Meet The Team
David Formby - Cofounder, CEO/CTO
David is a researcher turned passionate entrepreneur dedicated to building solutions that solve hard problems in innovative ways. David earned his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Georgia Tech where his research focused on offensive and defensive security for industrial control systems (ICS). During his PhD research his projects included: discovering numerous vulnerabilities in ICS devices, demonstrating the first proof of concept ransomware worm for programmable logic controllers (PLCs), creating an open source 3D simulation used by thousands to get their first hands-on experience with ICS security, discovering ICS device fingerprinting techniques based on physical operation timing, and developing behavioral anomaly detection algorithms for PLC programs based on execution timing.
After completing the National Science Foundation's I-Corps entrepreneurship bootcamp he identified two critical needs in the ICS security market: the lack of trained professionals who understand both ICS and security, and the lack of solutions that provide both long term security value as well as short term operational benefits. With the help of SBIR research contracts from the US Navy and US Air Force, he cofounded Fortiphyd Logic with Raheem Beyah to solve these problems.
Raheem Beyah - Cofounder, Board Member
Dr. Raheem Beyah, a native of Atlanta, GA, serves as Georgia Tech’s Dean of the College of Engineering and Southern Company Chair. Before this role, Dr. Beyah served as Vice President for Interdisciplinary Research, Executive Director of the Online Masters of Cybersecurity program (OMS Cybersecurity), and the Interim Steve W. Chaddick Chair of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fortiphyd Logic. He is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of cyber-physical systems security, network monitoring, and network security. He has secured millions of dollars to support his research program at Georgia Tech, served as Associate Editor or Guest Editor for a number of journals in his fields of expertise, technical program committee member for over 80 security and networking conferences, and has published more than 150 technical publications in the areas of security and networking which have been cited thousands of times.
Raheem has vast experience with project formulation, initiation, grant proposal writing, technical gap analysis of various industry stakeholders’ systems, budget and expense management, progress reporting to various sponsors (e.g., government funding agencies, corporations), and the Integration of developed systems into mission critical operational environments.
He is heavily involved in educating the next generation of cyber-physical systems security practitioners, primarily through teaching an online Cyber-Physical Systems Security course through the Georgia Tech Online Masters in Computer Science and Cybersecurity programs which reaches students across the globe. Raheem is a member of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Cyber Security Advisory Council and on the Global Advisory Board of the Control System Cyber Security Association International (CS)2AI.
John Copeland - Board Member
Dr. John Copeland held the John H. Weitnauer, Jr., Chair in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1993-2016, and was also a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. In 2000 he invented the Stealthwatch system for network security monitoring, and founded Lancope, Inc. He served as Chairman of Lancope, Inc. from 2000-2006. He raised over $25M in venture capital for Lancope before it was acquired by Cisco in 2016 for $453M. He has also served as Director of the Georgia Center for Advanced Telecommunications Technology (GCATT) from June 1993 to Nov. 1996.
As Director, Dr. Copeland had broad responsibilities for the organizational, programmatic, and financial development of GCATT. In that period, GCATT managed a Georgia Research Alliance program that distributed approximately $20,000,000 to six Georgia research universities. It was allocated $24,000,000 by the State of Georgia and $5,000,000 by private and industry sources for a 150,000 sq. ft. building which was completed in June 1996.
Prior to joining Georgia Tech in March 1993, Dr. Copeland was Vice President, Technology at Hayes Microcomputer Products (1985-1993), and Vice President, Engineering Technology at Sangamo Weston, Inc. (1982-1985) and served at Bell Labs (1965-1982).
John Jerrim - Board Member
John Jerrim has over 35 years of experience in the communications and information security arenas. Early in his career, he led the Advanced Technology Laboratory at Sangamo Weston in developing spread spectrum power line communications for use in electric utility SCADA systems. He then joined Hayes Microcomputer Products, initially as the Manager of Systems Engineering, then becoming the Software Development Manager, where he led a complete and successful emergency rewrite of the company’s flagship software product in a five month period.
John founded a small software development and consulting company that operated for about 10 years. He then joined forces with Dr. John A. Copeland to found Lancope, Inc, which eventually sold to Cisco Systems for $453 million. During his time at Lancope, John led the development team for the flagship Stealthwatch product for six years before focusing exclusively on advanced detection technologies. John then spent three years as a Senior Research Scientist with Damballa investigating integration of network flow and DNS analytics before moving on to Plixer International, where he led the companies research and development of network behavioral analytics to support the Scrutinizer product.
John has been awarded 11 US patents areas of solid state electric metering, spread spectrum communications, communication protocols, and network security technologies.
John Balsam - Board Member
John Balsam, MBA, is a highly experienced and energetic senior level executive with over 40 years of proficiency as an engineer, project and program manager, and CxO level corporate leader. The majority of his career has been in the technical arena in defense, high-reliability space applications and the software industry. Prior to his employment at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, John held the position of VP of Operations at Lancope, Inc., prior to the company’s acquisition by Cisco. His experience spans increasing levels of responsibility, from Systems Engineer performing technical analysis and design tasks, to Project and Program Management of multi-million dollar programs to Senior Executive level management. Past corporate experience includes business formation, raising capital, strategy formulation and execution, and daily operational management.
John holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is a regular invited guest participant and business plan judge in entrepreneurial classes and the annual Georgia Bowl at the Terry College of Business of the University of Georgia and the Coles College of Business of Kennesaw State University. John is a past President and Chairman of the Board of the Harvard Business School Club of Atlanta, a Professional Engineer in Georgia and Louisiana, Senior Life Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a participant in the MIT Enterprise Forum.