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Posted March 24, 2021
In honor of Women’s History Month, GreyCastle Security is highlighting some of the women in leadership positions at the organization. We are very proud to have amazing women in leadership positions here, and all the women at GreyCastle Security make valuable contributions every day.
We’re closing out March with our Human Resources Manager, Courtney Warren. Courtney was originally planning on going into healthcare, but she learned that our friends sometimes know us better than we do: she took a friend’s recommendation for an HR role and found she really enjoyed it! Now Courtney is a steady presence at GreyCastle Security, supporting our whole team and managing her own department.
Courtney’s advice for women who want to advance their careers is to find mentors, join professional organizations, and attend training sessions and workshops. You can learn from others’ experiences while developing your network of relationships. Once you’re more established in your career, consider mentoring others. It will not only let you help up-and-coming young women, but it will also help you deepen your technical and leadership skills.
Whether you’ve just hired someone new or you’ve just started a new role, Courtney wants you to keep in mind that things take time. Between company policies, brand standards, and new coworkers, a new hire has a lot to get straight and won’t reach their full potential for years – so keep your expectations in check.
With hiring and HR insights like those, Courtney has helped grow GreyCastle Security tremendously. We’ve seen several women promoted to manager and director positions under her tenure, so it’s appropriate we finish Women’s History Month with Courtney. While we featured five women on this blog, we have so many more female leaders at this company we have yet to profile. We look forward to all of their contributions going forward!
I am currently the HR Manager, so I run the Human Resources functions. Before that, I was the People and Culture Specialist, which was a hybrid role with culture and HR functions. As of March of last year, I fully moved into HR management. I make sure we’re staying compliant and keeping updated on any new laws, policies, or regulations within the states we operate in, and I’m always available when anyone needs to talk, run ideas, or discuss an issue they’re having. I’m basically here for the people of GreyCastle Security.
I actually studied management in college, and I worked at a hospital for a little while. I was planning on getting a degree in nursing after graduating, then slowly working my way up through nursing management. But then I was approached by a friend who worked in HR – her company had an opportunity she thought I would be really interested in. I decided to interview for the HR support role, got the offer, took that on, and now I’ve been in HR for almost eight years, so I obviously enjoy it! It’s definitely challenging at times, and it’s always changing, so I’m always learning something new.
Right now, that’s a tricky question. The week after I took on HR, we went into a global pandemic, so a lot of resources and focus have been directed at those efforts. We’re always here for any employees if they need to bounce an idea off me, or they’re thinking about joining an organization, and they want to make sure it’s okay with GreyCastle. Christina D’Antonio is always willing to talk to school districts and college classes about how young women can get involved in the IT industry and cybersecurity industry, and we fully support that. We always try to bring managers and employees from a variety of backgrounds to career fairs, so we can showcase cybersecurity to all incoming students. We like to have the employees involved in what the company’s involved in.
One thing I would suggest is finding a mentor or advisor within your field – I have my own mentor and advisor – or joining a group or organization, like Women in Cybersecurity or something like that. I also suggest being a mentor: sharing your knowledge and experiences with the next up-and-coming cybersecurity professional, particularly young women in college or just entering the field. It’s nice to share not only your successes but also your failures, so they can learn from them, too.
When I started my second job in HR, the director of HR told me it was going to take me three years to learn my job. I wish every manager and that mentality. I wish every manager understood that even if you have ten years of experience, starting a new job at a new organization will take a while. It will take time to get up to speed on how the company does things and to get to know your team members. I thought that was really useful advice – it’s definitely true. I’m eight years in to human resources and three years in at GreyCastle Security, and I’m still learning new things every day – new situations still come up. It’s important to realize you’ll be a rock star eventually, but not in the first three months; it takes time to get there.
Joining groups is a great way to find a mentor, or going to any workshop that you can. I’m attending a workshop tomorrow, as it gives you time to socialize and get to meet new people within your field, including women in leadership positions. It’s a great way to connect and find somebody who might share common goals or career aspirations.
Obviously, there haven’t been any particular problems at GreyCastle Security, and this is my first role at an IT company. In general, I think being heard can be very challenging. I’m a quiet person, so sometimes I can get talked over. I’m always making an effort to ensure that my voice is being heard, and I’m trying to do it in a way that doesn’t seem “feisty” or “snippy.”
Honestly, I am most proud of how much I have grown professionally and how I’ve been a part of the company’s growth. GreyCastle Security took a chance on hiring me, and here I am three years later, working alongside such awesome people. I’m also proud of how much my colleagues have grown over the past three years. We’ve worked really collaboratively during my tenure here, and I’m excited to continue to do so.
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Ho Chin is Chief Financial Officer at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Ho leads Finance, HR, IT and Professional Development. As part of the executive leadership team, Ho works to establish the company’s overall strategy and ensure proper execution of the supporting initiatives pertaining to the above areas of responsibility.
Prior to joining GreyCastle Security, Ho led finance and administrative functions at multiple private equity and venture-backed portfolio companies across multiple industries. Ho holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University in Centre County, Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Michael Stamas is an entrepreneur, board member, Vice President and a founder of GreyCastle Security. With more than two decades of experience in the technology sector, Mike pairs his management and business development skills with a deep understanding of cybersecurity. Mike brings a unique brand of risk-based advising to GreyCastle clients and prospects.
Mike holds certifications in numerous security and technology related areas, including the Department of Homeland Security and other security technologies like Symantec, Cisco and Microsoft.
Mike plays an active role in his community and serves as a board member and Vice President of InfraGard Albany as well as an advisory board position with the Capital Region YMCA.
Mike has been recognized for his numerous achievements through various honors including the Albany Business Review’s prestigious 40 Under 40 award.
Dan Kalil is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board Chairman at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Dan provides vision, leadership and strategies that drive GreyCastle Security’s position as an industry leader. With an emphasis on customer success, Dan’s profitable growth model leverages a customer-centric business approach that balances employee wellbeing and social responsibility.
Prior to becoming CEO, Dan served as the company’s Chief Strategy Officer, during which he supported multiple acquisitions and helped the organization achieve substantial sales growth. In addition to serving as CEO at GreyCastle Security, Dan continues to hold the position of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Assured information Security (AIS) in Rome, New York, a company he co-founded in 2001.
Over the course of the last 22 years, Dan has been committed to advancing the state of cybersecurity and has played an instrumental role in the identification and development of critical, next-generation cyber capabilities. He has held positions in almost every facet of cybersecurity, beginning as a computer forensic examiner and progressing through the management and executive leadership ranks. In addition to co-founding AIS, Dan has facilitated multiple cybersecurity startups, raised investment capital and has served in various lead and support roles toward the acquisition of five companies in the last eight years.
Dan has a bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity and a master’s degree in Cybersecurity from Utica College in Utica, New York.
Dan Maynard serves as GreyCastle Security’s Chief Operating Officer, where he currently leads Sales, Marketing and Legal.
Dan has enjoyed a 30+ year career in the Information Technology and Telecommunications industry, during which time he has held various leadership positions for organizations such as Rochester Tel/RCI, Citizens Communications (Frontier), PAETEC Communications, IntegraOptics, tw telecom/Level3 and Centurylink.
In addition to various voice and data technology platforms, he possesses a strong background in leadership development, sales and marketing leadership, transformational leadership and strategic planning. Dan has a thirst for knowledge and as a committed lifelong learner, he encourages and supports professional development initiatives for his teams and continues his involvement with Vistage International.
Dan holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he was selected as a member of their Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016.
When not at work, Dan enjoys traveling, golfing, attending Utica Comets hockey games and relaxing in the Adirondacks on beautiful Canada Lake with family and friends.
Dan Didier is the Vice President of Solutions and board member at GreyCastle Security.
Dan has been a cybersecurity practitioner for more than 20 years and uses his knowledge and experience to develop cybersecurity solutions that ensure readiness and preparedness.
Dan received his bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications from SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, New York, and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a master’s degree in Information Assurance from Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont.
Our Computer Incident Response Teams (CIRTs) have responded to hundreds of breaches, intrusions, malware infections, thefts, employee investigations, fraud cases and other incidents. Our highly-certified experts have extensive experience in command, coordination and correction of incidents in nearly every industry throughout North America, from local businesses to Fortune 500 international conglomerates.
800-403-8350Francesca LoPorto-Brandow is Director of Culture at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Francesca leads all social responsibility efforts and partnerships and develops effective strategies that promote organizational-wide behaviors and attitudes consistent with a culture of safety, inclusion, teamwork, motivation and high-performance.
Prior to this role, Francesca was Director of People & Culture at GreyCastle and with her leadership, the company’s culture has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as a Nationally recognized Best Workplace, Albany Business Review Best Places to Work and Albany Times Union Top Workplaces.
Before joining GreyCastle Security, Francesca worked as an OD consultant and focused on strategic culture change at The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group, Inc. for more than six years. There, she facilitated client education sessions, coached leaders and teams, developed and executed consulting interventions and served as strategy project leader on various client engagements. Her work has taken her into Fortune 100 companies and across borders including Panama, Singapore and beyond.
Francesca is a Lean Six Sigma–certified Green Belt, a proud YWCA-GCR board member and in 2013, she coordinated and emceed the inaugural TEDx Troy—a livestream of TEDCity 2.0. Since 2012, she has coordinated and emceed the Troy 100 Forum, a biannual forum for government, religious and community leaders to discuss issues vital to the future of Troy, New York.
Bilingual in English and Italian, Francesca holds a bachelor’s degree in Management and Technology from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lally School of Management & Technology. She was awarded Cybersecurity Recruiter of the year North America in 2017 by the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards.
Jamie Aiello is Senior Vice President of Services and Product Management at GreyCastle Security. In this position, Jamie is responsible for leading a high performing and well-balanced team that is ultimately responsible for the identification, selection, execution and successful performance of our company’s diverse portfolio of cybersecurity offerings.
Prior to joining GreyCastle Security, Jamie has held leadership positions with Annese and Associates, ConvergeOne and BlueSky IT Partners with a focus on delivering cost effective information technology solutions for companies across multiple verticals.
Jamie holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, a master’s degree in Business Administration from Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina and a master’s degree in Computer Information Systems from University of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona.
