Wendi Whitmore

Wendi Whitmore is a global voice in cybersecurity and threat intelligence with two decades of experience building incident response and threat intelligence teams that have helped clients solve some of the world’s largest breaches. She serves as Senior Vice President at Palo Alto Networks where she leads Unit 42, a team of elite incident responders and world-renowned threat researchers. The combined team helps organizations tackle the most complex cyberthreats -- from ransomware to state-sponsored espionage.

Previously, Whitmore was the leader of IBM Security X-Force, leveraging people, infrastructure, data and technology to drive the capabilities of detection and defense against targeted threats for client organizations throughout the world. Before joining IBM, she held executive level positions at CrowdStrike and Mandiant, where she was responsible for professional services offerings. Whitmore began her career as a Special Agent conducting computer crime investigations with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

Whitmore regularly meets with executive leadership teams and boards to advise them on strengthening their security programs to address their most-pressing threats. She is a frequent speaker at high-profile technical conferences and has taught graduate-level computer science and cybersecurity courses at Carnegie Mellon University and The George Washington University. Passionate about developing the next generation of cybersecurity professionals, Whitmore serves on the Duke University Masters in Cyber Security Industry Advisory Board and at her alma mater, on the University of San Diego Masters in Cyber Security Engineering board. Her commitment to securing the nation's interests also extends into the World Economic Forum Global Cybersecurity Futures Council; she was previously an inaugural member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cyber Safety Review Board.