By Sean Martin | Co-host Marco Ciappelli
It has become an ITSPmagazine tradition to start our RSA Conference coverage with what we call Chats On The Road To RSA Conference. We connect with conference keynote speakers, presenters, panelists and organizers to start the conversation way before anyone else does.
During these conversations, we get a sneak peek into what they are planning to share at the conference as well as a glimpse into their backgrounds and some additional insight on the topics they will discuss.
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In today’s chat, Marco Ciappelli and Sean Martin speak with John Chambers, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at JC2 Ventures, and Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Cisco, and two of his guests: Mike Fong, Founder and CEO at Privoro, and Vijay Balasubramaniyan, CEO at Pindrop.
Together, the group discusses their role during RSA Conference, how corporations can balance security innovation with security operations, and the opportunity and impact that new ventures can have on society.
“I’ve seen every movie there is to see here; I’ve made every mistake there is to make. In my book, Connecting the Dots, I tell the stories and the key takeaways.”
We all agreed that there’s way too much stuff for corporations to look at when it comes to options for solving their cybersecurity challenges; there are too many choices to select from. To this end, we discuss how the market and corporations can balance security innovation with security operation.
The group also looks at how they see innovation playing a role in addressing the challenges we face in society. Are we adequately using technology to resolve the problems for the user? Are we doing it in a way that also educates and empowers the user?
John also broadens this point by discussing the challenges we face with reaching the whole of society when the bulk of the innovations tend to take place on the West and East coasts of the United States.
And, of course, John shares with us what he plans to talk about with Diane Brady during their RSA Conference Keynote — Connecting the Dots for the Future — on Thursday, March 7th from 4:45 PM to 5:30 PM in Moscone West.
About John Chambers
Founder and CEO, JC2 Ventures
John Chambers is Founder and Chief Executive Officer, JC2 Ventures, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Cisco.
Investor in companies around the world that are disrupting major industries. Passionate about mentoring young CEOs and helping them build, scale, and lead market transitions, offering my experience and insights from lessons learned after years at the helm of Cisco.
Author of Connecting the Dots: Lessons for Leadership in a Startup World, providing hard-won insights and critical tools to thrive during the accelerating disruption of the digital age.
Strong believer that startups will be the core driver of innovation, economic growth, and job creation in the Digital Age. Tirelessly working to promote new business creation across the globe and the broader development of startup nations and a startup world.
Served as Cisco’s CEO from 1995-2015 and Executive Chairman from 2015-2017.
Dedicated family man above all else. Also entrepreneurship/startup enthusiast, world traveler, and West Virginia University, Duke, Indiana University basketball/football fan.
About Vijay Balasubramaniyan
Co-founder & CEO, Pindrop
Vijay Balasubramaniyan is Co-founder and CEO of Pindrop. Vijay has held various engineering and research roles with Google, Siemens, IBM Research and Intel. He holds patents in VoIP security and scalability, and he frequently speaks on phone fraud threats at technical conferences, including Black Hat, FS-ISAC, CCS and ICDCS. Vijay was recognized by the MIT Technology Review's annual Innovators Under 35 list as an outstanding inventor. He earned a Ph.D. in computer science from Georgia Institute of Technology. His Ph.D. thesis was on telecommunications security.
About Mike Fong
Founder and CEO, Privoro
Mike Fong is the founder and CEO of Privoro. He is an experienced technology executive and entrepreneur who started Privoro to solve the security and privacy issues of mobile devices – from attacks of sophisticated nation-states to over-reach by corporations and apps in the “surveillance capitalism” economy. Privoro launched the SafeCase in 2018, the first high-security extensible smartphone case with built-in, patented anti-surveillance capabilities that provides unprecedented levels of protection and assurance
Prior to Privoro, Mr. Fong founded and built Calence LLC from a startup to the largest pure-play networking integrator in the US at the time of its sale, with over $300+ million in sales to corporate and government clients. Mr. Fong has also consulted, or served as a board member, to companies in many industries, including chairing the Arizona Governor’s Council on Innovation and Technology. He is a two-time Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist and was named the Ed Denison Business Leader of the Year for the State of Arizona. Mr. Fong started his career at Arthur Andersen and holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University.
