Ed Skoudis
- President
- Most Advanced Degree
M.S. in Information Networking from Carnegie Mellon University
Ed Skoudis has taught cyber incident response and advanced penetration testing techniques to more than 12,000 cybersecurity professionals. He is a SANS Faculty Fellow and the lead for the SANS Penetration Testing Curriculum. His courses distill the essence of real-world, front-line case studies he accumulates because he is consistently one of the first experts brought in to provide after-attack analysis on major breaches where credit card and other sensitive financial data is lost.
Ed led the team that built NetWars, the low-cost, widely used cyber training and skills assessment ranges relied upon by military units and corporations with major assets at risk. His team also built CyberCity, the fully authentic urban cyber warfare simulator that was featured on the front page of the Washington Post. He was also the expert called in by the White House to test the security viability of the Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) that now protects US Government networks and lead the team that first publicly demonstrated significant security flaws in virtual machine technology. He has a rare capability of translating advanced technical knowledge into easy-to-master guidance as the popularity of his step-by-step Counter Hack books testifies. Ed earned an M.S. in Information Networking from Carnegie Mellon University, and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, summa cum laude.
Betsy Marchant
- Vice Provost
- Most Advanced Degree
Master of Public Health, University of South Carolina
Betsy Marchant brings over 20 years' experience in education and management to her role as Vice Provost at SANS Technology Institute, where she has broad oversight of current student management, academic program administration, and curriculum review and improvement.
Betsy joined the college in 2016 as Assistant Director of Graduate School Operations. Through her leadership, student support programs were improved and greatly expanded to effectively manage the college's growing student population. Prior to joining SANS Technology Institute, Betsy directed a public health preparedness training team at the Virginia Department of Health and worked in training and education at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has a B.S. in Health Sciences from Clemson University and a M.P.H. in Public Health from the University of South Carolina.
Dr. Johannes Ullrich
- Dean of Research
- Most Advanced Degree
Doctorate in Physics, State University of New York at Albany
Johannes is currently responsible for the SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC) and the GIAC Gold program. In 2000, he founded DShield.org, which is now the data collection engine behind the ISC. His work with the ISC has been widely recognized, and in 2004, Network World named him one of the 50 most powerful people in the networking industry. Prior to working for SANS, Johannes worked as a lead support engineer for a web development company and as a research physicist. Johannes holds a PhD in physics from SUNY Albany and is based in Jacksonville, Florida. His daily podcast summarizes current security news in a concise format. Listen to Johannes discuss "HTML5: Risky Business or Hidden Security Tool Chest for Mobile Web App Authentication" in this SANS webcast.
David Hoelzer
- Dean of Faculty
- Most Advanced Degree
Master's in Computer Science, American Intercontinental University
David Hoelzer is the author of more than twenty days of SANS courseware. He is an expert in a variety of information security fields, having served in most major roles in the IT and security industries over the past twenty-five years. Recently, David was called upon to serve as an expert witness for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a landmark case regarding information security governance within corporations in the financial sector and has previously served as an expert for the Federal Trade Commission for GLBA Privacy Rule litigation and other matters.
David has been highly involved in governance at SANS Technology Institute, serving as a member of the Curriculum Committee, Long Range Planning Committee, GIAC Ethics Board, and as Dean of Faculty. As a SANS instructor, David has trained security professionals from organizations including NSA, DHHS, Fortune 500 security engineers and managers, various Department of Defense sites, national laboratories, and many colleges and universities. Outside of SANS, David is a research fellow in the Center for Cybermedia Research, a research fellow for the Identity Theft and Financial Fraud Research Operations Center (ITFF/ROC), an adjunct research associate of the UNLV Cybermedia Research Lab, a research fellow with the Internet Forensics Lab, and an adjunct lecturer in the UNLV School of Informatics. David has written and contributed to more than 15 peer reviewed books, publications, and journal articles.
Currently, David serves as the principal examiner and director of research for Enclave Forensics, a New York/Las Vegas based incident response and forensics company. He also serves as the chief information security officer for Cyber-Defense, an open-source security software solution provider. In the past, David served as the director of the GIAC Certification program, bringing the GIAC Security Expert certification to life. David holds a BS in IT and an MS in Computer Science, having spent time either attending or consulting for Stony Brook University, Binghamton University, and American Intercontinental University.
Joshua Wright
- Dean of Student and Alumni Engagement
- Most Advanced Degree
Bachelor of Information Science, Johnson & Wales University
Since launching his infosec career in 1997, Joshua Wright has worked with hundreds of organizations on attacking and defending complex environments, ethically disclosing significant product and protocol security weaknesses to well-known organizations. A hacker at heart, Joshua is the author and an instructor for SANS's most popular course, SEC504: Hacker Tools, Techniques, Exploits, and Incident Handling.
In addition to being a SANS Faculty Fellow, Joshua serves as the Technical Director of Counter Hack. At Counter Hack he performs penetration testing and red teaming for large and small organizations, developing challenges and learning opportunities for the Holiday Hack Challenge and the NetWars Capture the Flag platform.
Co-author of Hacking Exposed Wireless Joshua is also open-source software advocate whose cutting-edge research has resulted in several software tools commonly used to evaluate the security of widely deployed technology targeting WiFi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee wireless systems, smart grid deployments, and the Android and Apple iOS mobile device platforms.
Mark Baggett
- Chief Technology Officer for the Internet Storm Center and Assistant Dean of Research
- Most Advanced Degree
M.S. in Information Security Engineering, SANS Technology Institute
Mark’s infosec career spans nearly 30 years with 15 of those years spent teaching for SANS. Mark is currently a SANS Fellow and an independent consultant through his company Indepth Defense providing forensics, incident response, and penetration testing services. Mark has also served as the technical advisor to the DoD for SANS since 2011, where he assists various government organizations in the development of information security capabilities.
Mark earned a Master of Science in Information Security Engineering from the SANS Technology Institute, where he is currently serves on the faculty, in addition to his roles as Assistant Dean of Reseach and CTO of the Internet Storm Center. He is the 15th person in the world to receive the prestigious GIAC Security Expert certification (GSE). He also holds GPYC, GXPN, GPEN, GCIA, GCIH, GSEC, GWAPT, and GCPM certifications.
An active participant in the information security community, Mark is the founding president of The Greater Augusta Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) chapter which has been extremely successful in bringing networking and educational opportunities to Augusta information technology workers. He’s also co-founder of the BSidesAugusta Information Security Conference, and has written a number of articles on information security topics.
Krysta Kurzynski
- Director of College Operations
- Most Advanced Degree
Master of Arts, Clinical Counseling, John Carroll University
Krysta brings over 12 years of experience in higher education leadership and operations to the SANS Technology Institute. In her role as Director of College Operations, she has broad responsibility for daily operations including process improvement, implementing new initiatives, and managing a variety of system resources across the entire college.
Since joining SANS.edu in 2016, Krysta has played a key role in building student advising and operational processes, improving the student experience, as well as growing the advising team. Prior to joining SANS Technology Institute, Krysta served as the Assistant Director of Veteran Affairs at John Carroll University.
Rebecca Abbott
- Director of Advising
- Most Advanced Degree
Master of Education, Student Affairs & Leadership, Youngstown State University
Rebecca brings over a decade of experience in higher education leadership with significant work in program management, supervision, and advising. Prior to joining SANS, Rebecca oversaw enrollment and retention programs for military-connected students at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Rebecca earned her Master's of Education in Counseling and Student Affairs Leadership from Youngstown State University and undergraduate degree in International Relations from Kent State University. Rebecca currently resides in Missouri, and enjoys rock climbing, hiking, and gardening in her spare time.
Danna Wiseman
- Director of Admissions
- Most Advanced Degree
Master's in Higher and Postsecondary Education, Arizona State University
Danna Wiseman oversees admissions operations and leads the team of admissions specialists, who support prospective students through the admissions process. Danna has over 10 years of experience working in higher education, and has extensive experience in admissions and student affairs.
Prior to joining the SANS Technology Institute, Danna spent 7 years at Arizona State University where she held a number of roles in the university admissions office, the School of Design & the Arts, and the School of Business.
She has a bachelor's in English from Biola University and a master's in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Arizona State University. Danna lives in Des Moines, Iowa, with her husband, daughter, and son. She enjoys hiking, cooking, and traveling.
Alex Wang
- Marketing Director
- Most Advanced Degree
Master of Arts in Media Studies, The New School
Alex brings more than 16 years of experience in higher education marketing to his role as Marketing Director at the SANS Technology Institute, where he focuses on raising awareness of the college's innovative approach to cybersecurity education and its exceptional students, alumni, and faculty.
Before joining SANS, Alex held the position of Director of Marketing and Promotions at New York Institute of Technology, where he received accolades including a Gold Award for best new college advertising campaign from the Collegiate Advertising Awards and Big Apple Awards from the PRSA for brand management and best use of research and measurement.
Alex earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Stony Brook University and a Master of Arts in Media Studies from The New School. A lifelong New Yorker, Alex enjoys spending his free time traveling, reading, kayaking, hiking, and pursuing his passion for music.