Governance Committee Members

Peter Caro

Peter Caro is director of KeyW corporation's Pontetec Cybersecurity Services Division, a security architect and technologist with over 20 years experience. At KeyW, Pete solves technical issues for commercial and US government clients. Under his leadership his team of technical experts act as consultants performing risk management consulting, secure development, product evaluation and advanced penetration testing.

Pete's background is in systems engineering software development focusing on solving the challenging problems revolving around new technologies and data security. He is also a career soldier and is currently the senior enlisted soldier for the Army Reserve Element at U.S. Cyber Command. Pete has written technical papers for NIST as well as the U. S. Congress and presented papers at the ShmooCon security conference. He holds a Bachelor's of Science in Computer Science from Grantham University in Kansas City, MO. He also holds the CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner credential as well as Network+, Security+ and other industry certifications.

Pete has been involved with CompTIA as a subject matter expert since 2006, and is currently a member of the CompTIA Subject Matter Expert Technical Advisory Committee, Executive Advisory Board, and both the CompTIA Security+ and CompTIA Advance Security Practitioner Governance Committees.

Andrea Di Fabio

Andrea Di Fabio is currently the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Associate CIO at East Tennessee State University, where he plays a significant role in strategic planning, business process re-engineering, policy development, risk management, and technology transformation. In his previous life, Andrea served twelve years as Norfolk State University’s CISO, and two years as CIO supporting IT mission essential functions in a time of institutional crisis. In his spare time, he taught a wide range of hands-on IT security classes at Tidewater Community College and volunteers with local schools and ham radio clubs.

Andrea is a member of four prestigious CompTIA committees: The Executive Advisory Board, the Governance Board, the Technical Advisory Committee, and the Certification Development Committee. In these roles, Andrea helps facilitate the recruitment of qualified IT professionals worldwide, and provides CompTIA with the support and expertise needed during the planning and development of globally recognized IT certifications.

Additionally, Andrea served as a member of the Commonwealth of Virginia Information Security Council where he recommended strategic direction on Commonwealth information security and privacy-related initiatives. He chaired and participated in multiple technology committees. He currently servers in the Tennessee Board of Regents CISO committee.

Finally, Andrea served as a member of the InfraGard Board of Directors. He was the InfraGard's Information Technology sector chief for Hampton Roads. In these roles, Andrea helped provide synchronized communication between local InfraGard leadership, FBI Coordinators, and area members, by promoting key insight into the IT sector to help protect and ensure the continuity of the critical infrastructure of the United States.

Andrea completed his Master of Science in Computer Science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA where he also earned a Bachelor in Computer Engineering.

Ryan Frillman

Ryan Frillman joined Spire Inc. in March 2015 as the Director of Information Security and Compliance. Before joining Spire, Ryan Frillman worked for MITRE supporting the Department of Defense (DoD) at USTRANSCOM located at Scott AFB in Cyber Security. Prior to USTRANSCOM he supported the DoD for Future Combat Systems (FCS) and PEO Integration (PEO-I) as a Senior Technical Advisor. He started his professional career in Quincy, IL supporting John Wood Community College as a helpdesk technician progressing to a Server/Systems/Network Administrator and as an Adjunct Professor in Computer Science. Since 2005, Ryan Frillman serves on the CompTIA’s Executive Advisory Board (EAB) and has been a Subject Matter Expert for CompTIA since 2002. Mr. Frillman graduated with his Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Science from Western Illinois University and has a Master of Business Administration with emphasis on Information Technology from University of Phoenix. He holds several certifications; CISSP, CEH, ECSA, CCSK, CASP, A+, Network+, Security+ and others. Mr. Frillman is also a board member and president of the St. Louis Chapter for the Security Advisor Alliance.

Sean Manning

Sean Manning is currently with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), and has over 12 years of experience in deeply technical and complex aspects of full lifecycle systems engineering and with overarching cyber warfare programs. This includes leadership in cybersecurity architecture and design, software engineering, research and development, prototyping, integration and test, as well as operations and sustainment. In his work with APL, Sean specializes in advancing the state of cybersecurity for military operational and tactical systems, particularly for those across a breadth of Navy and Marine aviation programs.

Before joining APL, Sean worked as a contractor, consulting on emergent DoD programs to enable secure enterprise and tactical mobility capabilities using commercial technologies at varied levels of information security classification. He also led the development of standards-based, automated security configuration management capabilities and tools in order to automate diagnostics and mitigations and increase the resiliency of DoD systems to attack. These projects yielded much-needed DoD enterprise situational awareness and continuous monitoring capabilities to support warfighters and decision makers alike. Finally, the first 7 years of Mr. Manning’s career was as a United States Air Force (USAF) uniformed service member, where he served in a number of increasingly complex technical and management capacities around the globe.

Sean actively supports the CompTIA SME Technical Advisory Committee (CSTAC), CompTIA exam development efforts, and is a member of the CompTIA Cyber Advisory Board (CCAB). Sean holds the CISSP, CASP, CEH and Security+.

Damien Manuel

Damien Manuel is the chief information security officer (CISO) for Blue Coat Australia and New Zealand where he works with senior IT executives in the region to align security architectures to industry best practices.

Before his appointment as CISO, Damien worked as a senior information security governance manager and later as an enterprise IT and security risk manager at National Australia Bank (NAB), where he was responsible for managing the bank’s information security standard globally. Prior to NAB, Damien was an account director at RSA, where he was responsible for enterprise accounts with a major emphasis on financial services and telecommunications. He also held senior roles at Telstra and Melbourne IT. Damien is currently on CompTIA’s Executive Advisory Committee and is the national branch director for Australian Information Security Association (AISA).

Damien has supported CompTIA for over 10 years through the development of CompTIA Server+, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+, and more recently the CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner certification.

Lee Myers

Lee Myers studied computer science and technology as well as information systems at Drexel University. He is currently the chief technology officer for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, where he specializes in information security, risk management, networking, and unified communications. Lee has worked with CompTIA since 2007, participating in workshops as well as the CompTIA Subject Matter Expert Technical Advisory Committee, Executive Advisory Board, and Governance Committee.

Tim Niles

Tim Niles has worked in various IT roles since 2000, from desktop support to his current role as a Technical Delivery Manager. In addition to holding several CompTIA certifications, he has been a member of the CompTIA Subject Matter Expert Technical Advisory Committee since 2008 and currently serves on the CompTIA Certification Governance Committee. Tim attained his bachelor's degree in information technology from Central Michigan University and earned his MBA with a focus in technology leadership from Michigan State University.

Phil Norton

Phil Norton has been working in IT for over a decade, primarily in healthcare and publishing. He is currently a systems analyst at Sourcebooks, Inc., where he administers their SAP system and helps drive the technology behind a new breed of book publishing. He enjoys many facets of technology, but has found a passion for databases and networking. Phil has worked with CompTIA for the past five years, focusing primarily on CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, and CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician. He is also proud to serve on the association’s Executive Advisory Board and Governance Committee, where he helps ensure the quality and integrity of the exams stays true to CompTIA's vision.

Justin Opatrny

Justin Opatrny is a Cyber Security Consultant for General Mills, specializing in industrial control systems (ICS) security with previous roles in security, networking, and systems administration. He has been working on various initiatives with CompTIA since 2007; including the Executive Advisory Board, CompTIA Subject Matter Expert Technical Advisory Committee, exam development, and several SME opportunities.

Craig Pearce

Craig Pearce is a senior security engineer at Amazon Web Services (AWS). Craig's background includes security architecture, threat modelling, penetration testing, code review and managing security assurance teams. Craig is based in the USA but has previously worked in Australia and United Kingdom. Other past roles have included sessional lecturing at RMIT University and participating with Standards Australia for the ISO 27000 series.

Since 2009, Craig has been a subject matter expert for CompTIA and has participated in a number of workshops and committees for the CompTIA Security+ and the CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner and Cyber Security Analyst+ exams. Craig is a current member of the CompTIA governance committee.

Richard Rieben

Richard Rieben, MBA, has more than 16 years of experience in designing, implementing, and managing IT systems. He currently serves as Director of Audit Operations for KirkpatrickPrice, which as a licensed CPA and PCI QSA firm and the original multi-audit firm.

Richard specializes in educating, empowering, and inspiring companies by partnering with them to achieve challenging regulatory compliance and information security goals. Richard maintains the CASP, CSA+. Security+, Network+, Project+, Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), PCI Qualified Security Assessor (QSA), HITRUST Certified CSF Practitioner (CCSFP), Project Management Professional (PMP), GIAC Systems and Network Auditor (GSNA), and Federal Information Technology Security Professional-Manager (FITSP-M) certifications.