RSA Conference announces initial 2019 keynote speakers

RSA Conference announced its initial line-up of keynote speakers for the 2019 Conference, which begins Monday, March 4 and runs through Friday, March 8 in San Francisco, CA. The keynote program will culminate with an entertaining close from actress, writer and producer Tina Fey.

New this year, RSA Conference will have two keynote stages: West Stage keynotes will continue to feature sponsor keynotes, panels and esteemed guest speakers, and South Stage keynotes will utilize the newly opened Moscone Center South to bring highly coveted sessions from industry experts to a broader audience.

“The cornerstone of RSA Conference is providing access to insights from prominent, high-caliber experts across a variety of fields, and our keynotes are an integral component in delivering this. We’re excited for the opportunity to introduce additional content to the keynote program for more attendees to experience,” said Sandra Toms, Vice President and Curator of RSA Conference. “This year’s line-up already includes a great mix of insights on the latest security trends, technical content and unique perspectives from prominent experts in their field. From cybersecurity visionaries and leadership from technology powerhouses, to inspirational speakers, our keynote program is sure to challenge attendees to think differently and change their perspectives, leaving them motivated and armed to make their mark on our security landscape and, ultimately, the world.”

Both stages will be open to Full Conference and Discover passes on Tuesday, March 5 and to all badge types Wednesday, March 6 through Friday, March 8.

Initial West Stage keynote speakers include:

• Nikesh Arora, CEO and Chairman, Palo Alto Networks and Jayshree Ullal, CEO, Arista Networks
• Caleb Barlow, Vice President, IBM Security, X-Force Threat Intelligence and Mary O’Brien, General Manager, IBM Security
• Donna Brazile, Veteran Democratic Political Strategist, Adjunct Professor, Author and Syndicated Columnist, and Mary Matalin, Conservative Voice and Former Presidential Advisor
• John T. Chambers, Founder and CEO, JC2 Ventures and Former Chairman and CEO, Cisco interviewed by Diane Brady, Writer, Author and Consultant
• Liz Centoni, Senior Vice President and General Manager IoT and Matt Watchinski, Vice President, Global Threat Intelligence Group, Talos, Cisco
• The Cryptographers’ Panel: Whitfield Diffie, Cryptographer and Security Expert, Cryptomathic; Shafi Goldwasser, Director, Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing; Ronald Rivest, Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Adi Shamir, Borman Professor of Computer Science, The Weizmann Institute, Israel; and Zulfikar Ramzan, Ph.D, CTO, RSA (Moderator)
• Tina Fey, Writer, Actress and Producer interviewed by Dr. Hugh Thompson, security guru and RSA Conference Program Chair
• Dr. Celeste Fralick, Chief Data Scientist and Steve Grobman, Senior Vice President and CTO, McAfee
• Rohit Ghai, President, RSA and Niloofar Razi Howe, Cybersecurity Strategist and Entrepreneur
• Kyla Guru, Founder and CEO, Bits N’ Bytes Cybersecurity Education
• The SANS Institute Panel: Heather Mahalik, Director of Forensics Engineering at ManTech and Mobile Forensics Course and Director at the SANS Institute; Ed Skoudis, Instructor, SANS Institute; Johannes Ullrich, Dean of Research, SANS Technology Institute; and Alan Paller, Research Director and Founder, SANS Institute (Moderator)
• Megan Smith, CEO, shift7 and Third CTO of the United States (2014-2017).

Initial South Stage keynote speakers include:

• Sylvia Acevedo, CEO, Girl Scouts of the USA
• Dmitri Alperovitch, Co-Founder and CTO and George Kurtz, CEO, CrowdStrike
• Josh Corman, CSO, PTC, and Dr. Christina Maslach, Professor of Psychology, Emerita, University of California, Berkeley
• Amit Elazari, Doctoral Candidate and Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley School of Law, CLTC, MICS, and Keren Elazari, Analyst and Researcher, K3r3n3.com
• Emily Heath, Vice President and CISO, United Airlines
• Paula Januszkiewicz, CEO, CQURE
• Stuart McClure, Chairman and CEO, Cylance
• The Future of Data Protection: Adapting to the Privacy Imperative Panel: Kalinda Raina, Senior Director and Head of Global Privacy, LinkedIn; Ruby Zefo, Chief Privacy Officer, Uber; and J. Trevor Hughes, President and CEO, IAAP (Moderator)
• Mark Russinovich, CTO, Azure, Microsoft
• Bruce Schneier, CTO, IBM Resilient, IBM Security, Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School
• Ira Winkler, President, Secure Mentem.

Specific session content details and additional speakers will be added in the new year.