Who Should Attend:

IT professionals and others who are responsible for information technology programs as well as members of the operations and engineering functions who would like to build a stronger relationship with IT.

Conference Overview:

Come to NWPPA’s IT Conference for a chance to reconnect and network with your peers (in person)! During the conference you will have the opportunity to discuss how the pandemic affected your utility, share your solutions in meeting those challenges, and learn how other utilities overcame their challenges as well. You will also learn from industry experts about NERC CIP, cloud migrations, and several other hot topics. Author of The Power of Understanding People, Dave Mitchell, will close out the conference by looking at the importance of lasting professional relationships and how to cultivate them.

Conference Agenda:

Tuesday, October 26

7-8 a.m. Registration and breakfast buffet

8-8:15 a.m. Welcome and opening remarks

Chad Schow, IT Conference Chair, Information Technology Manager, Franklin County PUD

8:15-9:15 a.m. Recent Vendor Attacks

Paul Weatherhead, VP & Chief Technology Officer, Digital Boundary Group; and Tom Bigos, Senior Security Specialist, Digital Boundary Group

9:15-10 a.m. Cyber Mutual Assistance

Carter Manucy, Florida Municipal Power Agency

10-10:30 a.m. Vendor Café Break

10:30 - 11 a.m. CISRT Lessons Learned

Jason Davis, Cyber Program Manager, Energy Northwest

Chad Schow, IT Conference Chair, Information Technology Manager, Franklin County PUD

11 a.m.-noon Integrating Virtual and Augmented Reality into your Training Programs

Chris Scholz, CEO, Free RangeXR

Noon-1 p.m. Lunch and Vendor Café

1-2:15 p.m. Remote Working Roundtable: What Worked, What Didn’t, and the Lessons Learned

Chad Schow, IT Conference Chair, Information Technology Manager, Franklin County PUD

2:15-2:45 p.m. Vendor Café break

2:45-3 p.m. Message from our sponsors

3-3:30 p.m. Data Analytics

Speaker TBD

3:30-4 p.m. PCI-DSS Common Challenges

Michael Coumerihl, Information Security Consultant, National Information Solutions Cooperative

4:00 p.m. Adjourn

5-6 p.m. Reception

Wednesday, October 27

7:30-8:30 a.m. Breakfast buffet and Vendor Café

8:30-8:45 a.m. Welcome

Chad Schow, IT Conference Chair, Information Technology Manager, Franklin County PUD

8:45-9:45 a.m. AMI Panel – How It Impacts IT

Chris Folta, Director of Information Technology and Broadband, Benton County PUD; Joel Moore, Network and Cybersecurity Administrator, Mason County PUD No. 3; and Ken Murray, Information Technology Manager, Central Lincoln PUD

9:45-10:30 a.m. NERC CIP Overview

Mike Gabriel, Director, Corporate Operations, Cooper Compliance

10:30-11 a.m. Vendor Café break

11-11:15 a.m. Message from our sponsors

11:15 a.m.-noon Cloud Migrations and Cloud-Native Infrastructure – Services and Applications

Alec Taylor, Partner and Consultant, Ivoxy Consulting, LLC

Noon-1 p.m. Lunch and Vendor Café

1-2 p.m. Secure Desktop with Tools You Have – Leveraging Azure, Windows Virtual Desktop, and Intune for the Modern Remote Worker

Speaker TBD, Compunet, Inc.

2-2:45 p.m. The New Active Directory – Understanding Identity with Azure Active Directory and What It Means for Compliance and Remote Access

Speaker TBD, Compunet, Inc.

2:45-3:15 p.m. Vendor Café break

3:15-4:15 p.m. How to Harden Your Attack Surface in the Age of Software Vendor Supply-Chain Attacks

Speaker TBD, InfoRisk

4:15-4:30 p.m. Door-prize drawing

Thursday, October 28

7:30-8:30 a.m. Breakfast buffet

8:30-9 a.m. IT Forum

Ryan Paradis, Cyber Security Control Assessor, Bonneville Power Administration; and Jon Cohen, Assistant IS Manager, Energy Northwest

9-11 a.m. The Power of Understanding People

Dave Mitchell, Owner, The Leadership Difference

11-11:30 a.m. Closing remarks and door prizes

Chad Schow, IT Conference Chair, Information Technology Manager, Franklin County PUD

Course Location and Hotel Information:

Room rate: $169

Please book your room as soon as possible, but no later than October 4, 2021, to secure this rate. Mention that you are coming in with the NWPPA group when booking your reservation.

Course Fees:

Cancellation Policy:

Cancellations are accepted with a full refund as follows:

For webinars and virtual classes, if the request is made at least five days prior to the course, then 100% of the registration fee will be refunded.

For in-person events, the following fee structure applies: cancellation at least 30 days prior to the event, full refund; within 15-29 days, $100 fee; and within 1-14 days or no show, 100% of the registration fee. When possible, please send a substitute instead of canceling because NWPPA does not charge a fee for substitutions.

Continuing Hours:

This event qualifies for 15 continuing hours. Certificates are issued upon full completion of the event.