May 9-11, 2022

 Ronald Plesco, a former prosecutor, is an internationally known information security and privacy lawyer with more than 20 years of experience in cyber investigations, privacy, threat intelligence, information assurance, identity management, cyber threats and cyber-enabled frauds, data analytics and artificial intelligence.

Ronald's clients represent the top global retail, financial, manufacturing, automotive, technology, communications, defense, life sciences and private equity corporations. 

Steve is an Intelligence Analyst III on the Malware and Cyber Threats team at the NCFTA and has been with the organization for the past 7 months. His duties primarily include moniker and marketplace research, dark web investigations, partner driven cyber threat intelligence requests, among others. Prior to the NCFTA, Steve has worked in various intelligence roles with 2 government defense contracting companies in northern Virginia. He also is a 7 year Navy veteran where he worked in Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) on both sea and shore duty on board USS Halsey (DDG-97) out of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii and Information Warfare Training Group out of Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. .

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Sean Williams is a Trainer and Intelligence Analyst within Training at the National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance (NCFTA) located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sean does dark web research and analysis on illicit markets, forums, actors, coordinates and develops training on a variety of topics, as well as cryptocurrency investigations. He received a graduate degree in Security and Intelligence Studies from the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. He has over 19 years of both active and reserve military service.

  Dan Costa is the Technical Manager of Enterprise Threat and Vulnerability Management in the CERT Division of the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute. Dan leads the research and engineering efforts of the Insider Risk and Applied Network Defense teams, which conduct empirical research and develop solutions that enable organizations to effectively manage insider risks and advance the state of the practice in technical cybersecurity assessments.

Dan has over 13 years of professional experience in cybersecurity and software engineering, and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and a IEEE Certified Professional Software Engineering Master. Dan holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree from Bucknell University and is an adjunct faculty member in the H. John Heinz III College at Carnegie Mellon University.

U.S. Postal Inspector Jonathan Speck has been employed with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for over 17 years and is currently assigned to the Philadelphia Division, South Jersey Multi-Functional Team, Wilmington, DE Domicile. Prior to his assignment in Wilmington, Inspector Speck was stationed in Baltimore, MD from 2010 - 2015 and Charleston, WV from 2005 - 2010. Prior to his tenure with the Inspection Service, Inspector Speck was employed as State Trooper with the Maryland State Police, serving in both a patrol capacity and as a detective, for approximately 8 years. Inspector Speck is a 1996 graduate of American University and holds a B.A. in Justice. 

Gina Fagan is an Intelligence Team Lead for the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA), a non-profit corporation which collaborates with academia, private industry, and law enforcement to neutralize cyber crime. Gina is responsible for managing the daily tactical operations of the Cyber Financial (CyFin) Program which enables financial institutions and law enforcement to identify, mitigate, and disrupt threats to the financial services industry. Gina holds a BA in Criminal Justice from California University of Pennsylvania. She has been with the NCFTA since 2013.

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Courtney Vasil is an intelligence analyst with the NCFTA’s cyber financial program and primarily focuses on the Business Email Compromise, Real Time Payments, and Dark Web initiatives. Courtney has been with the NCFTA for a little over a year. Prior to working at the NCFTA, she interned with FBI Pittsburgh in their cyber division. Courtney graduated from Robert Morris University in the fall of 2020 with her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Cyber Security and Data Analytics.

Currently the Senior Director of Fraud Strategy at Sallie Mae, Chris has over 20 years of fraud operations, strategy, and policy experience within the Financial Services industry. Chris has acquired expertise related to credit/debit/prepaid cards, digital payments, mobile wallet, Buy Now Pay Later, and consumer banking products by serving in key leadership roles in FinTech and banking at PayPal, Capital One, Chase, and Citi. A frequent industry speaker and panelist on fraud and financial crime topics, his education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from Widener University, a Master of Science degree in Administration of Justice and Homeland Security from Wilmington University and achievement of the CFE credential, as a Certified Fraud Examiner.

James has been with NW3C since 2002 and is currently a Vice President primarily dealing with financial crime and intelligence analysis training and technical assistance. In 2005, he was involved in the early planning and development phase of what became the Financial Crimes Against Seniors (FCAS) course and has participated in updates to that curriculum over the years. James has also instructed the FCAS class and has presented on elder exploitation topics at conferences over the past few years. He is currently working with the development team to create a new Office for Victims of Crime funded course for law enforcement, Responding to Transnational Elder Fraud. He also assisted with the development of the user guide for the Senior Abuse Financial Tracking and Accounting (SAFTA) tool and provides technical assistance to those using the tool when needed. James is also currently a member of the Advisory Board for the National Elder Abuse Multidisciplinary Team Training and Technical Assistance Center.

Detective Matt Dotts has been employed by the Derry Township Police Department in Hershey, Pennsylvania for twenty-three years. He is currently assigned to the criminal investigation section where he specializes in the investigation of financial and Internet-facilitated crimes. He is a Task Force Officer (TFO) with the Complex Financial Crime Task Force of the FBI’s Harrisburg office and before that he spent three years as a TFO with the Cyber Crime Unit of the FBI’s Philadelphia field office.

Matt holds many industry-recognized certifications including the Certified Financial Crime Investigator (CFCI), Certified Economic Crime Forensic Examiner (CECFE), and the GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC) and Certified Incident Handler (GCIH). Additionally, he has a master’s degree in criminal justice with a concentration in digital forensics.

Detective Dotts is an adjunct instructor at the Harrisburg Area Community College where he instructs a range of criminal justice courses. He frequently lectures to private, civic, and business groups about cyber-financial crime, Internet security, and the criminal use of technology. 

He authors the weekly newsletter "Threats Without Borders" hosted at  https://cyficrime.substack.com/

Janet is an expert in the compliance field with over 20 years of compliance and risk management experience. Her proven skills in risk management, strategic planning, business development, and leadership has contributed to her success with assisting clients in building robust and comprehensive compliance programs and risk management frameworks that meet regulatory expectations, industry best practices and internal policies and expectations. She manages complex compliance consulting projects including those regarding the high risk areas of fair lending, CRA and BSA/AML. 

In addition to her consulting expertise, Janet also performs compliance and BSA audits for a wide range of financial institution clients including foreign banking organizations and de novo organizations. She has been involved in BSA remediation projects for a wide variety of financial institutions. Janet has experience in developing and delivering compliance training for all levels of personnel including Boards of Directors. She has been a featured speaker at industry events on compliance, risk management and other industry topics. 

Mr. Melucci has been an Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania since 2006, and currently serves in the Economic Crimes Section. He has prosecuted a variety of financial fraud schemes, including bank, wire and mail frauds, identity theft, tax, embezzlement, Ponzi schemes, bankruptcy frauds, cyber frauds, as well as online frauds perpetrated through the internet such as romance scams and business email compromises.

He chairs the Bankruptcy Fraud Task Force, and the Identity Theft Fraud Working Group for the Department of Justice. He also coordinates the SAR working group for the district.

His notable prosecutions include convictions against “Dance Moms” TV star Abby Miller for bankruptcy fraud and structuring foreign, convictions against several Cuban nationals who hacked into a UPMC database, and a conviction against an insurance agent who perpetrated a $10 million dollar investment-Ponzi scheme. He also prosecuted the UPMC hacker who stole over 60,000 identities of UPMC employees in 2014.

He is a graduate of the Dickinson School of Law, and Washington and Jefferson College.

Matt Ragan has been a Special Agent with the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation’s office in Pittsburgh for 11 years.  During that time he has worked on investigations including tax, money laundering, mortgage fraud, embezzlement and narcotics violations.  He has been the Bank Secrecy Act Coordinator for the Western District of Pennsylvania for more than two years.  Matt is a also Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).

Steve Zinger manages a team of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Risk Experts at PNC. His team drives direction of the AML Modeling infrastructure, including the development of models/non-models, and other analytical tools used in the detection of money laundering. Steve’s team applies AML Risk Management expertise by using big data and machine learning to target transaction risk. Current focus includes enhancing behavior detection scenarios to account for recently acquired customers and building new scenarios designed to address emerging risks.

Over his 24 years of combating financial crimes in both the fraud and AML areas, he has accumulated expertise in detection, investigation, and mitigating fraud and AML. Steve earned his bachelor’s degree in the Administration of Justice at the University of Pittsburgh. His professional certifications include Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (ACAM’s) and Certified Financial Crimes Specialist (ACFCS). Steve was the IAFCI Pittsburgh Metro Chapter President between 2014 and 2020 and currently serves as co-chair of the Human Trafficking Working Group for the IAFCI governing body. Steve has been a “supporting cast member” of the Keystone Konnection since it’s inception. 

Special Agent Teke Brown started his career in the United States Marine Corps in 1993 and after six years joined the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) as a Special Agent where he spent the next 18 years. Teke and the Agents he led ran investigations ranging from counterterrorism/espionage to procurement fraud. Teke joined the US Department of Education Office of the Inspector General in 2018 and is currently serving as the Resident Agent in Charge of the OIG’s Pittsburgh Office where he investigates felony crimes and allegations of wrongdoing impacting the department and its employees. 

 Special Agent Thomas joined the United States Department of Education Office of Inspector General in 2016. Over the past six years, he has led and assisted with numerous complex fraud investigations into public corruption, large-scale fraud rings, and institutional and program fraud within state and local education agencies, proprietary schools, and postsecondary institutions resulting in millions of dollars in restitutions, civil judgements, and administrative savings. Prior to ED OIG, Special Agent Thomas worked at the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Multidisciplinary Studies from West Virginia University, a Master of Science in Criminal Justice and Public Administration from Liberty University, and is a Certified Fraud Examiner.