Instructors

Medy S. A. Agami is Vice-Chairman and Partner at Ben-Roz and Associates. He is an expert in strategy and economics, data analytics and decision sciences, risk management and governance, finance, and public policy. Mr. Agami was previously a co-founder and managing director of Opimas. He has also worked in strategic advisory, as well as in finance and risk advisory at Oliver Wyman. Prior to Oliver Wyman, he worked at FSCM as a strategist, head of strategy and quantitative research, and chief risk officer. He has worked with many of the world's leading companies and their boards on a variety of issues including strategy, analytics, and innovation and helped launch several market-shaping innovations. He has also worked with business leaders in diverse sectors on risk management and governance, defense, public policy, business transformation, opportunities in technology, and other global trends.

Mr. Agami studied financial engineering and quantitative analytics for his MS in Mathematical Finance at IIT. He also received an Executive MBA from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.
 

Peter Boogaard is currently the communications director for FWD.us, a bipartisan political and policy advocacy organization focused on fixing our broken immigration and criminal justice systems. Previously, he served as a White House and National Security Council Spokesman as well as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security during the Obama Administration. During these roles, he helped lead the communications strategy and response to issues related to Western Hemisphere Affairs, including the President’s Cuba policy, immigration and refugee policy, Zika response, border security, aviation security, NASA, and domestic emergency management including natural disasters and domestic terrorism response. Prior to serving in the Obama Administration, Peter worked on Capitol Hill as the press secretary for U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper. He currently lives in Virginia with his lovely wife and two children.

Mr. Buikema is a senior consultant at Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago and a subject matter expert for the Mobile Education Team seminars conducted by the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center of Homeland Defense and Security. He was appointed Administrator of Region V of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from 2001-2005, and served as the Acting Director of FEMA’s Response Division in Washington, DC in 2005.

Mark S. Dworkin, is a board-certified internist, infectious diseases physician, and a medical epidemiologist. He is an associate professor in the division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is currently conducting assessment and educational interventions to raise food handler and consumer food safety knowledge in order to prevent food-borne disease. 

Dr. Dworkin was the Illinois Department of Public Health State Epidemiologist in the Division of Infectious Diseases and team leader for the Rapid Response Team (an outbreak investigation team) from 2000 to 2006. He has collaborated with HIV epidemiologic work performed by Bayamon University in Puerto Rico and with SHARE/Mediciti in Hyderabad, India.

Nate Evans is the Lead for Cyber Operations, Analysis, and Research in Argonne National Laboratory’s Strategic Security Sciences Division. He also serves as a Vector Lead in Cybersecurity for Argonne’s National Security Programs. Prior to joining Argonne, Dr. Evans  managed cybersecurity and cyber defense activities at several private-sector companies. 

He is considered a key asset by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the development of a cybersecurity vulnerability assessment for field use, analysis of cybersecurity consequences and threat studies, and leading the pilot cyber-physical regional assessment. Dr. Evans received a BS in Computer Engineering and a PhD in Computer Engineering with a specialty in Cybersecurity from Iowa State University.

Nadine Farouq is a career public servant with over a decade of experience in economics, national security, and policy analysis across the U.S. government. Most recently, she served as an economic officer at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, where she worked across agencies and governments to advance U.S. economic and security priorities.

Prior to her work at the State Department, she worked as an intelligence analyst and in roles at the U.S. Agency for International Development in Jakarta, Indonesia and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (now the Development Finance Corporation) in Washington, DC.  She worked in media prior to joining government.

A native Texan and citizen of the world, Ms. Farouq holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Texas at Arlington, a Master of Arts in International Trade and Investment Policy from the George Washington University, and a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD (Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires) in Fontainebleau, France.

In addition to English, Ms. Farouq speaks French, Indonesian, Bengali, and Spanish with varying degrees of competency. Outside of work, she spends her time on yoga, cooking, and volunteering as a crisis counselor.

Michael Jaynes is a Cyber Analyst for Cyber Operations, Analysis, and Research in Argonne National Laboratory’s Strategic Security Sciences Division. Before joining the team full-time, he spent two summers working as a Research Aide while pursuing his PhD in computer science from the University of North Texas. 

His research interests include the application of machine learning algorithms to vehicle network data, vehicle cybersecurity, and cryptography. 

In addition to his PhD, he also holds a BFA in creative writing from Stephen F. Austin State University and a MA in English from Ohio University.

Mr. Lewis graduated from the Master of Science in Threat and Response Management program in 2011. He is a technical programs attorney in the Risk and Infrastructure Sciences Center, Global Security Sciences Division at Argonne National Laboratory. In this position, he leads multidisciplinary analyses of critical infrastructure vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies across the country for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 

Mr. Lewis has also developed decision support tools for U.S. Department of Defense international humanitarian assistance programs and serves as a social scientist in the development of community resiliency frameworks for Argonne’s Center for Integrated Resiliency Analysis.
 

Ignacio J Martinez-Moyano is a computational social scientist and socio-technical systems section leader in the Systems Science Center of the Global Security Sciences Division at Argonne National Laboratory. He is also a senior fellow at the Computation Institute of the University of Chicago and at the Institute for Science and Engineering of Northwestern University. 

Dr. Martinez-Moyano is President of the System Dynamics Society and is a member of the editorial board of the System Dynamics Review. His research focuses on the effects of human judgment and decision making on behavior in complex and dynamic systems, particularly under conditions of uncertainty, stress, and high consequence. 

His research work has been published in Organization Science, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation, and System Dynamics Review, among others. He holds a PhD in decision and policy sciences from the University at Albany, State University of New York.

Jill Ramaker is Executive Director of the Northeastern Illinois Public Safety Training Academy, which provides training for fire service, law enforcement, hazardous materials, public works, and disaster medical personnel, as well as education on homeland security, crisis leadership, and private sector emergency management. 

Prior to her position at NIPSTA, Mrs. Ramaker was the inaugural chairman of the Regional Disaster Healthcare Coalition in northeastern Illinois, and the emergency preparedness coordinator for NorthShore University HealthSystem. She started her career as a fire service paramedic and emergency medical services lieutenant and spent many years as both an emergency department nurse and EMS Educator.

Mrs. Ramaker holds a BA from the University of Wisconsin and a BS from the University of Illinois. She also holds an MA from the University of Illinois, a Master of Science in Threat and Response Management from the University of Chicago, and an MA in legal studies from the University of Illinois. She holds multiple certifications in business continuity and organizational resilience.

Millie Rey provides writing support for graduate students in the Master of Science in Threat and Response Management and Master of Science in Analytics programs, in addition to the liberal arts programs at the College of the University of Chicago. She is a writing consultant for industry and academic clients including: Lincoln International (a middle market investment banking firm) and the Institute for Clinical Social Work. Previously, she has worked with the Chicago Public Schools, private K-8 schools, the Illinois Technology Development Association (now known as the Illinois Technology Association), and the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She has published peer-reviewed and popular press articles and has presented at numerous conferences in sociology. Millie researches topics related to the professions, power, organizations and professional education. She is currently ABD in sociology with the dissertation in progress.

Phil Stupak is a Senior Advisor at Cambridge Global where he provides bespoke government relations solutions to companies operating within the cybersecurity, homeland security, and national security environment. He is also a Senior Fellow at the University of Chicago's Harris Cyber Policy Initiative where he focuses on disinformation campaigns, election security, and AI policy.  

Mr. Stupak previously served in President Obama's Administration where he handled cybersecurity, technology research & development, national security, and international relations portfolios for the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In that role, he served on the executive team implementing President Obama’s Executive Order 13636, Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity; developed the first version of DHS’s continuous diagnostic monitoring (CDM) program as well as conception-to-deployment of EINSTEIN 3A; chaired the internal DHS China Working Group; launched the first ministerial-level engagement on cybersecurity cooperation between DHS and the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Public Security; ran the DHS Data Sharing Framework working group; and worked on interagency law enforcement task forces investigating significant cybersecurity hacks (including the 2013 $45-million ATM cyber heist). Mr. Stupak also helped negotiate the U.S.-EU Passenger Name Records Agreement, which improved the safety and security of both continents through secure data sharing on inbound passengers from the EU.

Before joining President Obama’s Administration, Phil served as counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on House Administration, led then-Senator Obama’s 2008 field campaign in northern Michigan, and served in the General Counsel’s office at the New York City Board of Elections.

He has a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and a JD from the University of Richmond. 

Nate is a current Executive Vice President with Cambridge Global Advisors, LLC, a national security consulting and strategic communications firm. There he advises and supports Fortune 500, federal, and state and local clients in cybersecurity, counterterrorism, information and intelligence sharing, and law enforcement engagement. He supported the Voting Village’s election security exploits at DEFCON 2019 where numerous current-use voting machines were assessed for cyber and other vulnerabilities. Nate also supports the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center. Further, he provides guidance to clients on how best to engage with domestic and international law enforcement regarding issues such as terrorist use of the internet, cyber threats, terrorism prevention, countering foreign influence, and intelligence analysis. 

Previous to joining Cambridge Global Advisors, Nate served as a Department of Homeland Security Obama Administration counterterrorism official and advisor to Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Counterterrorism Center, and White House National Security Council. Nate’s role focused on developing partnerships with domestic and international law enforcement, state and local officials, tech-sector industry, foundations, non-government organizations, and communities across the country to develop solutions to prevent terrorism of all forms. In this role, Nate directly contributed to the Obama Administration’s efforts to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

He is a graduate from Syracuse University and has a Master’s Degree from the U.S. Naval War College in national security and counterterrorism.

Francis X. Taylor is the President and CEO of FXTaylor Associates, LLC which specializes in Security, Crisis Management and Risk Management Consulting.

Mr. Taylor retired from the US Government on January 20, 2017. His last assignment was Under Secretary, Office of Intelligence and Analysis, US Department of Homeland Security. In this role, he was responsible for developing and implementing intelligence programs to support, the US Intelligence Community, the Department and other federal, state and local consumers of DHS Intelligence. He was confirmed by the Senate and assumed this role on April 14, 2014.

From March 2005 to November 2013, Mr. Taylor served as Vice President and Chief Security Officer for the General Electric Company, Fairfield CT. He was GE’s first Global CSO and was responsible for developing and managing GE’s global security operations and crisis management processes.

Prior to joining GE, Mr. Taylor had a distinguished 35-year career in government service, where he held several senior positions managing investigations, security and counterterrorism issues.

He served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security and Director of the Office of Foreign Missions, with a rank of Ambassador. The Bureau of Diplomatic Security is the Department of State’s security and law enforcement arm. As Assistant Secretary, Ambassador Taylor oversaw all Department of State security programs that protect all U.S. Government employees and buildings overseas from terrorist, criminal or technical attack, and ensure the integrity of classified national security information produced and stored in these facilities. Leading more than 32,500 US, foreign and contractor personnel, he provided security for all US government employees assigned to over 250 U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide. The Ambassador also directed the law enforcement function of the Bureau, wherein Diplomatic Security Service special agents protect the Secretary of State and foreign dignitaries who visit the United States. And conduct criminal investigations of violation of US Visa and Immigration statutes. As Director of the Office of Foreign Missions, Taylor regulated the activities of foreign missions in the United States to protect the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States and safeguards the American public from abuses of privileges and immunities by diplomatic and consular officials.

Ambassador Taylor also served as the US Ambassador at Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism for the Department of State from July 2001 to November 2002. In this role, he was responsible for the implementing US counterterrorism policy overseas and coordinating the US government response to international terrorist activities. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks, he was a key advisor in assisting the President Bush and Secretary of State Powell in forming the international coalition against terrorism and developing aggressive international policy implementation to defeat terrorism.

During his 31 years of military service, Mr. Taylor served with distinction in numerous command and staff positions, rising to the rank of Brigadier General in September 1996. In his final active duty assignment, Brigadier General Taylor headed the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, where he was responsible for providing commanders of all Air Force activities independent professional investigative services in fraud, counterintelligence, and major criminal matters.

Mr. Taylor has received numerous awards and decorations, including the Distinguished Service Medal, the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Legion of Merit and the Department of State Distinguished Honor Award. The University of Notre Dame Alumni Association honored his military service with the Father William Corby Distinguished Military Service Award.

Mr. Taylor received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1970. He received his Air Force commission as a Distinguished Graduate of the Notre Dame Air Force ROTC program. He also has a Masters Degree in Government and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame. He was appointed an Adjunct Professor of the Practice at Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs in 2017 and continues to teach an undergraduate and graduate Global Policy Seminar at Notre Dame.

Mr. Taylor is a member of the Boards of Directors for the American Academy of Diplomacy, the Washington Institute for Foreign Affairs and the Council on International Education Exchange (CIEE).

He and his wife, Constance, have three adult children and five grandchildren.

As Office Director, Mr. Thompson is responsible for establishing and managing the strategic direction and programmatic implementation of the Office’s mission in promoting clean energy to advance U.S. foreign policy and national security goals. The Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency leads the Department’s efforts to identify and disseminate innovative policy, business, technical and finance models for electricity systems around the world to accelerate the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and practices and create opportunities for U.S. trade and investment. The Office is focused on national and regional electricity system reform and market development (including promoting regional interconnections); power sector investment requirements and promotion; and energy efficiency in power, industry, buildings and other demand sectors.

Before joining the Bureau of Energy Resources, Dr. Thompson was Senior Climate Change Program Manager in the Department’s Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science, and Lead Negotiator for the U.S. on Technology at the UNFCCC. Past positions include: Director of the Office of Energy at the U.S. Agency for International Development; Executive Director of the International Institute for Energy Conservation; and, Senior Policy Analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Dr. Thompson is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and the University of Maryland. He has a B.A. in English Literature from Gonzaga University; and a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from Georgetown University.

Roland Varriale is a cyber security analyst for Cyber Operations, Analysis, and Research in Argonne National Laboratory’s Strategic Security Sciences Division. Roland has worked in various capacities from a business analyst to an intelligent transportation systems researcher and developer. He is interested in the application of security principles and protocols to VANETs and Intelligent Transportation Systems as well as personal device security on the “Internet of Things.”

He holds an MS in software engineering from the University of Scranton and a BS in computer science from Manhattan College.

Andrew Velasquez III is Managing Deputy Commissioner and Chief Safety and Security Officer responsible for directing safety, security and emergency management operations at both O'Hare and Midway Airports. He brings to the University of Chicago extensive executive level experience in the homeland security enterprise. From 2010-2016, he served as the presidentially appointed administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region V.  He previously held state- and city cabinet-level positions as Director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Executive Director of Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications. He also served the Chicago Police Department in various roles and was a member of the U.S. Army Reserve.

Mr. Velasquez holds an MS in Criminal Justice from Illinois State University and received an MBA in management from Saint Xavier University and has completed the Naval Postgraduate School's executive leadership programs in homeland defense and radiological emergency preparedness. He lectures nationally and internationally on a wide range of emergency management and homeland security topics.

Stevan Weine is Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the International Center of Responses to Catastrophes at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Weine is the principal investigator of an NIMH-sponsored study of adolescent refugees from Liberia and Somalia in the United States. He is also the principal investigator of a U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation–sponsored study of Tajik migrant workers and HIV/AIDS. Dr. Weine is the author of two books and numerous articles.

Dan is an FBI Special Agent with 22 years of federal law enforcement experience.  He is currently the Supervisory Special Agent of a terrorism squad focused on threats to the homeland from domestic actors supported by or influenced by overseas terrorist groups.  Dan was the lead investigator in several significant counterterrorism investigations which have resulted in the arrest and prosecution of people who attempted to provide material support to a terrorist organization in a variety of ways to include acts of violence, personal support by joining the organization, and financial assistance.  Dan also served as a Program Manager in the FBI’s International Terrorism Operations Section which oversaw all pending counterterrorism investigations.  He also completed several overseas assignments and is a former member of the Evidence Response Team and a Firearms Instructor.

Dan is also an Adjunct Professor at Loyola University’s Quinlan School of Business where he teaches Creation, Use, and Audit of the Blockchain and Advanced Forensic Accounting.  He has guest lectured at several business conferences and law enforcement groups discussing a wide-variety of topics to include leadership, risk management, decision making, rules of evidence, interviewing skills, and motivators to commit crimes.  

Dan earned a BS in Accounting from Le Moyne College Syracuse, New York, a certificate in Counterterrorism Studies from University of St. Andrews, Glasgow, Scotland, an MBA in Economics and Finance from the University of Chicago, and is a CPA.

Rebecca Wurtz is an infectious disease physician, epidemiologist, and health informaticist. She has worked for city, county, state, federal, and international public health programs in communicable diseases, preparedness, and management. She received a medical degree from Harvard Medical School and a MPH from the University of Illinois School of Public Health.

Donald Zoufal is currently a safety and security industry executive with System Development Integration, LLC. He has held a series of high-level public sector safety and security posts, including First Deputy for the City of Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications and Deputy Commissioner for Safety and Security for the City of Chicago’s Department of Aviation. He is a retired Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. He received graduate degrees from the University of Illinois in law and public administration and an MA in security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School.