oncology and Salus Care Florida.

Finalists for the Innovention Award, given to a company that has invented or demonstrated an innovative and creative technology solution, are: Get Efficient, HyperTeam and REfindly. 

Finalists for the Women in Technology Award to recognize contributions made by women in technology through professional expertise and leadership are: Tracey Lanham with Hodges University; Brandie Duncan with Get Efficient; and Wendi Fowler with The Client Server. 

Finalists for the Partnership Award, which recognizes someone who has truly forwarded the mission of the organization are: Dr. Al Ball, Hodges University; William McDonough, McDonough Law Firm; and Jose Ruggero, Gartner.

The Awards Gala is Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at Crowne Plaza, Bell Tower 13051 Bell Tower Drive, Fort Myers, FL 33907. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. for networking. Tickets may be purchased online at swfrtp.org.  Sponsored by Adecco, Chico’s FAS, 21^st Century Oncology, CenturyLink and Landesk.

"High Performance Teams" will be held at FGCU in Holmes Hall 406 and 433 at 6-8pm on September 2nd Wednesday. 

Rick Regueira, an agile coach will be speaking at the workshop. This event is sponsored by Fischer International. Any SWFRTP members are welcome to join.  

For more detail, please take a look at

http://www.meetup.com/South-Florida-Agile-Association/events/224547393/ 

In conjunction with the National Civic Day of Hacking, the Southwest Florida Regional Technology Partnership (RTP) hosted its second annual Hackathon, beginning Friday, June 5 through Sunday, June 7. 

The goal of National Day of Civic Hacking is for residents, community groups, and government to collaborate to make their communities stronger. Specifically, the southwest Florida event offered teams to select from two themes - Blue Zones Project and Safe Firefighting.

All the teams produced viable solutions, but in the end Team Breakroom was triumphant.  They created a Fire Response Environmental Detection System that is an all in one inclusive data collection device in The FireCloud (which assures a standard interface layer that unifies multi device communications to a standard code).  

Team Penta Sensation from Dunbar High School focused on Safe Firefighting creating the PentaSensor housed in a ball-shaped casing that would be thrown into a fire that sensed and transmitted information to a central database regarding the environment the firefighters were entering.  Team Arduino Fighters wanted to help firefighters with their safety by creating a small, portable sensor that is placed in the helmet of the fighter and then transmits data to a central database. 

The team from Fort Myers Technical College (FMTC) focused on both themes.  FMTC Fire created LiveSense, a firefighting data collection platform that utilizes the IBM/Watson Analytics Platform to help analyze the forensic data to determine best course of action in a fire and can be utilized on a macroscopic scale.  For FMTC Health they created an app called LL Ally (Long Life Ally) which keeps participants honest with their health assessment tracking.  

The Blue Men Tech Tag Team earned honorable mention for creating an app called the Longer Life Challenge Game based on three elements; 1. Education 2. Action 3. Community. This app takes the 9 principals of the Blue Zone and gamifies the elements so people can play individually or engage socially on various levels that people find inspirational and fun.  

The RTP Hackathon was supported by several organizations including sponsors LANDESK, Zuora, Chico's FAS, IBM, Kuniter, Hodges University, IAFF Local 1826 and the Lee County Economic Development Office.

The SWFRTP Board had great representation at our partners', the FGCU SBDC Distinguished Entrepreneur Award Dinner, May 19th at the Coconut Hyatt in Estero, FL.  SWFRTP values the work the SBDC does in our community to develop companies and coach entrepreneurs to grow in the region.  The winner this evening was Gary Mart of Global Tech LED, LLC.  Gary started Global Tech in 2008 in Naples, FL.  His idea was to create a LED light that fit multiple light fixtures, a concept called retrofitting.  With wattage levels at 60-1000 watts, the lighting is well suited for industrial uses like parking lots, roadways and warehouses.  Well done Gary!!