Steven Becker
Steven Becker joined Open Society Foundations in 2019 and is currently the Global Manager of IT Risk and Assurance, where he helps protect the information and technology assets of a foundation that is working to build vibrant and inclusive democracies whose governments are accountable to their people. His role cuts across technology, governance, and risk management with an emphasis on geopolitical awareness. He previously has worked in numerous industries as a consultant, in the financial sector and in higher education.
Steven started his information technology career in 2005 in a technology support position and quickly moved to systems, networking, and engineering roles while increasing his focus on information security. He has accumulated many technical, security, and privacy certifications and has been working with CompTIA since 2017 as a Subject Matter Expert to help better shape the future of IT and security professionals. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance from Western Governors University, has spoken internationally at industry conferences, has published works on information security, and has been credited with discovering and responsibly disclosing several software vulnerabilities.
Andrea Di Fabio
Andrea Di Fabio is currently an Information Assurance Consultant with Amazon Web Services, where he works with large enterprise customers to operationalize the cloud-shared responsibility model by defining and delivering innovative compliance and risk management approaches to customers’ sensitive cloud workloads.
Additionally, Andrea is a member of four prestigious CompTIA committees: The Executive Advisory Board, the Governance Board, the Technical Advisory Committee, and the Certification Development Committee. In these roles, Andrea helps facilitate the recruitment of qualified IT professionals worldwide and provides CompTIA with the support and expertise needed during the planning and development of globally recognized IT certifications.
In his previous life, Andrea served four years as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Associate CIO at East Tennessee State University, 11 years as Norfolk State University’s CISO, and two years as CIO. He also taught a wide range of hands-on IT security classes and volunteered with local schools and ham radio clubs.
Andrea served on the Tennessee Board of Regents CISO committee and as a member of the Commonwealth of Virginia Information Security Council, where he recommended statewide strategic direction on information security and privacy-related initiatives. Finally, Andrea served as a member of the InfraGard Board of Directors. He was InfraGard's Information Technology sector chief for Hampton Roads.
Andrea is currently seeking a Ph.D. in Information Assurance at Nova Southeastern University to inspire his young kids about the benefits of continued self-improvement and education. Andrea completed his Master of Science in Computer Science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, where he also earned a Bachelor's in Computer Engineering.
Jose Jorge
With over 27 years of progressive experience, he is an accomplished IT manager specializing in a holistic approach to IT operations. His expertise spans IT security, data analytics, business intelligence (BI), data administration, support and troubleshooting, solutions design, networking, IT education, project management, and IT consulting. Jose is dedicated to delivering innovative solutions and driving operational excellence in the ever-evolving technology landscape.
Eder Marques
Eder is a seasoned cybersecurity executive and Board member with a proven track record of helping some of the world’s largest and most complex financial institutions strengthen their cybersecurity posture.
He currently serves as the Director of Payments Security within the Financial Crimes Unit, Cybersecurity at BMO Financial Group, where he plays a key role in safeguarding $1.4 trillion in assets and protecting the daily transactions of over 13 million customers.
With over two decades of global experience across three continents, Eder has held pivotal roles including service to the United Nations, where he helped build IT infrastructure in a war-torn country. He has also worked at leading consulting firms — KPMG, PwC, and EY — as a subject matter expert in cybersecurity, emerging technology risk, and IT regulatory compliance, gaining extensive experience with multiple regulators worldwide.
Eder possesses a strong technical background and holds over 20 professional certifications. Beyond his corporate role, he contributes to the cybersecurity community through his service on several industry organizations, including the CompTIA SME Technical Advisory Committee, OWASP AI Exchange, and the Cloud Security Alliance.
Sean Manning
Sean Manning is currently with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) and has over 12 years of experience in deeply technical and complex aspects of full lifecycle systems engineering and with overarching cyber warfare programs. This includes leadership in cybersecurity architecture and design, software engineering, research and development, prototyping, integration, and testing, as well as operations and sustainment. In his work with APL, Sean specializes in advancing the state of cybersecurity for military operational and tactical systems, particularly for those across a breadth of Navy and Marine aviation programs.
Before joining APL, Sean worked as a contractor, consulting on emergent DoD programs to enable secure enterprise and tactical mobility capabilities using commercial technologies at varied levels of information security classification. He also led the development of standards-based, automated security configuration management capabilities and tools in order to automate diagnostics and mitigations and increase the resiliency of DoD systems to attack. These projects yielded much-needed DoD enterprise situational awareness and continuous monitoring capabilities to support warfighters and decision-makers alike. Finally, the first 7 years of Mr. Manning’s career were as a United States Air Force (USAF) uniformed service member, where he served in a number of increasingly complex technical and management capacities around the globe.
Sean actively supports the CompTIA SME Technical Advisory Committee (CSTAC), CompTIA exam development efforts, and is a member of the CompTIA Cyber Advisory Board (CCAB). Sean holds the CISSP, CASP, CEH, and Security+.
Alejandro Merino
Alejandro Merino is a Network Architect for Summit Health with years of expertise in enterprise networks, data center technologies, security, and automation. He has held roles within network architecture, engineering, and enterprise support teams and has contributed to organizations in various industries, including global healthcare and finance.
An avid believer in lifelong learning, Alejandro actively pursues continuous education and holds numerous professional certifications from leading technology vendors. His dedication to advancing the field is evident through his active involvement with CompTIA, where he serves as a member of the Governance Committee and the Technical Advisory Committee. Additionally, Alejandro continues to participate as a Subject Matter Expert in certification workshops organized by CompTIA.
Tim Niles
Tim Niles has worked in various IT roles since 2000, from desktop support to his current role as the Head of Enterprise Applications at Duo Security. In addition to holding several CompTIA certifications, he has been a member of the CompTIA Subject Matter Expert Technical Advisory Committee since 2008 and currently serves on the CompTIA Certification Governance Committee and Executive Advisory Board. Tim obtained his bachelor's degree in information technology from Central Michigan University and earned his MBA with a focus on technology leadership from Michigan State University.
Tenette Prevatte
Tenette Prevatte is the Associate Vice President for Information Technology Services and Chief Information Officer for Fayetteville Technical Community College in Fayetteville, NC. She has over 30 years of experience with network security and Linux. She has been a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for CompTIA for over 14 years, assisting with exam development for industry exams. She also serves on the CompTIA Infrastructure Certification Advisory Committee and the CompTIA SME Technical Advisory Committee. In her previous life, she taught classes in Linux and Cisco administration, then served as an Academic Dean for Fayetteville Tech before accepting the CIO position. She has served as a technical editor for numerous higher education textbooks in subjects such as network security and digital forensics. She holds a BS in Marketing from UNC-Wilmington, an MBA from Campbell University, and 20 graduate hours in Computer Science from Radford University and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
Richard Rieben
Richard Rieben is a Partner and HITRUST practice lead at Linford & Co., where he leads audits and assessments covering various frameworks, including HITRUST, SOC, CMMC, and NIST. Richard holds several CompTIA certifications, including CASP+, CySA+, Security+, Project+, and others. With over 20 years of experience in IT and cybersecurity and industry certifications, including PMP, CISSP, and GSNA, Richard is skilled in helping growing organizations achieve their information security and compliance goals. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and an MBA from Western Governors University.
Manuel Leos Rivas
Manuel Leos Rivas completed his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Computer Systems Engineering at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo Leon in Mexico. He also completed his Master of Sciences in Information Security Engineering with a focus on Incident Response and two post-baccalaureate certificates in Cybersecurity and Cloud security at the SANS Technology Institute. He holds over 60 cybersecurity and cloud certifications from CompTIA, GIAC, ISC2, and AWS, among others.
Manuel has worked in cybersecurity for over 20 years in four different countries in Europe and North America. He started his IT/Information security career in 2000 as a Network and Firewall Administrator in Mexico. Later, in 2007, he switched to information security as a Security Analyst and compliance coordinator for ACS, a Xerox company. In 2011, he joined Gemalto (now Thales DIS) as Solution Security Officer, where he was promptly promoted to Solution Security Expert and relocated to France. In his pursuit of improving his cloud security skills, Manuel emigrated to Canada in 2018 to work as a cloud security engineer for Thales DIS. In 2019, Manuel started working as a Cloud Security Architect for AWS Professional Services Canada. Manuel has been working as Backblaze’s Cloud Security Architect since 2021.
Manuel has worked implementing hardening, SIEM, security monitoring, WAFs, and automation in highly secured environments. Manuel has experience working for large multinational companies in diverse sectors like banking, mobile network operators, cloud service providers, and government. Since 2016, Manuel committed part of his time to support the OWASP ModSecurity Core Rule Set as one of the OWASP CRS developers. Manuel authored the Web Server Protection for the InfoSec Institute in 2019.
Manuel has been a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for CompTIA since March 2017. He joined the CompTIA SME Technical Advisory Committee (CSTAC) in November 2020 and the CompTIA Governance Committee in November 2023.
Arron Stebbing
Arron Stebbing is the Founder and Director of QD Solutions Group, which provides fractional services and consolidated consulting models to help organisations accelerate digital transformation, optimise cloud strategy, and build technical capability. With more than 20 years of experience, he combines deep technical expertise with business acumen to help organisations align strategy with execution. Recognised as a multi-year VMware vExpert, Arron is widely respected for his contributions to the IT community, mentoring peers and enabling organisations to build resilience and capability.
He has maintained a long-standing commitment to professional development, holding numerous CompTIA certifications across infrastructure, cloud, and security, reflecting his dedication to advancing industry standards. Through QD Solutions, he also delivers fractional leadership in sales acceleration, customer success, and technical enablement, making enterprise-level expertise accessible without full-time overhead. In addition to leading the Melbourne VMware User Group, Arron serves on CompTIA’s Certification Governance and Technical Advisory Committees, helping shape the future of IT certifications.
Luiz Vieira
Luiz is an IT security professional with 23 years of experience, garnering varied technical expertise in working in large global companies and managing local and remote teams. Mr Vieira delivered complex projects with a global impact, such as the Rio2016 Summer Olympic games, acting as the Head of IT Security. Vieria also worked as a CISO for global companies based in the Netherlands. Currently, Luiz acts as a Principal for Auditing Services in the Security Assurance area at AWS, based in Amsterdam.
Luiz was also a cybersecurity instructor who delivered a wide range of training for the Brazilian Military Forces (Navy, Air Force, and Army), Government sectors (Fed prosecutors, TRE, TJ), and Civil Police (High Tech Crime Investigation's Department).