DirectDefense Leadership

Jim Broome

President

Beau Shahriary

VP of Sales

Kirk Greene

VP of Consulting Services

Christopher Walcutt

VP of Strategy

Phil Brass

Sr. Director of Professional Services

Kelly Kish

Director of Marketing

Nina Russell

Director of Sales

Jim Broome

President

Mr. Jim Broome is a seasoned IT/IS veteran with 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 DirectDefense’s security service offerings.

Previously, he 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 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 CCSA/CCSE/CCSI training program, as well as creating and delivering numerous client-focused training programs and events.

Beau Shahriary

VP of Sales

Mr. 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.

Kirk Greene

VP of Consulting Services

Mr. Kirk Greene is an information security veteran with more than 15 years of experience in the security industry. He is responsible for the development and delivery of ongoing enterprise security and risk assessments, and virtualized security offerings.

Previously, Kirk was a Practice Manager with AccuvantLABS, where he managed, developed, and performed ongoing information security assessment programs for organizations across multiple industries and state governments, while also developing and growing a team of consultants in his charge.

Prior to AccuvantLABS, Kirk was a Principal Security Consultant for Internet Security Systems (ISS) and their X-Force penetration testing team, and a Senior Security Consultants with The Greentree Group, where his primary responsibilities included the management of the information security infrastructure for the Air Force and Army Exchange Services.

Because he was involved in the initial development of the Visa Payment Card Data Security program, Kirk was an integral part of the development and execution of both Accuvant’s and ISS’ Payment Card Data Security offerings, and is recognized in the industry for his extensive work in this field. He has also developed and taught security awareness training for law enforcement associations, city governments, and manufacturing industries.

Christopher Walcutt

VP of Strategy

Mr. Christopher Walcutt has more than 20 years of experience in network design, information security, risk analysis & mitigation, and compliance in the energy, financial, higher education, and manufacturing sectors. Chris is involved with several research initiatives involving the University of Central Florida, Soar Technology, and DARPA, serving as a subject matter expert for energy, smart integrated infrastructure, and critical infrastructure security.

Chris is a coach of the CyberPatriot Team NetRunners, which are two-time national finalists and 2016 National Champions. Chris is a nationally-recognized Cyber Security speaker and the Air Force Association’s 2016 CyberPatriot Mentor of the Year.

Phil Brass

Sr. Director of Professional Services

Mr. Phil Brass brings more than 30 years of experience in security consulting and software engineering, including 5 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 health care 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.

Kelly Kish

Director of Marketing

Mrs. Kelly Kish leads DirectDefense’s worldwide marketing initiatives. Kelly joined DirectDefense in 2017, and brings with her more than 10 years of marketing experience for global cybersecurity companies.

Prior to her time at DirectDefense, Kelly served in a senior marketing role at FireEye, Elo Touch Solutions, Dell SonicWALL and GE Energy.

Nina Russell

Director of Sales

Ms. Nina Russell leads the sales and account management team at DirectDefense. Nina joined DirectDefense in 2016, bringing 9+ years of sales and account management experience, with 5+ years specifically in the Cyber Security 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.