Franz Payer is the CEO of Cyber Skyline, the cloud-based platform and content provider that powers the National Cyber League. Founded in 2014, Cyber Skyline has helped more than 100,000 students and professionals in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia through cybersecurity competitions, candidate skills assessments, and professional development opportunities. Prior to Cyber Skyline, Franz was a Computer Network Operations Software Developer at Tactical Network Solutions, supporting the work of the US Intelligence Community.

Ukrainian-born Vitaliy Panych was appointed state chief informationsecurity officer (CISO) by Governor Gavin Newsom in January 2021. Prior to his appointment, he had been serving in an acting capacity as state CISO for nearly 2 years.  

A veteran of state government technology, Vitaliy worked at several state departments in progressively senior cybersecurity roles before arriving at California Department of Technology (CDT) in 2018 as its deputy state CISO. Prior to CDT, he was the agency chief information security and privacy officer at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from 2016 to 2019, and security and compliance manager at the Employment Development Department from 2009 to 2016.