​Captain Kate Higgins-Bloom took command of U.S. Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay in June 2023, where she leads 815 active duty, reserve, and civilian personnel: 2,100 Coast Guard Auxiliary volunteers, and 17 Coast Guard field units across three states. Sector Delaware Bay is responsible for all Coast Guard missions – ranging from search and rescue to securing a marine transportation system that contributes over $90 billion annually to the regional economy – across much of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and all of Delaware out to 200 miles offshore.

​Kate’s previous staff assignments included Chief of the Office of Emergency Management and Disaster Response, where she set service wide policy and doctrine for Coast Guard emergency management and incident response. Prior to assuming leadership of CG-OEM, she was a member of the Coast Guard’s Office of Emerging Policy (CG-DCO-X). At DCO-X she led the Service’s strategic foresight program, Project Evergreen, and spearheaded the creation of enterprise strategies such as the 2019 Coast Guard Arctic Strategic Outlook and the 2020 tri-service maritime strategy “Advantage at Sea.” Other staff tours include Executive Fellow at the Brookings Institution and White House Fellow in the Executive Office of the President.

Kate has held a variety of operational leadership roles afloat and ashore. She led the Sector Hampton Roads Command Center to coordinate over 1200 “all hazards” maritime responses by 35 different government agencies, saving 713 lives and safeguarding more than $95 billion in commerce. Afloat, she commanded USCGC BARANOF (WPB- 1318) during a yearlong deployment in the Arabian Gulf. She has also deployed with incident management teams to oil spills and presidential inaugurations; serving as an action officer for the Principal Federal Official for Hurricane Katrina and for Operation Allies Welcome. Kate graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a B.S. in Civil Engineering, and from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government with a Master of Public Administration.​

CAPT (Ret.) André Murphy is Co-Founder of Captain and Commander Cyber Services. He previously served as the Senior Federal Technical Strategist in the Office of the CTO for CrowdStrike. Performing Federal CTO duties, he led company strategic initiatives across product, engineering, Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC), sales and marketing groups better aligning the CrowdStrike Platform to Federal Civilian, DoD, and Intelligence Community cybersecurity priorities, enabling mission outcomes.​

André retired from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2023 after serving as the Chief Information Security Officer. He capped off his 26-year military career by leading initiatives to mature the Coast Guard’s Cybersecurity Strategy, developing cybersecurity policies and standards to manage enterprise information security risk, establishing cyber governance bodies for the service’s information security program as well as co-chairing a committee to steer Zero Trust projects.

He previously provided cybersecurity and mission assurance serving as the Information System Owner and Program Manager for the Coast Guard’s Combat Management System. He led risk assessments to minimize residual risk using the NIST Risk Management Framework enabling the Coast Guard to use the system to interdict over $640M in illegal narcotics.

André received a master’s in software engineering from Auburn University and holds the following professional certifications: Certified Information Systems Security Professional, Certified Information Security Manager, Certified Cloud Security Professional, ISA 62442 Cybersecurity Fundamentals Specialist and ISA 62443 Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Specialist.

A former ship agent and logistics provider with over a decade of hands-on port operations experience, I now focus on building practical digital tools that match the realities of marine operations.​

Nawaf Nazir is a Staff Research Scientist in the Energy and Environment directorate (EED) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA. His work is at the intersection of optimization, control systems and machine learning with applications to interconnected energy and transportation systems . He is the Principal Investigator of several multi-million dollar Department of Energy and ARPA-E projects related to energy efficiency and resiliency, in which he has managed a diverse team of researchers at PNNL in addition to collaborating with academia, government, and industry. He uses his knowledge in convex and non- convex optimization to solve large-scale optimization problems in energy systems in a scalable manner with the goal of improving system resiliency, reliability and efficiency. He has spearheaded and chaired several workshops and panels at venues such as Transportation Research Board (TRB), Power and Energy Society (PES) General Meeting, PES Grid-edge conference, American Control Conference, INFORMS and SIAM. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems (TPWRS), an Associate Editor of IEEE Control Systems Society, a member of the IEEE Transportation Electrification Council, and a member of the Transportation Energy committee of TRB. He holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Vermont. ​

Suresh Vijayakumar joined Honeywell Process Solutions in 2011 as a Technical Consultant and over the years, he has risen to the position of Global Business Development Manager for Telecommunication, Industrial Security and One Wireless Business. With around 22 years of experience in the Telecommunication and Security industries, and 17 of those years at Honeywell, Suresh is a distinguished Subject Matter Expert in his field.

His expertise spans a wide range of systems including Access Control Systems (ACS), Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV), Perimeter Intrusion Detection Systems (PIDS), Radar Video Surveillance Systems (RVS), Local Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS), Public Address/General Alarm (PA/GA) systems, UHF/VHF Radios, Structured Cabling and Intercom Systems within the industrial sector. Suresh has extensive experience working across North America, EMEA, and APAC regions, demonstrating his ability to manage and execute complex projects globally.

Before his tenure at Honeywell, Suresh held several significant roles including Solution Architect for Defense & Homeland Security at Tata Advanced Systems, Lead Engineer at Honeywell Automation India Ltd, and a position at SAMC within Reliance Infocomm. His academic credentials include a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration.

At Honeywell, Suresh has played a crucial role in winning projects of various scales, from large-scale undertakings to smaller ventures. He regularly engages in customer presentations, roadshows, demos, user group presentations, global webinars, and training sessions to promote Honeywell’s solutions and share his expertise.

William P. Doyle is CEO of the Dredging Contractors of America. He previously served as Executive Director of the Port of Baltimore and as a U.S. Federal Maritime Commissioner. A graduate of Massachusetts Maritime Academy and Widener University Commonwealth Law School, he is a licensed officer in the U.S. merchant marine and a member of the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association (MEBA). ​

Berto Ponce is a data and systems engineering leader with more than a decade of experience helping ports, logistics operators, federal programs, and Fortune 100 enterprises modernize their most complex operational environments. With an engineering mindset and a background in analytics, architecture, and integration, Berto specializes in bridging legacy OT systems with modern IT and AI-driven platforms to improve decision- making, visibility, and operational flow.

He has led and supported large-scale modernization efforts across supply chain logistics, health, transportation, automotive, finance, and insurance. Today, he leads strategic initiatives at A&I Strategic Solutions, where he helps organizations evaluate, adopt, and deploy connected-intelligence solutions, including ForgeTrack, that enhance resilience across the full intermodal ecosystem.

Dwight Agriel is a Lead Cybersecurity Architect with Honeywell, specializing in industrial control systems (ICS) and operational technology (OT) security. With extensive experience in designing and implementing secure architectures for critical infrastructure, Dwight helps organizations modernize and safeguard their industrial environments against evolving cyber threats.

At Honeywell, he leads initiatives that integrate advanced monitoring, threat detection, and incident response capabilities into complex OT networks, ensuring compliance with global standards such as IEC 62443 and NIST frameworks. His work spans across multiple industries—including energy, manufacturing, and transportation—where resilience and safety are paramount.

Dwight has been a trusted advisor for Fortune 500 companies and government entities, guiding them through cybersecurity assessments, risk management strategies, and large-scale digital transformation projects. He is passionate about bridging the gap between IT and OT domains, and about enabling secure innovation for the future of ports, energy systems, and critical infrastructure.

Miles Keeney-Ritchie is the Founder and CEO of Aloft Systems, a Colorado-based company developing modular, “Plug & Sail” wind-assist wing systems to reduce fuel costs in commercial shipping. His work centers on making wind propulsion practical for the existing fleet through sails that can be installed without downtime and integrated seamlessly with cargo operations. Aloft is also advancing vessel-mounted sensor systems that transform ships into high-frequency ocean observatories to enhance weather forecasting and maritime safety. Miles brings over a decade of experience in hardware design, robotics, and new-product introduction.

Before founding Aloft Systems, he led hardware development and manufacturing programs for robotics start-ups. He holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder and is named on six patents spanning robotics, mechanical systems, and automation. Through Aloft, he is helping bridge the gap between maritime operations, renewable propulsion, and real-time ocean intelligence, working toward a future where commercial ships operate more efficiently, resiliently, and safely.

Carleen Lyden Walker, CEO of SeaTrain Technology, is a maritime professional in the commercial maritime industry with over 40 years of experience. She is Chief Evolution Officer of SHIPPINGInsight- the fleet optimization and innovation platform for shipping, founder and CEO of Morgan Marketing & Communications, the Co-Founder and CEO of NAMEPA (North American Marine Environment Protection Association), and the Founder of the Consortium for International Maritime Heritage. She is also the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of MAR (Maritime Accelerator for Resilience) and Co-Author of “ZERO POINT FOUR—How US Leadership in maritime will Secure America’s Future”.

In 2015, Ms. Walker was appointed a Goodwill Maritime Ambassador by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). She is a member of the Connecticut Maritime Association, the Marine Society of the City of New York, WISTA (Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association) WIMAC (Women in Maritime Association, Caribbean), the New York Council of the Navy League, and is a Past-President and current member of the Propeller Club Chapter of the Port of NY/NJ as well as Washington DC. She is also a member of the Pathways Advisory Committee at the Digital Harbor High School in Baltimore, is a trustee of the US Friends of the World Maritime University and is consistently listed among the top 100 women in maritime globally. Most recently, she was honored as a Top Women in Maritime by Marine Log.

In 2010, she was awarded the Certificate of Merit by the United States Coast Guard and in 2014 a Public Service Commendation for her work on World Maritime Day and AMVER, respectively. In March of 2023, she received the Distinguished Service Award from the Coast Guard for her work with both NAMEPA and SHIPPINGInsight.

Ms. Walker graduated from Wellesley College with a BA in Political Science and History (minor in Economics) and studied Accounting at Cornell School of Business Administration. She is a trained facilitator and media trainer and held a USCG Captain’s license.