Gregory Prynn
Greg Prynn is Senior Director, Corporate Affairs, and part of the Global Field Operations (GFO) team. He is responsible for the US, Canada, and Latin America field operations, as well as the global Technical Field Engagement team. Greg partners with government leaders, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations to bring cybersecurity, networking, programming, and entrepreneurial educational programs to students across the Americas. Through the Cisco Networking Academy, a world-leading IT skills and career building program, Greg addresses the growing need for IT talent by equipping students with entry-level IT and 21st-century career skills. During the last three years greater than 750,000 students in the Americas have benefited from this program.
Mr. Prynn joined Cisco in 1998, as part of the Global Alliances organization, dedicated to driving alliances with leading technology and professional services companies. After working as an individual contributor on the IBM/EDS team, Mr. Prynn was promoted to managing the EDS relationship. His strategies drove the EDS relationship to more than $250 million annually. He then established the strategic alliance relationship with Accenture which later culminated in Cisco’s first virtual joint venture. As the Senior Director, New Alliances and Markets, Mr. Prynn established and extended multiple new alliance relationships for Cisco on a global basis. These alliances include such global leaders as Apple, Fujitsu (Japan), Fujitsu-Siemens (Germany), Intel, Wipro (India), and Rockwell Automation. In total these relationships generated more than $1 billion in revenue. Mr. Prynn also served as Senior Director, Industry Solutions Group - Ecosystems responsible for building, developing and leading ecosystems advancement efforts to obtain sustained competitive market advantage. Mr. Prynn established ecosystems with focus on Unified Computing, Intelligent Mobil Devices and Industrial Manufacturers (IoT).
Prior to joining Cisco, Mr. Prynn spent 15 years in various operations, sales, marketing, and alliance management positions in the communications and networking arena. He served as Director of Marketing for both Harris Data Communications, and Memorex Telex.
Mr. Prynn holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and a Masters in Business Administration from the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
Mr. Prynn is a frequent public speaker. His new alliance methodologies have been published by the Corporate Strategy Board, American Marketing Association, as well as by IDC Corporation.
Hank Preston
Hank’s two passions are technology and theatre and bringing them together drives him towards a borderline obsession on creating entertaining presentations, labs and demonstrations that breakdown complex technology topics for audiences. After spending several years working on and behind the scenes on stage productions, what started as a hobby turned to a profession when Hank entered the IT industry with a focus on web and database development and engineering. Drifting from development into infrastructure engineering brought him to Cisco as a Systems Engineer focusing on Data Center and Cloud Architecture for large enterprise customers. And after six years as an SE, Hank has taken up the mantle of a Developer Evangelist with DevNet where he can focus full time on reminding everyone that technology can and should be fun to work with. Hank holds a Master Degree in Information Systems as well as several certifications including CCIE R/S 38336 from Cisco.
Howard Charney
Senior Vice President Howard Charney is a member of Cisco's Office of the Chairman and CEO, contributing to Cisco's strategy and direction, and is a dynamic speaker on the future of technology and global change. In addition to his international appearances as a Cisco technology evangelist, Charney advises businesses, governments, and educators around the world on implementing critical Internet technologies to improve organizational effectiveness, profitability, and quality of life.
During his more than 35 years in Silicon Valley, Charney has overseen the development and proliferation of technologies that led directly to the global build-out of the Internet. After joining Cisco in 1995, with the acquisition of Grand Junction Networks, he helped grow Cisco's new two-tier distribution business to more than US$2.4 billion and helped make Fast Ethernet and low-cost switching fundamental, global Internet technologies.
Charney founded Grand Junction Networks in 1992, which transformed the economics of switching with the invention of Fast Ethernet and low-cost switching. In 1980 Charney co-founded 3Com, the progenitor of Ethernet and local area networking. 3Com's breakthrough technologies enabled Internet access to the desktop.
A licensed patent attorney, Charney belongs to the State Bar of California and the Federal Bar. He sits on both the Board of Trustees of Santa Clara University and the advisory board for that institution's Center for Science, Technology and Society.
Charney holds bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and master of business administration and juris doctor degrees from Santa Clara University. He received the Santa Clara Law Alumni Special Achievement Award in 2014.
Laura Chappell
CEO, Founder of Chappell University
CEO, Founder of Wireshark University
CEO, Founder of Protocol Analysis Institute, Inc.
Laura Chappell is a well-respected industry expert, consultant, trainer/speaker, and author of numerous
industry titles on network analysis, troubleshooting, and security. Nicknamed “Glenda, the Good
Witch,” Laura has presented to thousands of State, Federal and international law enforcement officers,
judicial members, engineers, network administrators, technicians and developers on the subject of
network communications analysis, network forensics, communications optimization, and application
analysis.
Ms. Chappell is a member of the High Technology Crime Investigation Association (HTCIA), a 24-year
member of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), a member of the FBI’s Infragard
organization, and a member of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Technology Partner
Network. Her blend of humor, personal experiences, packet-level understanding of TCP/IP
communications, energy and clarity have earned her a top spot as an industry speaker, trainer and
consultant for companies and organizations such as Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, High Technology Crime
Investigation Association, various United States military organizations, various European forensic
agencies, and the United States Court.
Ms. Chappell is the Founder of Chappell University (www.chappellU.com)
which develops and delivers onsite and online training in the areas of
network protocols, network forensics and network analysis tools.
In 2007, Ms. Chappell founded Wireshark University
(www.wiresharktraining.com), the worldwide premiere educational firm
focused on teaching the art of wiretapping/communications
interception, network forensics, TCP/IP analysis, network
troubleshooting and network security.
Both Chappell University and Wireshark University operate under a dba through Protocol Analysis Institute, Inc