Derek Harp

Over the last 20 years, it has been my privilege & passion to start, fund & run companies, sharing my experience with others along the way. It has always been very personally satisfying to help business owners, executives, startup founders & students to improve their entrepreneurial plans, businesses, outlooks or strategies.

My career has had a frequent focus on cyber security. Going back to my time as a U.S. Navy Officer where I was introduced to communications security, management and intelligence; to co-inventing Intellishield™, a pioneer IT security product which was later acquired by Cisco Systems; co-founding NexDefense, a software company focused on the specific security needs of industrial control systems (ICS) asset owners.

I've enjoyed professionally speaking for many years: keynotes, workshops and guest lectures on a variety of topics. As a speaker, I often draw from my decades of experience as an entrepreneur, business owner and my work in the cyber security industry to share interesting yet relevant stories with my audiences. It is my goal to make a meaningful impact with every interaction. Learn more at my website DerekHarp.com.

One of the things I’m most proud of is my cyber workforce development efforts through co-founding the GICSP Certification and the non-profit, Control Systems Cyber Security Association International (CS2AI). I have always believed that if we obtain insight, opportunities & success in life, then we have some duty to give back. It is not one 3rd party’s job (Government, for example) to solve all the cyber security problems we face; the truth is it is all our collective responsibilities. CS2AI is contributing to the solution by creating opportunities for local peer groups of individuals charged with protecting our most critical cyber to physical systems.