That Tech Pod

Today Laura and Kevin chat with Frank Kyazze, the the founder and CEO of GRC Knight. We talk about the combination of AI and cybersecurity. We talk about the reauthorization of Section 702 of the FISA bill which expands the NSA's surveillance program. We talk nuke simulators and WW3, new AI laws and their impact, the Ed Sheeran/Marvin Gaye copyright lawsuit, cool new gadgets like Humaine.ai, the digital trust, the AT&T breach and the Roku breach, and Frank's new AI LLM, Francine.ai. 

Frank Kyazze's career is a blend of innovation, ethics, and humanism in technology. Over the last decade, he become a leader in digital trust, covering cybersecurity, governance, risk management, compliance, privacy, and AI ethics. As the founder and CEO of GRC Knight, Frank champions strategies that protect national security and our society's infrastructure. His work spans traditional sectors to startups and venture capital, advocating for cybersecurity as a growth engine. 

With certifications like CISSP, CIA, CEH, CIPP/E, CIPM, and ISO Lead Auditor, Frank's expertise is unmatched. Frank is a thought leader who connects technology's tangible aspects with its philosophical roots, offering insightful perspectives on technology, national security, and the digital economy. Frank Kyazze is not just a name in the tech industry; he is a storyteller, a philosopher in the digital age, and an architect of trust in a world that increasingly depends on it. His journey and insights offer a unique blend of depth, pragmatism, and visionary thinking, making him a compelling voice in the ongoing conversation about our digital future.

Today Kevin and Laura speak with John Conafay about space technology. We talk about John's origin story and a desire to stop human trafficking. We also share eclipse stories and why space matters to normal people (GPS, & Tinder?) and if they can really view a license plate from space. We also talk about John's company, Integrate, and its mission, why space junk matters, the Kessler effect, the movies The Mist and I.S.S. This one is a fun pod!

John Conafay is a US Air Force Veteran and the CEO and Co-Founder of Integrate, building program management software with a systems engineering approach for the world’s most ambitious machines.

Previously he was an early employee at three space unicorns – Head of BD at ABL Space Systems, was one of the first ten employees at Astranis, and Interned at Spire Global early on. He also worked at the Office of the CFO NASA Headquarters while at BryceTech and was a Director of Business Development at Spaceflight.

In this bonus pod, Kevin and Laura talk about FOIAs. You get to hear a few excerpts from the panel session Kevin moderated at the Digital Government Institute's eDiscovery, Records and Information Management Conference. Kevin was joined on stage with Michael Sarich of the VA and Michael Heise from EEOC.

As the volume of digital information continues to grow, the scope of electronic records management has expanded exponentially and is an increasingly critical issue for government agencies, particularly as it relates to providing electronic access and retrieval of government records. Key government and industry experts gathered at the 21st annual eDiscovery, Records and Information Management Conference to discuss current technology solutions/requirements, policy updates/changes and review examples of successful electronic records, FOIA and e-discovery programs.

Michael Sarich is the FOIA Director at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He leads one of the federal government's most extensive FOIA programs, managing a team of 900+ FOIA and Privacy Act Officers dispersed across 151 facilities. Leveraging over a decade of expertise in FOIA and Privacy Policy at the VA, the Social Security Administration and the Bureau of Land Management, he specializes in navigating intricate requests, handling litigation, and ensuring rigorous regulatory compliance in FOIA. He also plays a pivotal role as the co-chair of the Chief FOIA Officer Council's Technology Committee, spearheading initiatives to revolutionize FOIA service delivery on a government-wide scale.

 Michael Heise is the Attorney Advisor at Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He is an experienced FOIA analyst, and licensed attorney with a strong background in electronic discovery at all stages. He has a strong aptitude for explaining complicated legal principles in a straightforward and clear manner. He significant experience with project management and supervision after 9 years with CACI. 

Today Kevin and Laura talk with Alex Levin about overcoming spam, unsolicited messages and the future of customer outreach. We talk about the history of spam, the communication marketing arms race, the definition of unsolicited messages and consent. We also learn about the ROI of the various types of outreach, gorilla marketing, if people actually answer calls anymore, the difference between rented and owned channels, how AI comes into play in marketing, chain mail and more!

Alex Levin is Co-Founder and CEO of Regal.io. He leads the GTM teams. Prior to Regal.io, Alex was a product manager at Personal and Thomson Reuters, and then joined Handy (acquired by ANGI in 2018) as an early employee. At Handy and then ANGI Alex led growth and marketing. Alex grew up in New York and received his BA from Harvard.

Today Laura and Kevin speak with privacy expert Alan Chapell about digital media and privacy. We talk about the FBI and CIA tracking our phones, how we have become numb to personal surveillance, the Chappell Report, credit at the expense of privacy, why we can't delete Facebook even though we all know we should, Alan's musical talent, stopping by a jazz party in Florida, figuring our how the Spotify algorithm works, if Ticketmaster is selling Kevin's data and the most common privacy mistake we all make. We also discuss our music tastes and debate who'd you'd rather get stuck in an elevator with, Laura or Kevin. This is a fun episode!

Alan Chapell is outside privacy counsel to digital media companies and the principal analyst at the Chapell Report. Chapell started his career in digital media at Jupiter Research in 1997. Since 2003, Chapell has advised well over two hundred different companies, from venture backed startups to some of the largest media, technology, and telecommunications companies in the world.

Chapell & Associates’ mission is to help clients navigate regulatory, public policy and other marketplace challenges to maximize the value of their products and services. The Chapell Report is a monthly continuous information research tool focusing on the intersection between privacy, addressability and competition for data driven advertisers worldwide – helping them understand the key trends driving the advertising and media marketplace.

Alan is also an accomplished musician. Check him out.

Today Laura and Gabi are joined by Fisayo Oluwadiya to talk about Resactly, which is an AI powered personalized food recommendation service. We hear about Fisayo's origin story, building AI models with Vertex AI, the different stages of AI algorithms, her plans for the future (continue on for world domination or sell?), Chef Kwame Onwuachi and Dogon in DC and much more!

Fisayo Oluwadiya is a full-stack, results-oriented and driven principal software engineer with a proven track record over a 15+ year career. She is a passionate and energetic, highly organized and a highly skilled problem-solver with a background working in many different kinds of business such as JP Morgan Chase, Major League Baseball, Nordstrom and the Walt Disney Company.

The concept of Resactly is simple - "What if there was a way to find restaurants that were a perfect match for individual tastes?" Resactly's advanced AI/ML platform delves deep into your unique taste profile, preferences, and dietary needs to curate a list of restaurants tailored just for you. No more endless searching or disappointing meals. With Resactly, every dining experience is transformed into a memorable culinary journey. Check out Resactly for a gastronomic adventure and discover eateries that truly speak to your soul.

Today Kevin and Laura talk with John Tredennick, the founder and CEO of Merlin Search Technologies. We talk about why John is not chilling on a catamaran in the South Pacific somewhere after the sale of Catalyst, how Merlin's approach to generative AI differs from others in the industry, the advantages that GenAI brings to eDiscovery and why they are not in the “wait and see” mode like many other big Legaltech software providers are. We also chat about the ethical concerns related to the use of generative AI particularly in areas like bias. We then talk about the elephant in the room - the loss of the billable hour and the potential that generative AI raises about job displacement in the legal review market.

John Tredennick is the founder and CEO of Merlin Search Technologies, which develops AI-powered search software for investigations, discovery and regulatory compliance. Prior to Merlin, he was founder and CEO of Catalyst Repository Systems, which he sold to OpenText in early 2019. For the first 20 years of his career, he was a trial lawyer and litigation partner at Holland & Hart, a national law firm based in the Rocky Mountains.

John is a prolific speaker and writer. Over the past 30 years, he has written eight books and countless articles on legal technology topics. You can find links to many of those here: https://merlin.tech/headlines/article-resources/

Today Kevin and Laura talk with Artem Koren, the Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder of Sembly AI. We chat about product management, consulting, AI, keeping chatbots on track (unlike Meta and X's chatbots), dealing with obscure languages, laundry mishaps and more!

Sembly records, transcribes and generates smart meeting summaries with meeting minutes. It works with Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.

Artem Koren grew up and lived most of his adult life in New York City. He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Computer Science. He later attended the NYU Stern School of Business where he earned his MBA.

Artem is passionate about using AI to enrich humanity and create positive change. He combines his experience as a systems engineer, product manager, IT executive, management consultant, and entrepreneur to create innovative products, bringing to life new ways that technology can help us reach our goals. Sembly AI, which he co-founded with Gil Makleff in 2019, is at the forefront of advancing natural language understanding, paving the way for a symbiotic partnership between humans and technology.

Today Laura and Kevin speak with Umaimah Khan, the CEO of Opal Security. We talk about Umaimah's journey from home schooler to CEO, leaving the tin foil hat tribe, not being able to shadow run life, working for the DoD and health startups and how that impacted the genesis of Opal, spreadsheets of DOOM, carcinization, IAM being a productivity issue, Stripe, Okta, the Okta breach, access sprawl reduction, GitHub as a compliance took and so much more!

Umaimah Khan is the co-founder and CEO of Opal Security, a next-generation identity security company. As a mathematician and engineering leader, Umaimah knows first-hand the challenges of managing secure authorization and access management pathways. She began her career as a researcher in the federal government, before leading infra and security at several startups. Umaimah graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science.

Today Kevin and Laura chat with Joe Gross about the cross over of sales and tech. We discuss the role of a tech therapist, a sales engineer, the power of a 10 minute demo, the difference between "pizza tech" and "people tech" people, convenient truths versus outright lies, the first 5 people you should hire and so much more! 

Joe Gross is the Director of Solutions Engineering at Graylog. Joe is a problem-solver and communicator, relying on his more than 10 years of security and IT expertise to understand and devise solutions to help customers overcome their cybersecurity and logging challenges. Joe also manages Graylog Open, a large interactive online community dedicated to increasing and sharing IT and security knowledge to solve real world problems.