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

Sarah Blount is a cybersecurity executive whose three-decade career is defined by leadership in global infrastructure and security governance, risk management, and performance optimization across multi-national organizations. As the current VP of Governance, Risk & Security Business Management at The Nielsen Company, she manages the entire cybersecurity program portfolio, oversees an $18.5M operating budget, and earned the prestigious 2026 Arthur C. Nielsen Award. Her expertise is showcased by her executive level engagement, which includes preparing quarterly materials for Audit and Risk Committees, delivering strategic updates on key performance indicators (KPIs), and engaging in strategic dialogues with investors, private equity owners, insurance underwriters, and auditors to instill confidence in the cybersecurity program and execution.

A specialist in building organizational trust, Sarah conceptualized and launched Nielsen’s comprehensive Trust and Assurance program, which included the implementation of a public-facing trust center and the use of AI to optimize client security processes. She has a proven track record of aligning security initiatives with business objectives by implementing tailored NIST and CISA Zero Trust frameworks to drive organizational maturity. Her deep expertise in risk mitigation is complemented by a background in crisis response.

Beyond her executive roles, Sarah is an active contributor to the cybersecurity community, serving as a mentor to students pursuing a career in cybersecurity and participating on scholarship committees.

Sarah R. C. Frater is the Senior Director and Enterprise Information Security Officer for UW Credit Union, where she leads enterprise‑wide information security strategy, risk management, and cybersecurity governance to protect member data and strengthen organizational resilience. With over 25 years of experience across cybersecurity, intelligence, and technology leadership, she brings a unique perspective that bridges military and civilian security operations.

In addition to her civilian role, Sarah serves as a Colonel in the Wisconsin Army National Guard as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Cyber and Electromagnetic Warfare, where she guides strategic initiatives that enhance operational readiness and integrate advanced cyber and electromagnetic capabilities across the force. Her military experience includes cyber warfare and intelligence leadership, with deployments supporting operations in Afghanistan and Cuba.

Sarah holds a Master of Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College, a Master of Arts in Intelligence Studies from American Public University System, and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Her education reflects deep expertise in strategic leadership, national security, and cybersecurity.

She holds multiple industry certifications, including Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), GIAC Defensible Security Architect (GDSA), GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN), GIAC Web Application Penetration Tester (GWAPT), and GIAC Python Coder (GPYC), along with security certifications including the Security Fundamentals Professional Certification (SFPC) and Security Asset Protection Professional Certification (SAPPC), reflecting both deep technical expertise and enterprise security leadership.

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."

Nik Kale is a Principal Engineer at Cisco Systems in San Jose, California, where he architects enterprise AI platforms that power customer support intelligence and automation across hundreds of thousands of users and Cisco's product portfolio. He specializes in AI security, agentic systems, and enterprise platform architecture.

Nik contributes to international security standards through the IETF and the Coalition for Secure AI (CoSAI), a Linux Foundation project focused on securing AI systems. He serves on the program committees for ACM AI Security and IEEE Security and Privacy (SAG AI), and reviews research for NeurIPS and IEEE EDUCON. He contributes to CoSAI publications on MCP security and agentic identity, and is the author of multiple active IETF Internet-Drafts on cross-domain agent authorization and privacy-preserving federated learning for AI agents.

His work has been recognized with an Edison Award, five Stevie Awards, and two ISSIP Distinguished Innovation Awards. He holds multiple U.S. patents in AI infrastructure and cloud security. Nik is a CCIE Security and CISSP holder. He earned his MS in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Maryland College Park, an MBA from NC State University, and a Stanford AI/ML Professional Certificate. He writes for VentureBeat, Dark Reading, SC Media, and InfoQ, and has been quoted as an expert source in Forbes, Business Insider, ZDNet, and other major publications.

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.