Meet the Instructors
JOY BELAND, CISM, SSAP, CMMC-AB Provisional Assessor, Provisional Instructor, is the CMMC Program Manager for Edwards Performance Solutions, delivering live training for all areas of CMMC, as well as an active participant of the Commercial Cybersecurity Assessment Team. Before joining Edwards, Joy served the MSP community as a cybersecurity education instructor, educating 3,000+ on cybersecurity fundamentals from 2019-2020. In addition to her facilitation experience, Joy owned a successful MSP in Los Angeles for 21 years.
BRIAN HUBBARD, CISM, CMMC-AB Provisional Assessor, Provisional Instructor, brings 35+ years of cybersecurity program management experience to his role as Director of Commercial and Cybersecurity business at Edwards Performance Solutions. Brian leads Edwards’ CMMC initiatives, supporting organizations in their preparation for CMMC assessments, as a CMMC-AB Registered Professional (RP). Prior to joining Edwards, Brian led the contractor team supporting NIST in the development of the "Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity" (i.e., the NIST Cybersecurity Framework) in response to Executive Order 13636.
JACOB HORNE, CISSP, CDPSE, CMMC-AB Provisional Assessor, Provisional Instructor*, is the Chief Security Evangelist for Summit 7 Systems where he specializes in helping customers, partners, and the broader defense industrial base understand how security and process can improve business operations. As a former NSA intelligence analyst and U.S. Navy cryptologic technician, Jacob has over 14 years of experience in offensive and defensive cybersecurity operations. As a civilian he has led cybersecurity compliance and engineering teams at AT&T, Northrop Grumman, and the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP).
AMIRA ARMOND, CISSP, CISA, CMMC-AB Provisional Assessor, Provisional Instructor, has 20 years’ experience in operating highly secure military networks with strong and repeatable processes. She is a founder of the C3PAO Stakeholder Forum, an industry group which focuses on standardizing assessment procedures and interpretations among C3PAOs. Amira has been an active voice in CMMC through her blog at cmmcaudit.org, a source of free resources and training for CMMC preparation. Amira is a CMMC Provisional Assessor, CMMC Provisional Instructor, Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), and Project Management Professional (PMP). Students will appreciate her deep understanding of CMMC practices and processes, scoping and boundaries, proving inheritance, and regulatory requirements for CUI.
SARA DEATON, CMMC-AB Provisional Assessor, Provisional Instructor, has 30 plus years experience in the commercial and defense industry. She was first introduced to cybersecurity when working as the sole mission assurance engineer on an FMS Weapon System development effort. Since then, Sara has been involved with cybersecurity activities. She has a BS degree in Applied Mathematics and a MS degree in Systems Engineering (Operations Research). Sara has extensive experience as an instructor. She owns and operates a small business called Atomic Wombat Inc, that focuses on CMMC, CMMI, Quality Assurance, and Process Improvement. Atomic Wombat is located in Huntsville, Alabama.
JEFF BALDWIN, CMMC-AB PA, PI | CISSP-ISSEP-ISSAP, CCSP, CISM, CISA, PMP, CSM, Cloud+, CySA+, AWS, SSE, C-SCRM brings 15+ years of cybersecurity experience in a variety of frameworks such as NIST RMF, DIACAP, NISPOM, DCID 6/3, and NISCAP. Jeff has assessed 150+ systems as a Security Control Assessor and helped 100+ systems achieve Authority to Operate (ATO) under the NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF). Jeff has 11+ years of teaching experience at accredited state universities as an Adjunct Professor, and also a former Official (ISC)2 Instructor for the CISSP and ISSEP certifications. Jeff is a Doctor of Science in Cybersecurity candidate expecting the completion of his dissertation in late 2021, and he has earned a Master of Science in Information Assurance from Capitol Technology University. His extensive teaching experience allows him to actively connect with students while providing applicable real-world examples.