EXPERTS TALK CYBERSECURITY, TECH AT 2017 PEI CONVENTION AT NACS SHOW [1]

TULSA, Oklahoma, Sept. 22, 2017/Petroleum Equipment Institute/ -- If geopolitical cyberterrorists can bring down three Ukrainian electric grids, should the increasingly interconnected fueling industry worry about similar cyberthreats?

It’s a question experts will address during one of several education sessions Oct. 17-20 at the 2017 PEI Convention at the NACS Show at McCormick Place in Chicago.

“We expect this session to be packed,” said Rick Long, executive vice president and general counsel of PEI. “Cybersecurity, the ‘internet of things’ and new technologies are timely, global concerns, and our panelists will offer insights on infrastructures critical to life as we know it. Two experts from the utility world will talk about the threats they’ve encountered post-9/11. Two fuel equipment manufacturers will tell us how they’re preparing for a more interconnected industry. And a U.S. policy expert will share how the auto industry is developing protocols to protect our transportation infrastructure.”

The utility experts are John D. McDonald and Melissa Washington. McDonald, a professional engineer with 43 years in the electricity transmission and distribution industry, is the smart grid business development leader for North America at GE. Washington is vice president of external affairs and large customer services at Commonwealth Edison Co. (ComEd), an electric utility that serves 3.8 million customers across northern Illinois.

The fueling industry panelists are Rajeev Kumar and Thomas Park. Kumar is director of system solutions at Wayne Fueling Systems, part of Dover Fueling Solutions. He’s a 20-year veteran in the cloud solutions and semiconductor industries and is responsible for next-generation cloud services, forecourt controllers and site networking for the U.S. EMV rollout. Park is vice president of global product management at Gilbarco, where he drives the platform and strategies across all Gilbarco products. His experience includes positions at Booz Allen Hamilton and Ford Motor Research.

Panelist Jonathan R. Weinberger is vice president of technology and innovation at the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, where he coordinates programming on autos and the internet of things. He’s a former executive secretary and associate general counsel in the White House Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and former executive secretary of the U.S. Treasury. He also served on the staffs of two U.S. secretaries of state.

The session is from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 19. Registration for the PEI Convention at the NACS Show is available at www.pei.org/pei-convention-nacs-show [2].

For more information, reach PEI Convention Director Sarah West at 918-236-3968 or swest@pei.org [3]. 

Founded in 1951, PEI is composed of more than 1,600 companies engaged in manufacturing and distributing equipment used in the fuel and fluid handling industry. Members are located in 50 states and 81 countries. PEI, headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the leading authority and source of information for the fuel and fluid handling equipment and services industry. For more information, visit www.pei.org [4].