Panel: bridging the cybersecurity skills gap

Director, Microprogram in Cybersecurity, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ottawa 

Guy-Vincent Jourdan joined the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Ottawa as a professor in June 2004, after spending seven years in the private sector as CTO and then Managing Director of Ottawa-based Decision Academic Graphics.

He received his PhD from the University of Rennes/INRIA in France in 1995 in the field of distributed systems analysis.

He has over 15 years' experience in research and industry collaborations. He is co-author of over a hundred scientific publications and 15 patents. Over the past decade, his main area of research has been cybersecurity, in particular the detection and prevention of cybercrime.

He is co-director of the uOttawa-IBM Cyber Range and director of the Microprogram in Cybersecurity at the Faculty of Engineering. 

Director, Microprogram in Interdisciplinary Artificial Intelligence, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ottawa 

Olubisi Runsewe  was awarded master’s and doctoral degrees in digital transformation and innovation from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Ottawa. She is currently the director of the Master of Interdisciplinary Artificial intelligence (MIAI) program at uOttawa, where she also teaches several courses at the Faculty of Engineering in areas such as machine learning, data science and natural language processing (NLP). She works in the industry as a machine learning engineer, designing, building, and optimizing AI models for various use cases. Her past experiences include serving as the AI/DS track coordinator for the Digital Egypt Builders Initiative (DEBI) program offered by uOttawa to international students at Cairo University, and working as a data integration analyst and scientist. Her current research interests include explainable AI (XAI), low-resource generative AI, AI model training and optimization, and AI platforms for education. 

Director, Digital Impact Office Canada, Cisco 

Wayne is a business and innovation leader with over 20 years’ experience in global innovation leadership, customer innovation impact delivery, digital transformation, corporate affairs, scaling strategy, operations and developing and deploying best practices.

He is a pragmatic and agile leader interested in driving change, generating new ideas and developing programs to scale corporate strategy. He is passionate about diversity and inclusion, and has a strong desire to find uncommon intersections between previously held roles, including corporate affairs, corporate social responsibility, IT, strategy, operations and business analysis and process consulting, project and program management. He wants to find new ways to make a difference and scale results. 

Director of Marketing and Business Development, Fortinet Training Institute, Fortinet 

Melonia (Mel) da Gama is the Director of Marketing and Business Development for the Fortinet Training Institute. With a passion for driving growth and innovation in the cybersecurity sector, she leverages an understanding of market trends with her customers’ and partners’ needs, to develop strategic initiatives that contribute to the decrease of the cybersecurity skills and workforce gaps.

In addition to her marketing expertise, Mel is dedicated to advancing corporate social responsibility programs and initiatives within the cybersecurity industry. She believes in the importance of ethical business practices and actively works to implement programs that contribute positively to the global community and promote sustainability in the cyber industry.

Beyond her professional pursuits, Mel is committed to mentoring emerging talent and advocating for cybersecurity education for all ages. In her free time, she enjoys all summer sports along with downhill skiing in the winter, to help her stay creative and inspired.

Mel holds an Honours BA in Communications from the University of Ottawa.