Alumni Society Board

The IST Alumni Society is committed to providing opportunities for alumni to get involved and support the Society's mission and, in turn, the missions of the College of IST, the Penn State Alumni Association, and the University community.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the IST Alumni Society Board, please contact Kim Woodward or Scott Lyons, current IST Alumni Society president. You need to be a member of the IST Alumni Society (through your membership with the Penn State Alumni Association) to be considered.

IST Alumni Society Board Members

Dave Costlow Headshot

Dave Costlow ’03, ‘04g MBA

Dave Costlow is software executive currently serving as the COO of Pledge It, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company specializing in online fundraising solutions. Dave joined Pledge It in 2016 as one of the first employees and lead the company to become the top performance-based fundraising platform in the industry with over 1500 nonprofit organizations and 500+ professional athletes as customers. As an executive, Dave is responsible for setting corporate strategy and providing direct leadership of multiple business units within the organization.

Prior to joining Pledge It, Dave held various leadership roles within the Marketing organization at Minitab Inc, a software company focused on data analysis solutions. Dave led the modernization and globalization of the marketing function, earning several promotions during his 9-year tenure, ultimately serving as Minitab’s Global Director of Marketing. Dave began his career as a corporate strategy consultant with IBM. Dave graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a B.S. in Information, Sciences, and Technology in 2003 and a Master of Science in Business Administration in 2004.

Denise Dagadu Headshot

Denise Dagadu ‘14

Denise Dagadu is currently a GTM Strategy Manager at Google. With over 8 years of experience in the consulting and tech industry where she held prior roles at Square, 55 and Deloitte. Denise is an expert in business management and strategy. Her experience is global, enabling her to work effectively among and within enterprises, diversified cultures and across business disciplines. During her time at PSU, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Information Sciences & Technology and Bachelor of Science in Economics.

During her time at Penn State, she was a Resident Assistant, Grading Assistant for the Department of Economics, Web Coordinator and Peer Mentor for EmpowerU, Fundraising Chair for the Black Student Union and Recruitment Chair for UNICEF PSU.

Jordan Dunbar Headshot

Jordan Dunbar ‘16

Jordan Dunbar is a Manager within KPMG’s Federal Technology Enablement practice. He works on Business Process Management and Low Code software implementations for Department of Defense and Intelligence clients. Jordan leverages these technologies to transform and standardize business processes, Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) operations, and Center of Excellence (CoE) activities. Additionally, he serves as a business development lead that’s responsible for designing go-to-market strategies, leading proposals, and managing alliance relationships. Prior to his current role, Jordan was in KPMG’s Federal Technology Assurance practice as an IT Auditor responsible for testing IT controls for financial statement and FISMA audits.

Jordan also serves on the board of the Penn State Alumni Association Washington, D.C. Metro Area Chapter as the Professional Development Chair. As a student, he was a member of Air Force ROTC, Air Force ROTC Honor Guard, Red Cell Analytics Lab, Ohana THON organization, and Silver Wings THON organization. Jordan graduated from Penn State in 2016 with a B.S. in Security and Risk Analysis and a minor in Military Studies. He is also a Certified Information Security Auditor (CISA) and Certified SAFe Agilist.

John Esteves Headshot

John Esteves ‘18

John lives in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania and is the Manager of the Strategic Integration & Execution team at FreeWheel, a Comcast company. During his free time, he also spends his time serving on the board of directors for the Clinton County LGBTQ Network, to help foster an LGBTQ+ community in Central Pennsylvania, and the North Central District Allied Connections, supporting people living with HIV/AIDS. He also spends some time working on some community building freelance projects. Prior to working with FreeWheel, John worked at Universal Parks & Resorts as an IT Project Manager working on their digital experience. During his time at Penn State, John was heavily involved with Penn State's Theme Park Engineering group and the College of Engineering's Entrepreneurship & Innovation Department. He was also TA for Brad Groznik in Engineering, working on Invent Penn State initiatives. Outside of work and projects, he spends family time with his partner Jeff; Jeff's awesome kids; and their dog, Pride!

Peter Herr Headshot

Peter Herr '08

Peter is an engagement director for Salesforce, where he supports the public sector. Before joining Salesforce, Peter worked in product leadership roles at startups in travel, health care, and security industries, focusing on technology products that leverage data science and natural language processing. He’s led product and engineering teams for fast-growing organizations, including business-to-business software-as-a-service (B2B SaaS) startups, product enterprises, and the government. After earning his bachelor’s degree in 2008, Peter became a management and technology consultant. He reconnected with the College of IST as a mentor in 2018 and joined the board in 2022. Peter and his wife live with their 4-year-old daughter in Washington, DC.

Mathew Lamb Headshot

Mathew Lamb ‘19

Mat is a Solutions Architect at Palo Alto Networks working as a technology leader focused on CloudOps, DevOps, and SecOps. In his current role, Mat helps State Governments, Higher Education, Local Government, and Lower Education understand, migrate, and secure complex cloud environments. Prior to working as a Solutions Architect, Mat worked as a Cyber Security consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) focused on cloud, automation, and innovation based out of New York City. Mat also serves in the United States Army as an Infantry Officer in the Texas Army National Guard.

Mat graduated from the College of IST in the Spring of 2019. There he earned a bachelor's degree in Security Risk and Analysis with a focus in Information and Cyber Security; as well as minors in Information, Science and Technology and Military Studies. While at Penn State, Mat was a member of the IST Consulting Group and Army ROTC where he was heavily involved in THON.

Mathew was born and raised in Middletown, NJ and currently resides in Austin, TX with his girlfriend (also a Penn State alum!) and two dogs: Brody (Border Collie / Lab Mix) and Meeko (Catahoula / Dachshund Mix). His hobbies include: guitar, golf, running, hiking, reading, and restoring cars.

Tao Lin Headshot

Tao Lin ’18g

Tao Lin is an accomplished software engineer and computing researcher with a wealth of experience in the industry. He has been an integral part of Google based in Mountain View, CA, USA, where he contributes his expertise in developing innovative software solutions. Prior to his role at Google, Tao Lin held the prestigious position of senior software engineer and scientist at Amazon, located in Seattle, WA, USA.

Tao Lin's passion for research led him to pursue his studies at Pennsylvania State University, USA, where he engaged in rigorous academic exploration in the field of information science. His research work focused on areas such as deep learning, cyber security, and artificial intelligence, making valuable contributions to the advancement of these domains.

Recognized for his exceptional research abilities, Tao Lin has published numerous papers in highly regarded journals and presented his findings at prestigious conferences worldwide. His contributions to the academic community have garnered him recognition as a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a distinction that signifies his expertise and leadership in the field.

In addition to his research and industry roles, Tao Lin actively contributes to the scholarly community as an editor for several academic journals. Furthermore, he serves as a committee member for numerous international conferences, where he actively participates in shaping the discourse and direction of the field.

Diana Long Headshot

Diana Long ’04, ‘08g

Diana Long is from Brooklyn, NY and found her way to Penn State University. She graduated with her B.S. in 2004. While at Penn State she was active on the Executive Board of Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority and the National Hispanic Business Association. She earned her Master of Science at Penn State Great Valley while working full-time at Vanguard. Diana's career spans multiple disciplines including Quality Assurance Testing, Business Analysis, and Project Management. Diana is currently a Senior Director, Program Manager at General Atlantic in NYC overseeing the firm’s IT Project Portfolio. She is married with two children living in NY.

Scott Lyons Headshot

Scott Lyons '05 - President

Scott is currently the CEO of Red Lion, LLC. With over 18 years in the industry, he has worked for both government and commercial entities, covering an array of security positions. He wrote the vulnerability and incident response manuals for multiple government agencies and commercial entities. As such, he is familiar with the compliance requirements for high-end commercial and government clients and is adaptable to meet environmental requirements anywhere. Scott has successfully repelled hostile incursions by hacktivists against broadcast media corporations. He has also led architecture reviews under tight deadlines and constraints, successfully managing the rollout and replacement of components and systems related to network security across the globe.

Scott is heavily involved in the information security community. He is a staff member at several conferences, including Derbycon, DEFCON, BSidesLV, BSidesDE, and Shmoocon. As a well-known member of the infosec community, he has access to a variety of people and new technologies. Scott has spoken at multiple conferences on business and technical topics and is the proud owner of multiple patents.

Colin Murphy Headshot

Colin Murphy ’03 - President-Elect

Colin is global vice president of customer success & customer support at BMC Software, a KKR portfolio company. Colin is responsible for leading a global organization of 800+ customer success and support professionals responsible for driving BMC solution adoption, post-sales customer experience and overall expansion across BMC’s suite of enterprise software solutions. Prior to joining BMC Software in early 2020, Colin was senior vice president global customer success at New York-based Integral Ad Science, a Vista Equity Partners company.

Colin is a technology executive with 20 years’ experience operating in a broad range of high leverage capacities — across management consulting, strategy/M&A, general management, operations, and post-sales. He held multiple leadership positions at CA Technologies (now Broadcom) including SVP operations and general manager of a multi-million dollar cybersecurity business. Colin also held strategy and operational roles at Unisys and The Boeing Company. Colin began his career with stints at global management consulting firms, Oliver Wyman and Deloitte. He holds two graduate degrees (MBA, public policy) from the University of Texas at Austin and a BS degree from the College of IST at Penn State.

Heather Myers Headshot

Heather Myers ’14 ’17g

Heather Myers is a business intelligence analyst at a leading professional services company, where she uses both business and technical skills. Prior to entering the data analytics field, she was a web administrator responsible for digital communications and IT consulting and services for a government agency in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In 2017, she was in Penn State’s first graduating class for the M.P.S. in Data Analytics degree. Her professional certifications include Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified ScrumMaster and ITIL Foundation Certification. Heather volunteers as a computer science mentor for the Girls Who Code Club at her local library and seeks additional opportunities to encourage and mentor young women interested in STEM careers.

Madison Oliver

Madison Oliver ’16

Madison is an associate vulnerability analyst in the CERT Coordination Center at the Software Engineering Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While in this role, she has published and presented her work at the Three Rivers Information Symposium and ShmooCon. As a student, she earned a minor in Digital Entrepreneurship and IST, and was an active member in many IST student organizations, including the Competitive Cyber Security Organization. Madison earned a master of science in Information Security Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Nikita Page Headshot

Nikita Page ’17

Nikita Page is an IST graduate based out of the greater New York metropolitan area who works as a technology risk professional for Microsoft. His role leads him to conduct independent and objective assessments across the company to provide assurance to leadership that Microsoft is appropriately managing business and technology-related risk. Previously, he has held similar consulting positions at KPMG and Verizon. As a student, Nikita served as president of the IST Student Government and as the IST student representative for the Penn State Faculty Senate, University Park Undergraduate Association, and DLAC Sub-committee on Student Data Privacy. Over the last five years, his Penn State education had effectively prepared him to work across a variety of industries and geographic regions, both domestically and internationally. Originally from Ukraine, Nikita is passionate about implementing a global and inclusive perspective for all the projects of his portfolio. He spends his spare time building up his music production business while performing at shows all over the world! Learn more about Nikita at nikita.page.

Ankur Sheth

Ankur Sheth ’04

Ankur Sheth is a Senior Managing Director at Ankura Consulting Group, based in New York, and is the Global Head of the Cyber Risk Advisory Practice. Ankur has been focused on cybersecurity for 20+ years across a variety of competencies and industries and continues to serve his clients in successfully mitigating potential cyber threats and enhancing cybersecurity programs.

Ankur has helped build and develop cybersecurity programs and controls at organizations that employ leading technologies and practices to enhance their overall security posture. He has worked with clients across most industries to help them strategize, analyze, plan, architect, design, implement, and support cybersecurity related controls and systems. Throughout Ankur's career, he has worked in a global environment - supporting clients across North and South America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific.

Mike Silvis Headshot

Mike Silvis ’11

Mike is a technical leader at Block, driving solutions for up-market sellers as Block strategically positions itself from no longer being for just family run business’ and instead scales to deliver In-Person Payment solutions for large scale franchises. In the past, Mike has focused primarily on growing small tech-start ups like Gametime, Socialcast, and LivingSocial.

Mike graduated from Information Sciences and Technology in the fall of 2011 with a double minor in Security Risk Analysis & Entrepreneurship.

Luke Simonetti Headshot

Luke Simonetti '07 - Past-President

Luke is a Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton and leads the Global Commercial Strategic Consulting and Advisory Solutions portfolio of capabilities. Luke regularly serves as an executive advisor to his clients' leadership and boards of directors, and is an experienced security subject matter expert with deep levels of experience in security governance, threat intelligence and modeling, network security, application security, information protection, business-IT integration, security operations, process improvement, and risk management. Prior to rejoining BAH, Luke was the Global Security Consulting Practice Lead at Gartner, Inc. Luke lives just outside of State College with his wife and four children.

Ka'Lee Strawbridge-Moten Headshot

Ka'Lee Strawbridge ‘18

Ka’Lee Strawbridge is a Senior Consultant at KPMG LLP, specializing in Data Privacy & Protection. His work focuses on partnering with clients to successfully comply with data protection regulatory requirements through technology, automation, and global privacy program centralization. Before, KPMG Ka’Lee worked for Lowe’s Companies, Inc. and IBM, building a career that focuses on delivering best-in-class privacy and data protection solutions. Ka’Lee graduated from Penn State with a B.S. in Security & Risk Analysis in 2018. He resides in Charlotte, NC, where he’s developed a passion for working with undergraduate students in their journey to achieving their post-undergraduate professional goals. Ka’Lee is highly involved and remains connected with Penn State at the undergraduate level through recruiting efforts and program participation and at the alumni level through his work with IST Alumni Board.

Melanie Treff Headshot

Melanie Treff ‘19

Melanie Treff is an Information System Security Officer for Raytheon Technologies in the Washington, D.C. metro area. In this role, she works to ensure DoD clients have both technical and documentation safeguards in place to address national security threats. Prior to joining Raytheon Technologies, Melanie worked for Deloitte & Touche LLP as a Cyber Risk Consultant. She graduated from the University Park campus in 2019 with a B.S. in Security and Risk Analysis, concentrating in Intelligence Analysis & Modeling. Melanie accredits her project management skills, technical skills, and understanding of business acumen to the College of IST. In addition to working full-time, she is currently pursuing her MBA at Georgetown University.

Korey Wallace Headshot

Korey Wallace '09

Korey is a technical applications consultant for DuPont's Global IT & Processes. He graduated with his B.S. in IST, with a specialization in geographical information sciences, and a certificate from the NSA in cyber security. With DuPont, Korey works to standardize global technologies & processes across the organization to reduce the costs when it comes to corporate mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. During Korey's time at Penn State, he was a member of the IST Diversity Network, the Penn State Boxing Team, and worked as a web developer for the Daily Collegian. Korey has just finalized his Master's in Business Administration from the University of Texas and resides in Wilmington, DE.