DECEMBER 3, 2021 — CMMC ANNOUNCEMENT!
As the first CMMC-AB approved CCP training courses roll out, we are thrilled to announce some of the CMMC industry’s best-known experts, Amira Armond, Jacob Horne, Chris Silvers, Tony Buenger, and Sara Deaton are joining the Edwards CCP Instructors as part of our Provisional Instructor (PI) team – delivering you the best CMMC instructor led training available! These industry powerhouses chose to instruct with Edwards to help groom and grow the army of qualified assessors necessary for CMMC to be successful. Amira, Jacob, Chris, Tony, and Sara join Joy Beland and Brian Hubbard of Edwards to bring you dynamic CMMC training, and a wealth of industry knowledge.
These instructors bring more than ten decades of combined cybersecurity experience in assessing and interpreting NIST, CIS, HIPAA, and ISO 27001 standards and guidelines. Our expert management and implementation of security programs throughout the government, commercial, and healthcare industries is well respected and far reaching. As both an LTP and LPP, Edwards taps into it’s lengthy training history, with 23+ years of subject matter experts (SMEs) developing curriculum. Our Training team partnered with our Cybersecurity SMEs to bring you CMMC-AB approved courses and training materials – ensuring you receive the best CMMC education available. Being both a government contractor and commercial provider, we are heavily invested in supporting the contractor community to navigate CMMC.
MEET OUR CCP INSTRUCTORS
AMIRA ARMOND
CMMC-AB PA, PI, RP | CISSP, CISA, MCSE, PMP, MBA
Amira Armond has 20 years’ experience in operating highly secure military networks with strong and repeatable processes.
She is a founder of the C3PAO Stakeholder Forum, an industry group which focuses on standardizing assessment procedures and interpretations among C3PAOs. Amira has been an active voice in CMMC through Amira has been an active voice in CMMC through her blog at cmmcaudit.org, a source of free resources and training for CMMC preparation.
Amira is a CMMC Provisional Assessor, CMMC Provisional Instructor, Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), and Project Management Professional (PMP).Students will appreciate her deep understanding of CMMC practices and processes, scoping and boundaries, proving inheritance, and regulatory requirements for CUI.
JACOB HORNE
CMMC-AB PA, PI | CISSP, CDPSE
Jacob Horne is the Chief Security Evangelist for Summit 7 Systems where he specializes in helping customers, partners, and the broader defense industrial base understand how security and process can improve business operations.
As a former NSA intelligence analyst and U.S. Navy cryptologic technician, Jacob has 14+ years of experience in offensive and defensive cybersecurity operations. As a civilian he led cybersecurity compliance and engineering teams at AT&T, Northrop Grumman, and the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP).
Jacob has developed and taught numerous cybersecurity training programs for organizations including the NSA National Cryptologic School, UCLA, and UC Irvine. He has a master’s degree in cybersecurity risk and strategy from the NYU School of Law and is an MBA candidate at the UC Irvine Paul Merage School of Business.
Students will enjoy Jacob’s depth of knowledge in both the history and building blocks of CMMC and navigation of the model practices and processes.
CHRIS SILVERS
CMMC-AB RP, PA, PI | CISSP, CEH, PCIP, CWNA, CEI, SEPP, MLSE, CRISC, CEI
Chris Silvers is founder and CEO of CG Silvers Consulting as well as a DEF CON black badge winner.
His professional history stretches from the Federal Reserve System — where he led building vulnerability management, red team exercises, forensic investigation, and incident response capabilities for 9 years — to top security clearance Department of Defense technical security course instruction for red and blue teams.
Chris’ passion for education and more than 20 years of experience in information security have landed him on the presenter’s stage at conferences such as Defcon, BsidesAtlanta, NolaCon, DerbyCon, and GrrCon. Chris has a bachelor’s degree from Georgia Tech and an MBA. Most recently, he has been a C3PAO candidate since September 2020.
TONY BUENGER
CMMC-AB PA, PI | CCISO, CISSP, CISM, CGEIT
Tony is the Practice Lead for Risk and Compliance at SecureStrux, LLC. He was previously with Redspin and co-lead the effort to become the first Authorized Certified Third Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO). He has approximately 15 years of hands-on experience with NIST in many of these roles, including working as a key member of a team at the Pentagon to convert the United States Air Force from a Department of Defense (DoD) static compliance-based framework to the risk-based NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF).
Tony received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland via an Air Force ROTC scholarship. In 2007, he retired from the Air Force after 22 years of service and has over 25 years of experience in the information technology and cyber security arenas.
After retiring from the USAF, Tony fulfilled various roles as an information system security officer, information system security manager, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) certifying authority, security controls assessor, chief information security officer (CISO), and a cybersecurity consultant.
SARA DEATON
CMMC-AB PA, PI
Sara Deaton is a CMMC Provisional Instructor and Assessor. Her experience spans 30 plus years’ in the commercial and defense industry.
She was first introduced to cybersecurity when working as the sole mission assurance engineer on an FMS Weapon System development effort. Since then, Sara has been involved with cybersecurity activities.
She has a BS degree in Applied Mathematics and a MS degree in Systems Engineering (Operations Research). Sara has extensive experience as an instructor. She owns and operates a small business called Atomic Wombat Inc, that focuses on CMMC, CMMI, Quality Assurance, and Process Improvement, is located in Huntsville, Alabama.
JOY BELAND
CMMC-AB PA, PI | CISM, SSAP
Joy is a Senior Cybersecurity Consultant/Instructor at Edwards Performance Solutions. She is responsible for managing and delivering all aspects of CMMC-AB approved certification training.
Joy’s background includes 21 years as an MSP owner and several years in the MSP vendor industry as a cybersecurity consultant and world-wide cybersecurity professional trainer. Her energy and enthusiasm, coupled with in-depth assessment and industry knowledge provides for a dynamic and engaging training experience.
BRIAN HUBBARD
CMMC-AB PA, PI | CISM, PMP
Brian is the Director of Commercial & Cybersecurity Programs at Edwards Performance Solutions. His extensive cybersecurity background includes serving as the primary author and contractor team lead that supported NIST in the development of the NIST CSF.
Brian’s wealth of cybersecurity knowledge coupled with his humor and in-depth assessor experience brings an engaging perspective to the classroom.
*Provisional Instructor Candidates