Exceptionally Talented Security Experts

Jim Broome is a seasoned IT/IS veteran with more than 20 years of information security experience in both consultative and operational roles. Jim leads DirectDefense, where he is responsible for the day-to-day management of the company, as well as providing guidance and direction for our service offerings.

Previously, Jim was a Director with AccuvantLABS where he managed, developed, and performed information security assessments for organizations across multiple industries, while also developing and growing a team of consultants in his charge.

Prior to AccuvantLABS, Jim was a Principal Security Consultant with Internet Security Systems (ISS) and their X-Force penetration testing team.

Jim has also developed and provided training courses on several security products, including being a primary author of the CheckPoint Software Software CCSA/CCSE/CCSI training program, as well as creating and delivering numerous client-focused training programs and events.

Beau Shahriary has nearly two decades of experience in computer security consulting. He has performed security assessments, security remediation, and strategic planning for a host of Fortune 500 companies. At DirectDefense, Beau is responsible for the establishment and development of sales and marketing efforts.

Prior to joining DirectDefense, Beau was a founding member of the AccuvantLABS organization and performed and managed numerous assessment engagements. Before AccuvantLABS, Beau worked for Foundstone as a Consultant, and later as a Senior Managing Consultant and Project Manager for the professional services group. In that capacity, he managed and performed security assessments and vulnerability resolution on enterprise networks and web-based applications. Before Foundstone, Beau spent several years as a Consultant with Internet Security Systems’ (ISS) X-Force professional services, where he performed services ranging from security assessments and penetration testing to enterprise security infrastructure deployment and network and process integration.

Due to Beau’s extensive level of knowledge in most areas of security implementation and management from both a technical and managerial level, he is a consistently sought-after and in-demand consulting resource. Beau has taught many of the Foundstone Ultimate Hacking courses to both private audiences and government agencies. Since coming to DirectDefense, Beau has contributed to the growing needs of our organization by engaging our customers on large projects with unique requirements. His ability to adapt and exceed the customer’s needs has led to many return engagements.

Christopher Walcutt is a former network architect with 25 years of experience in security, risk, and compliance leadership. His expertise is predominantly in the energy, utility, smart grid, and manufacturing sectors, specializing in industrial controls architecture, management consulting, and breach and incident handling. He has provided services to a wide variety of enterprise clients, including some of the world’s largest energy, engineering, manufacturing, and water companies, and has advised CISO’s offices and Boards of Directors globally.

Chris served in leadership roles at Constellation Energy, SunGard, and Black & Veatch, where he was responsible for cybersecurity and management consulting for NERC CIP, NRC, smart grid, and NIST compliance.

Chris has guided organizational change amidst the ever-changing threat landscape and has served in multiple NERC committees and working groups. 

Jared Ballou is a seasoned leader in the security industry with over 15 years of experience, known for his expertise in rapid client delivery and collaborative deal structuring. His strategic approach has driven significant growth and fostered strong, long-term client relationships. 

As the Senior Vice President of Growth and Strategy at DirectDefense, Jared oversees sales, marketing, business development, and alliances. By collaborating closely with cross-functional leaders, Jared plays a critical role in aligning top-level growth strategies and ensuring the success of key performance indicators at the executive level. 

In 2018, Jared joined ObserveIT, where he built a world-class sales organization grounded in a high-energy, high-integrity culture. Following the 2019 acquisition of ObserveIT by Proofpoint, Jared led the information protection business unit, expanding Proofpoint’s security portfolio by integrating DLP capabilities with endpoint, CASB, web isolation, and SASE solutions. 

Before ObserveIT, Jared served as VP of Sales and Alliances at MixMode.ai, guiding the company through its transition from stealth mode to public product launch. Earlier, he spent a decade at Rapid7, where he was instrumental in creating a sales model that drove record-breaking growth through strategic partnerships. 

As a widely recognized leader and innovator in cybersecurity and information technology, Patty Wright has inspired and paved the way for other women entering the security industry and those aspiring to leadership roles in information technology. She is a serial entrepreneur, having been involved in six technology startups, two of which were acquired by large technology companies and one of which led to an initial public offering.

Most recently, Wright was Vice President of CX Product Management, Security and Collaboration at Cisco where she was responsible for developing leading-edge security services. Previously, Wright held senior executive roles with some of the world’s most recognized high-tech and cybersecurity companies, including Symantec, Rapid7, @stake, Bishop Fox, and Neohapsis.

A proven product and services leader, Patty is known for her ability to consistently grow early-stage professional services organizations into thriving, high-value, profitable businesses that achieve the highest customer satisfaction ratings and strong year-over-year growth. She has a track record of understanding her clients’ business challenges and their evolving requirements. Her unique strength is in being able to both define a winning transformation strategy for growth and scale, while also being able to define rapid and effective execution plans to achieve it.

As DirectDefense scales its business, Patty will provide outside perspective on the evolution of services and delivery within the cybersecurity industry.

Varun Dhingra is an innovation-driven services product management leader with extensive expertise in market transformations, partner ecosystems, and competitive strategies. His cross-architecture knowledge spans automation, multicloud, network management and orchestration, data centers, and security, enabling him to bring cutting-edge solutions to market that create new revenue streams and enhance customer experiences. 

As the Senior Vice President of Services Product Management at DirectDefense, Varun leads the development of a next-gen portfolio of security consulting and managed security services focused on accelerating growth, enhancing customer outcomes, and ensuring sustainable profitability. He drives end-to-end services portfolio management, product lifecycle management, go-to-market strategy, and helps scale DirectDefense’s services business through digital, partner, and high-touch channels. 

Previously, Varun served as Senior Director of Product Management for Cisco’s Security Portfolio, where he led the successful launch of comprehensive portfolios, including threat detection and response, network security, zero trust, cloud and user security, application security solutions, and incident response and penetration testing services. 

Throughout his career, Varun has spearheaded business units focused on as-a-service and consumption-based models, including security, hybrid cloud, enterprise 5G, and network automation services. His expertise has consistently delivered differentiated customer experiences and significant business growth across multiple industry verticals, such as service providers, enterprises, and the public sector. 

Kelly Kish is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of marketing experience, specializing in driving growth for B2B technology companies. As the Vice President of Marketing and Alliances at DirectDefense, Kelly enhances the company’s market presence through innovative, data-driven marketing strategies and robust omni-channel approaches, while also overseeing strategic partnerships and alliances to further expand business opportunities.

Prior to her current role, Kelly served as Director of Marketing at DirectDefense for over five years, where she led the development of strategic marketing plans that significantly increased brand awareness and customer engagement. Her earlier tenure at FireEye, Inc. as Senior Marketing Manager involved strengthening partnerships through targeted marketing initiatives, furthering her expertise in channel and partner program development.

Kelly’s leadership is characterized by her commitment to fostering a culture of innovation and her ability to anticipate market trends, skills she honed while managing marketing operations at Elo Touch Solutions and Dell SonicWALL. Her background in corporate and channel marketing is complemented by her experience in content creation, project management, and team leadership, ensuring her marketing teams not only meet but exceed their goals.

An alumna of the University of Oklahoma with a B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communications, Kelly has consistently demonstrated her prowess in transformative marketing. Her recognition in the industry is highlighted by consecutive honors as one of the Women of the Channel in 2017 and 2018.

Kevin Brooks is a seasoned finance professional with over 30 years of experience across multiple industries, excelling in financial planning, operational finance, and corporate development. As the Vice President of Finance at DirectDefense he is focused on financial operations, strategic planning, treasury and risk management. 

Prior, Kevin served as VP of Finance at Bishop Fox, a leading cybersecurity company, where he built a global finance team to support the company’s significant growth from 2019 to 2024. Kevin also facilitated a $129 million Series B round of funding. 

Prior to Bishop Fox, Kevin was the VP Corporate Controller at Trace3, a $1 billion IT solutions company, where he oversaw all accounting functions and played a pivotal role in the due diligence and integration processes of a major acquisition. At International Vitamin, he managed accounting, tax and financial reporting for the largest manufacturer of store brand vitamins and nutritional supplements in the United States. 

His career also includes a long tenure at Quest Software, where he held multiple senior positions, including VP of Sales Operations and VP Corporate Controller. 

Kevin is a CPA and holds a Bachelor’s in Business Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Kevin Overcash is a veteran product management executive with more than 30 years of experience in software engineering and product management, including over two decades of building industry-leading products and services in the information security industry.

He manages the development of DirectDefense’s ThreatAdvisor, which provides a platform for delivering penetration testing, vulnerability management, and event monitoring services.

Kevin brings a wealth of experience in product management processes and strategic design to deliver intuitive products providing complex and technical services.

Prior to joining DirectDefense, he began working in the information security industry in 1997 and has led product management, building products and service platforms at a number of leading companies, including: the security testing services on the Fusion platform at Trustwave, the managed scanning and domain service platform at NCC Group, the security testing platform at Accuvant, the Web application scanner and Web application firewall at Qualys, the Web application scanning platform at Whitehat Security, the WebDefend Web application firewall at Breach Security, the WebInspect Web application scanner at SPI Dynamics, and the Internet Scanner network scanner and RealSecure IDS at Information Security Systems.

Before working in the security industry, Kevin worked as a software engineer at NASA, Coca-Cola, and Radio Free Europe.

David Doyle is a global privacy and security expert with more than 30 years of expertise in establishing and scaling cybersecurity, physical security and privacy programs. He has held leadership roles at Apple, TikTok, Kaiser Permanente, Hawaiian Airlines, and Constellation Energy, with contributions to organizations such as ASIS International, ISACA, and the Institute for Applied Network Security.

As Head of vCISO Services, David drives service development, delivering tailored security strategies, risk assessments, and compliance guidance. His proven leadership and deep industry knowledge position him as a trusted advisor, helping organizations align cybersecurity with innovation and business goals.

Nina Haimoff leads the sales and account management team at DirectDefense. Nina joined DirectDefense in 2016, bringing over nine years of sales and account management experience, with more than five years specifically in the cybersecurity space.

Prior to joining DirectDefense, Nina worked with enterprise accounts at Rapid7. Nina graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder and loves to head up to the mountains to ski in her spare time.

Phil Brass brings more than 30 years of experience in security consulting and software engineering, including five years of writing security assessment tools and more than 15 years in consulting. Phil is a subject matter expert on application security programs, secure development lifecycle, assessment technologies, code review, and manual testing of application security, and leads a large consulting team delivering all of these services and more.

Prior to joining DirectDefense, Phil served as Director in Optiv’s Threat Management community. Before joining Optiv in 2009, Phil was employed at Internet Security Systems (ISS) as a Windows security expert, X-Force researcher, software engineer, and team lead on the Internet Scanner 5 project. He also spent two years managing software engineering projects at ISS.

Phil has extensive knowledge in software engineering, programming languages, network communications protocols, relational databases, and all things in security as they relate to those technologies.

Prior to his time at ISS, Phil worked as an Application Engineer and Software Architect in the healthcare information systems sector, where he focused on protocols and communications with diverse hospital systems, data warehouse implementation, and high-level architectural design of distributed inventory management systems.

Charly Bun serves as Senior Director – MSSP for DirectDefense. Charly manages a team of Security Analysts focused on the detection of cybersecurity events and is responsible for the management of detection infrastructure and response to cybersecurity incidents.

He is a seasoned cybersecurity leader, entrepreneur, and innovator who has consistently driven the success of security solutions and portfolios throughout his career. His background encompasses managed services, corporate development, product management, consulting, technical support, and implementation. 

Prior to DirectDefense, he played a pivotal role in designing, building, and delivering comprehensive evaluations of clients’ information security programs at Rapid7. Leading a global team of over 120 global Advisors and Managers, the team contributed significantly to the company’s growth, overseeing the successful creation of Rapid7 Managed Services. Prior to this, he led services focused on risk management, compliance, cloud security, vulnerability management, and application security solutions. During his tenure, Charly was responsible for the successful redesign of services to adopt a risk-based approach and the rebranding of the Analytic Response service to Managed Detection and Response, resulting in a remarkable 200% year-over-year growth in Managed Services revenue.  

Charly holds a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Computer Science from Drexel University.

Melissa Cox is a dynamic process, programs, and operations manager recognized for her innovative approaches to driving operational improvement. She is passionate about leading teams through complex, cross-functional transformations and excels in managing high-risk accounts, building resilient teams, and optimizing processes for continuous improvement. 

As Senior Director of Operations, Melissa oversees operational efficiency in all areas of the organization, including process optimization, quality and integrity of delivery, program management, contract negotiations, and support for sales strategy. 

Prior, Melissa served as an Engineering Program Manager for Cisco’s ThousandEyes. During her 13-year tenure at Cisco, she designed and implemented a custom hybrid agile product operating rhythm that streamlined major releases across 14 cross-functional teams. Additionally, Melissa led the creation of a dual-track Agile project management office methodology for mission-critical initiatives, collaborating with product, engineering, and go-to-market teams to deliver cross-functional solutions. As Manager of Key Initiatives, she oversaw senior program managers on incubation projects across multiple departments. 

Certified in SAFe® Program Consulting, Melissa combines creativity and team mentorship with technical leadership, consistently driving strategic and operational success. 

Melissa holds a Master’s degree in Screenwriting from UCLA and a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from York University.

Christian Juan leads the Talent Acquisition initiatives for DirectDefense. Christian joined DirectDefense in 2015 and brings with him more than 20 years of recruiting and talent management experience in the cybersecurity, IT, and engineering space. He oversees the sourcing, recruitment, screening, selection, and placement of the highest caliber cybersecurity talent for DirectDefense and its clients.

He has developed robust sourcing strategies to identify quality candidates, creating a first-class candidate experience, paying careful attention to fit when matching candidates, and communicating transparently with all internal stakeholders and clients throughout the placement process.

Prior to his time at DirectDefense, Christian served in senior recruiting roles at Samsung, Ericsson, and Hilton.

Tracy McBride leads the project management team responsible for all aspects of client management including coordination and supervision of service delivery while supporting operations to further enhance the client experience. Tracy joined the company in 2017 as SOW / QA Sales Support before being promoted to Director of Client Services in 2022. 

Tracy graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a B.S. in Exercise Science. She is a mother of three girls and enjoys spending time with her family and traveling when time allows.