Certification Committee

FITSI has the following members currently serving on the FITSP certification committee.  All certification committee members are both subject matter experts in Federal IT security as well as possessing strong experience in the IT security certification market.

Jay Coplon - CISSP, CISM, CAP
Jay is an information assurance professional implementing the NIST Certification and Accreditation domain for the past 10 years.  His experience is focused in the risk management discipline where he spends a great part of his day reviewing security assessments and supporting artifacts as well as validating accreditation package documentation.  Jay meets changes in federal guidance with sound interpretations that result in process improvements necessary to support his customers.

Tyler Harding - CPA, CISSP, CISM, CISA, CAP, PMP                   Tyler is a Senior Manager in KPMG's IT Advisory Services practice with over 15 years experience. Tyler's expertise is in information security, particularly in the Federal government environment. He has worked as a consultant to CIOs and Office of Inspector Generals of Federal agencies and advised his clients on implementing the mandatory security requirements promulgated by NIST.   He currently teaches both CISM and CISA review courses for the local ISACA chapter in the Washington, DC area.

A. John Janek III - CISSP, CAP, Security+, MCSE: Security
John has been an active member of the Information Technology community since the mid-nineties, with more than 15 years of paid professional experience as consultant, educator, troubleshooter, and architect.  John's current professional day-to-day work allows him to leverage a deep knowledge of security related topics and technology in order to accomplish business-oriented goals.  He currently is the technical coordinator for the Federal Wave group, a multi-agency effort to explore leveraging the Wave platform in government, and has received awards for innovation in both distance learning and the implementation of Information Technology to assist in secure computing environments.  

Joanne Koch - CISSP, Security+, MCSE, CCNP                        Joanne has been a technical engineer and program manager for 14 years, with career experiences ranging from technical trainer to telecommunications specialist in VoIP, to project manager and training coordinator.  Joanne has extensive experience as a trainer teaching Cisco, Security, and Microsoft courses.  She has overseen countrywide as well as worldwide training projects. Joanne has an extensive background in technical education, courseware development and vendor specific technologies.  

Robert Vescio - CISSP, Security+, MCSE, CCNP, CCDP                   Robert Vescio is responsible for the delivery of the Verizon Security Management Program.  He has been helping both domestic and international organizations build and maintain state of the art security management programs that synergistically protect information, people, and assets.  Robert in a prior life was a full time technical trainer and today continues to teach part time course such as CISSP and Security+.

Jim Wiggins - CISSP-ISSEP, CISM, CISA, CAP, SSCP, IAM, IEM, SCNA, SCNP, SCNS, CEH, ECSA, CHFI, LPT, TICSA, CIWSA, Security+, and MCSE: Security
Jim is an information assurance professional and technical trainer with 15+ years of experience.  Jim runs his own successful small business and has been involved in teaching IT security course for clients such as Department of State, Department of Defense, Booz Allen and Hamilton, and KPMG.  Through his deep involvement in the process of FISMA compliance audits over much of the last decade, he recognized the critical need for tailored, role-based security training for the Federal, military, and contractor personnel who work so hard to secure our nation's critical Federal IT systems.  The creation of FITSI and the FITSP training and credentialing processes came about as a direct result of his day-to-day exposure to these dedicated people and their repeated comments regarding specialized training and certification needs.