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Leigh Williams,
President
Leigh Williams was appointed President of BITS in April 2007. Previously, Leigh was a Senior Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, in the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. While at Harvard, his research focused on public and private sector collaboration in the governance of privacy and security. Prior to joining the Kennedy School, Leigh worked for many years at Fidelity Investments in various risk management, security and privacy roles, including Chief Risk Officer and Chief Privacy Officer. His most recent position at Fidelity was Senior Vice President, Public Policy. While with Fidelity Investments, Leigh served the industry in a variety of leadership roles, including many within BITS and the rest of The Financial Services Roundtable. Leigh served as Chairman of the BITS Security and Risk Assessment Steering Committee, co-Chair of the BITS Privacy Working Group, and as a member of the BITS Advisory Board. He was one of the early leaders of the Identity Theft Assistance Center (ITAC), serving as an officer and member of the first Board of Directors of ITAC from 2004 - 2006.
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John W. Carlson,
Senior Vice President
John W. Carlson leads the regulatory program at BITS/Financial Services Roundtable. He engages experts and executives from regulatory agencies and financial institutions on information security, operational risk, vendor management, fraud risk, and business continuity planning issues. John currently serves as the chair of the Research and Development Committee of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security. From 2002-2007, he managed the BITS Security and Crisis Management Coordination Working Groups. John is the author of numerous BITS guides and risk management frameworks. From 1993-2002, John served in a variety of roles at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, including acting director, deputy director and senior advisor of the Bank Technology division, deputy director of Year 2000 Supervision Policy division, special assistant to the Comptroller, and financial economist. From 1990-1993, John focused on banking and deposit insurance reform policy and budget issues at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. From 1988-1990, he served as a financial analyst on payment system issues at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. In 1986, he worked on housing issues at the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. John holds a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a BA from the University of Maryland where he served on the Board of Regents.

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Tanya K. Bailey,
Vice President
Tanya Bailey plans, implements and manages BITS' Advisory Council, Working Group, and Steering Committee meetings, as well as BITS educational forums and BITS' role at the Roundtable Fall Conference and Annual Meeting. Tanya plans approximately 50 events per year at locations across the U.S. Tanya began working at BITS in 1998. Before joining BITS, Tanya served as an event manager at the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. Tanya's meeting and event planning experience began over 14 years ago with her work at the Department of Defense and later at the Public Employees Roundtable. At the DoD, Tanya coordinated events that promoted women and minorities in the workforce, organized DoD's Adopt-a-School program, coordinated sign language training courses for employees, and assisted with the management and structure of the DC Summer Youth Program. A graduate of the University of Maryland College Park, Tanya holds BS and MS degrees in program management for family and community development programs.
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Gary S. Roboff,
Senior Consultant
Gary Roboff leads BITS' efforts related to payments strategies and standards for emerging e-commerce applications, and co-managed BITS' efforts in authentication and aggregation services. Gary has 25 years of experience in financial services planning and management, and has worked extensively in retail distribution. Prior to joining BITS, Gary was senior vice president of e-commerce at the Chase Manhattan Bank. Gary was a founder of the International Security Trust and Privacy Alliance (ISTPA), and serves on the organization's board of directors. At Chase Manhattan in 1996 and 1997, Gary led efforts to return the Bank to the merchant services business with the founding of Chase Merchant Services LLC, the nation's largest acquirer. During 1993 and 1994, Gary served as interim President of the New York Switch Corporation, (the NYCE network), and founded its successor corporation, Infinet Payment Services (now NYCE Corporation). Prior to 1993, Gary was vice president and director of business planning and strategy development in the Electronic Banking Group at Chemical Bank. He was a member of the NYCE Board of Directors from 1986 until 1993. Gary received BA and MA degrees from Clark University and has completed additional graduate work at M.I.T.
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Paul N. Smocer,
Vice President
Paul Smocer joined BITS in February 2008. As Vice President of Security, Paul is responsible for leading BITS' work in promoting the safety and soundness of financial institutions through best practices and successful strategies for developing secure infrastructures, products and services. Paul has over thirty years' experience in security and control functions, most recently focusing on technology risk management at The Bank of New York Mellon Company and leading information security at the former Mellon Financial Corporation. While at Bank of New York Mellon and at Mellon, Paul was actively engaged with BITS as a member of its Vendor Management Working Group, Chair of the Security Steering Committee in 2005 and 2006, and as 2004 Chair of the former Operational Risk Committee.
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Ann Patterson,
Vice President
Ann Patterson directs member relations for BITS, ensuring BITS members receive maximum value from their relationship with BITS. Additionally, Ann manages the BITS Product Certification Program and BITS' relationships with strategic non-member partners. Prior to joining BITS in February 2002, Ann was the alliance marketing manager for EYT, formerly Ernst & Young Technologies. At EYT, Ann was responsible for developing and executing strategic business development and marketing programs with EYT's technology partners. Previously, Ann held various positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers in its marketing, business development, and strategic communications groups. Prior to PwC, Ann worked for the Department of Defense (DoD). She holds a BS in commercial arts from Hood College.
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Heather Wyson,
Director
Heather Wyson joined BITS in 2001. Today, she is the Director for the BITS Fraud Reduction Program and the Crisis Management Coordination initiative. Heather manages a variety of projects for the Crisis Management Coordination group related to critical infrastructure protection and cross-sector coordination. With the Fraud Reduction Program, Heather focuses on debit and ATM card fraud, internal fraud, and remote channel fraud. She has a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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John Ingold,
Director
John Ingold leads BITS' Vendor Management Program. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association. Before briefly practicing law, John consulted for BITS on security matters including the BITS Key Considerations for Securing Data in Storage and Transport. John earned his law degree from the George Washington University Law School where he was a Dean's Fellow in the legal writing program. While in law school, John interned with BITS where he focused on security issues. Before law school, John worked for nearly five years as a network administrator, network consultant, and as an electronic commerce website developer.
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Matthew Ribe,
Project Manager
Matt Ribe initially joined BITS as an intern in 2005. He returned in 2006 after graduating from Amherst College, and soon came on board permanently as a Project Manager providing support for payments-related and fraud reduction work. Currently Matt works on the Security and Regulatory initiatives.
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Andrew Kennedy,
Project Administrator
Andrew Kennedy joined BITS in 2008 and currently works with the Fraud and Vendor Management programs. He interned at BITS in 2006 while earning his degree from Cal State East Bay. Previously, Andrew worked as an IT professional and Security consultant with over a decade of experience working in the biotech and software industry in California.
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Wattie Bennett,
Executive Assistant
Wattie Bennett is the Executive Assistant to BITS President Leigh Williams. Wattie joined the BITS staff in June of 1997. Her primary responsibilities include scheduling speaking engagements for Leigh and assisting with the coordination of conference and meeting arrangements with other professionals in the financial services industry. Wattie is also in charge of day-to-day office operations, administration, and communications for the BITS office in Washington D.C. Prior to joining the BITS team, Wattie worked at Bell Atlantic Corporation providing administrative support to senior management.
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George Forsberg,
Chief Financial Officer
George Forsberg joined BITS and The Financial Services Roundtable in September 2004. Previously chief financial officer at Empower America, George serves both BITS and the Roundtable as CFO. He is a CPA with expertise in accounting management, budgeting, financial forecasting and preparation of financial statements. George has previously served in finance and accounting roles at the Department of Agriculture and the Peace Corps. A graduate of Northern Virginia Community College, he holds a BS in Business Administration/Accounting from West Virginia University.
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Carrie Neckorcuk,
Human Resources Director

Carrie Neckorcuk has 20 years of experience working in law, lobbying firms and trade associations in Washington, DC. She joined BITS and The Financial Services Roundtable in January of 2002, working with BITS and Roundtable staff on a range of human resources issues. Carrie holds a BA from Rutgers University.
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-Richard A. Clarke, Chairman, Good Harbor Consulting, and former Special Advisor to the President on Cyberspace Security