In episode 29 we have our first discussion with an executive from the university industry. John McClure is the Chief Information Security Officer at Laureate International Universities. As the CISO for an organization with tens of thousands of employees and hundreds of thousands of university students, John offers some interesting insights and considerations about our changing cyber-security landscape and the benefits realized as a result of the 'forced' digital transformation we've all been through.

March 2021 has been an outstanding month for TalkingCloud. So far, we've had outstanding special guests and we are finishing the month strong. In this episode, we get to hear the views and perspectives of a CIO.

Jeff Ton is a highly seasoned and experienced technologist starting his illustrious career first as a 'programmer' and then on to management. He decided he wanted to be a CIO and reached his goal decades ago. Now, among other things, Jeff is an author, speaker, and explorer. You can connect with Jeff on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtonindy/

A few months ago, I noticed a post on LinkedIn featuring one of my contacts and his recent promotion to America's Sales Leader for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Security at Amazon. I was pleasantly surprised when I read it was Brendan Staveley. I worked with Brendan at Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd. Point Software; it was his first job after graduating college. Fast-forward a little more than two decades and experiences at Fortinet and Cisco, Brendan now leads a lean team of AWS Security specialists covering the western hemisphere. I had a great time catching up with Brendan and hearing his comments and thoughts about the cloud. Hear Brendan discuss "empathy" and why it's a priority when assisting customers in their migration of workloads to the public cloud.

In this episode(what ended up to be our longest yet) we talk with Mike Morrato, Service Director-Security Architecture, and Engineering at Trace3. Mike and I have both been working with technology for many years and subsequently, we cover a huge swath of topics and technologies and discuss the interesting similarities and key differences between past and current technologies offerings. Hear what Mike suggests you need to do before, and after you begin using the cloud.

In our 25th episode are we shifting the conversation to data management and data back-up with Michael Letschin, MBA from Cohesity.  As Director of Technical Strategy and Field CTO, Mike is accustomed to explaining the complex in simple terms. Mike explains how the cloud has influenced data management, data backup, and data archival.

I absolutely love hosting TalkingCloud!

I get to meet and speak with brilliant executives and entrepreneurs about the most exciting segment of the technology industry today...Cloud computing. And, this is an episode you'll not want to miss because I'm talking with the Head of Cloud Security Products for Check Point Software Technologies, TJ (Tsion) Gonen. TJ came to Check Point through the acquisition of Protego Labs and has had (and continues to have) a significant influence on what once was a single product and is now the CloudGuard security platform. Hear TJ discuss his views of Cloud and how current technology trends are influencing development, family, and the future of computing overall.

In this episode, I had a great discussion with long-time colleague and friend (oh, and did I mention Legend within the halls of Check Point Software) to talk about numerous things, including just how far computing and the cloud have come. But, as PhoneBoy correctly points out, what's driving the cloud is the need to compute...from anywhere. Also, you'll want to listen to his Checkmates podcast. You can find it here: https://community.checkpoint.com/t5/CheckMates-Go-Cyber-Security/bg-p/checkmates-go

In our first new episode of 2021 we meet and speak with the two Co-Founders of Multi-Cloud Leadership Alliance (www.multicloudleadership.com) Leah McLean and Sandhya Gorman. Both of these ladies have years and years of experience in technology and the cloud and formed the MCLA to assist organizations as they seek to navigate the vast and varied waters of the cloud providers. In less than one year, the MCLA boasts over 150 members and growing.

If you're interested in improving your standings and relationships with cloud providers such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Alibaba, and others, look no further than MCLA. 

2020 has been a remarkable and unforgettable year. We at TalkingCloud are doing all we can to load the month and finish the year with tons of great discussions from all around the world. In this, our 21st episode, we go to Singapore and talk with Andy Waroma, Founder of Cloud Comrade, the only South-East Asia headquartered AWS Partner Network Premier Tier Consulting Partner, Google Premier Partner, and Microsoft Gold Cloud Competency Partner. Hear how Andy set out on a two-week vacation from Finland that turned into now more than twenty years and counting in Singapore.

More than 20 years ago AJ and I worked together at Check Point Software. AJ has come a long way and is now Director of both marketing and product marketing for Azure Security at Microsoft. For the past 18 months, AJ has been focused on helping customers modernize their security operations. Hear how Microsoft reimagined what a cloud-native SIEM is and what Microsoft Azure Security will be focused on in the coming year.