McClure School Day 2024, Speakers' Bios
Dr. Marco Mezzavilla
Dr. Mezzavilla is a Research Faculty at NYU's Tandon School of Engineering. He leads multiple next-generation wireless projects. He is also a co-founder of Pi-Radio, a startup company that develops software-defined radio platforms for frontier wireless research. Dr. Mezzavilla received a B.Sc. and a MSc in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Padova in Italy and a Ph.D. in Information Engineering from the same university. He has held visiting research positions at the NEC Network Laboratories in Heidelberg, Germany, at the Telematics Department at Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain and at Qualcomm Research in San Diego. He has authored and co-authored 80+ papers in conferences, journals, and several patent applications in the communications field. |
Mr. Todd Boyer
Mr. Boyer graduated from the McClure School of Communication Systems Management at Ohio University. He is currently the President and CEO of TowerCo. TowerCo is among the 15 largest companies in the US wireless tower communications sector. In the past, he has held positions at Cellular One (now Verizon), SBA Communications, Nextel Communications and SpectraSite Communications. |
Mr. Kirk Herath
Mr. Herath is currently the Cybersecurity Strategic Advisor for Ohio's Governor Mark DeWine. In his career, he has successfully led teams that provide legal and regulatory support for Fortune 100 companies technology plans, including data privacy, data governance and information and cyber security plans. He holds a Bachelor in Arts in Political Science and History from the University of Cincinnati and a Juris Doctor in Corporate Law from Capital University Law School. |
Mrs. Holly Drake
Mrs. Drake is currently the Chief Information Security Office for the State of Ohio. In the past she has held multiple positions in the cybersecurity industry in the public and private sectors At Ohio State University she was the Chief Privacy Officer and Director of Cybersecurity Governance. At Nationwide Insurance she help the position of Director of Privacy. She is a graduate from Ohio State University where she studied Russian Language and Literature and Case Western Reserve University where she obtained an MSW in Social Work. |
Mr. Tod Bickley
Mr. Bickley is the Associate Vice President for Technology Engineering for Identity and Access Management at Nationwide Insurance in Columbus, Ohio. He is an executive, leader in the industry with over 25 years of experience in multiple IT domains, including cybersecurity. At Nationwide Insurance, he has also been the Associate Vice President of Infrastructure Engineering. He is a graduate of the McClure School of Communication Systems Management (now ITS) at Ohio University. |
Mr. Brian Mannion
Mr. Mannion is currently the Chief Legal Officer at Aware. He focuses on the legal and governance issues associated with employees using technology in the workplace. In the past, he was Nationwide Insurance's Associate General Counsel. He holds a BA in Political Science from Miami University in Ohio and a Juris Doctorate from Capital University Law School. |
Mr. Justin Ruh
Mr. Ruh graduated with a BSc in Structural Engineering from Clemson University. He is currently the Director of Engineering at Paul J. Ford & Company. He is a licensed professional engineer. Mr. Ruh is an experienced Engineering Manager with a proven history in the communications industry. Responsible for client development, engineering operations, staffing decisions, budget creation, quality assurance and technical leadership. Technical expertise in broadcast towers, rigging plans and tower modifications. |
Mr. Riley Engle
Mr. Engle is a Senior Network Engineer at Rivian in Normal, Illinois. At Rivian, Mr. Engle manages an industrial communications network with over 10,000 nodes in a very large electric vehicle manufacturing plant. In the past, he was an IT Specialist with RoviSys in Aurora, Ohio where he provided data networking expertise for manufacturing plants in a variety of industries. He holds a BSc in Communications and a Master of Science in Information and Telecommunication Systems from the McClure School at Ohio University. |