John N. Stewart
"John is the founder and President of Talons Ventures. He works with disruptive startup companies, venture funds, consults to midsize to large businesses on government relations and cyber, and gives back in philanthropic efforts on education, equality, and anti-poaching. Stewart invested in Awake Security, Anomali, Cequence, Dedrone, Privoro, and RiskSense, is Chairman of the Board for CyVolve, is on the Board of Directors for BlackPoint Security, Code Dx, Lucideus, ReFirm Labs and SpyCloud, is a special advisor to the Board of Directors for Focal Point Security, Obsidian, and RedSeal, and sits on the Dean’s Advisory Council for Syracuse University’s School of Engineering. John and his family founded the Nicol-Stewart Scholarships aiding high school students into community college, and he actively supports Rhino 911, the Game Rangers Association of Africa, the Wildlife College, and multiple animal orphanages in South Africa. His motto is simple: make an impact.
"Prior to founding Talons Ventures, John served as SVP, Chief Security & Trust Officer at Cisco Systems. During his 15+ years at Cisco, Cisco established its leadership in national security matters, the enterprise security market, privacy, and trust – leadership the company carries on to this day. Under John’s leadership, the Security & Trust organization was formed, protecting Cisco’s public and private customers, enabling and ensuring Cisco Secure Development Lifecycle and Trustworthy Systems efforts across the company’s portfolio, and establishing world leadership in data protection and privacy, trust and assurance, and cybersecurity efforts with governments globally.Prior to his time at Cisco, John was CISO for Digital Island, had his first tour at Cisco, and worked at NASA Ames Research Center. Stewart holds a Bachelor and Master of Science degree in computer and information science from Syracuse University."[1]
- Director, Earth League International
