Meet the Advisory Board of the UW Master’s in Cybersecurity

Joe Hopper is the Founder and a Principal Security Consultant at Fracture Labs Cybersecurity located in Madison, Wisconsin. Since founding the firm in 2017, Joe has led security assessments against organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 50 enterprises, with expertise spanning IoT and hardware hacking, web and mobile application security, network penetration testing, and adversarial simulation.

Prior to founding Fracture Labs, Joe spent more than 15 years in security and engineering roles at Fortune 500 companies including Kellogg Company where he built a Security Operations Center and a global penetration testing program, and American Family Insurance where he led purple team operations. Joe is a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse alum and also serves on the board of DC608, the Madison-area DEF CON community group.

"Having worked in many different corporate and consulting roles before going on to build my own firm, I bring a perspective on cybersecurity that spans multiple sides of the industry. As a UW–La Crosse alum, I hope to share that with students who are still figuring out what a career in this field can look like."

Edward Murphy became the Associate Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer for the Universities of Wisconsin Administration in March 2022. He is responsible for leading the development and updating of the Universities of Wisconsin information security program. This security program guides the work of the Universities of Wisconsin Administration and its institutions with respect to information security.

Edward has extensive experience in executive engagements, information security strategy, and policy development, security risk and compliance, security operations and enterprise IT. He was instrumental in establishing the Universities of Wisconsin’s first enterprise security solution which provides a platform for increased visibility, protection, and common security operations across the Universities of Wisconsin.

Prior to coming to the Universities of Wisconsin Administration Edward was the Deputy Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer for the University of Wisconsin Colleges and University of Wisconsin-Extension. Before coming to Wisconsin, he held a variety of technical and leadership positions at the University of Arizona.

Edward has earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Kurt Roemer is a visionary executive strategist with over four decades of experience leading transformative security initiatives at companies including Box, Citrix and NetContinuum. As a trusted advisor, Chief Security Strategist, Chief Security Officer and Chief Technology Officer, his career is defined by "constructively disrupting" security cultures to drive superior business outcomes.

Kurt is a recognized technology evangelist and cybersecurity storyteller providing customer-centric guidance from AI governance to Zero Trust, Kurt holds two patents, served as Commissioner for the U.S. public-sector CLOUD2 initiative, led efforts to develop the PCI Security Standards Council Virtualization Guidance Information Supplement for the payment card industry, was co-Rapporteur for developing ETSI NFV (Network Function Virtualization) Security and Trust Guidance, and is a University of Wisconsin Cybersecurity Program advisory board member.

Brad Wagner is the Director of IT at Christensen Associates, an applied microeconomic consulting firm in Madison, Wisconsin, that provides advanced data analysis for antitrust litigation, electric utilities, and the U.S. Postal Service. He also serves as an Incident Response Lead with the Wisconsin Cyber Response Team, helping public‑sector and critical‑infrastructure organizations prepare for, defend against, detect, and investigate cyberattacks. Brad is a recreational runner and a perennial volunteer captain on the IRONMAN Wisconsin run course. He is a grateful member of DC608’s board and welcomes everyone to the group’s monthly meetups on the first Thursday of each month.

Mark Ward is the Senior Vice President and Chief Security Officer for Johnson Financial Group, where he manages and matures the execution and strategy of a cybersecurity program responsible for cybersecurity risk, operations, architecture governance, and resiliency.

Mark has more than 27 years of information security and information technology experience and has previously served roles in information security leadership, management, architecture, engineering, risk, operations, and support.

Ryan Zagrodnik, CISSP, OSCP, is a Senior Penetration Tester with over 17 years of full-time cybersecurity experience, beginning his career in IT in 2003 while still in high school. He has since built a career spanning penetration testing, application security, and enterprise defense operations. Ryan specializes in web application testing, adversary simulation, and helping organizations understand how technical vulnerabilities translate into real-world risk.

Ryan began his professional path supporting and administering Windows and Linux enterprise systems before transitioning into full-time offensive security, giving him practical insight into both how environments are built and how they are attacked. He is a cofounder of DC608, Madison’s DEF CON group, and a cofounder of WISCON, a regional cybersecurity conference focused on practitioner-driven content. Ryan holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) certifications and is passionate about strengthening Wisconsin’s cybersecurity community and supporting the development of the next generation of security professionals.