The SecureMaine 2025 Board of Directors
SecureMaine is currently an all-volunteer organization, and relies on the work and dedication of our Board of Directors, and important contributions from Collaborating Organizations AND an amazing team of volunteers!
Gary Soucy, MS Cybersecurity,
SecureMaine Board President, joined 2024. Gary is an accomplished GRC Expert with a multifaceted background spanning cybersecurity and strategic leadership, program management, vCISO advisory, IT security practice, and Government Consulting. He has served as program manager, vCISO, and IS manager for Tyler, and prior to that was a senior consultant with BerryDunn. Currently he is a consulting project manager with SpiritHealth, managing projects for the cybersecurity physical controls tower. Gary holds a BA from UMaine in zoology, and an MS in cybersecurity from Thomas College. Gary was elected SecureMaine Board president in spring 2025.
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Ashley Damon, BS Cyber. SecureMaine Board Vice President, Interim Secretary, joined 2024.
Ashley is currently serving as GRC Analyst with DAT Freight & Analytics, working previously as a Technical Compliance Analyst with Maine-based Systems Engineering. Ashley is a proud alumna of Thomas College, holding a Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity. Her career journey since graduation has been predominantly in consulting, specializing in various aspects of Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC). Currently, Ashley serves as a GRC Analyst at DAT Freight & Analytics, where her primary focus lies in Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery strategies. Ashley was elected SecureMaine Vice President in fall 2025.
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Kate Carpenter,
Board Treasurer, Founding Board Member, joined 2023. Kate Carpenter's work has focused on adult workforce development in the tech space, with a goal to ease access to independent learning resources. She was executive director of the non-profit MTUG 2013-2023, hosting the state's largest tech conference. Prior to that she managed a tech training and testing center, and served as IT training and projects manager for a large nonprofit. Currently Kate is on an eldercare and childcare sabbatical while she volunteers her nonprofit and event skills for SecureMaine and works part-time for Maine Conservation Voters in support of just and equitable environmental conservation. Kate was elected SecureMaine Treasurer fall 2024.
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Elyse Nielsen,
CISSP, CCSP, CISSP-ISSAP, GDSA. Board Member, joined 2025. Elyse Nielsen is a Senior Executive Enterprise Architect / Field CTO with ServiceNow, and previously served as Director of Cloud Security Architecture with Omnicell. Elyse is passionate about assuring there is a shared understanding of the security posture of the organization and the risks. Elyse has several certifications including CISSP, CCSP, CISSP-ISSAP, GDSA.
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Jockel Carter, CMMC RP, CISSP, CIPP/US, CRISC, PCIP, CISM.
SecureMaine Board Member Emeritus / Former Vice President / Founding Board Member, joined 2023. Jockel began as a founding member of the SecureMaine board of directors, serving as Vice President, then Technical Chair, and then Vice President again through fall 2025. He brings extensive experience in building non-profit security organizations as well as managing Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) programs. Jockel is owner of the GRC consulting firm Presumpscott Holdings LLC.
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Frank Appunn,
CISSP, PhD. Board Member Emeritus / Former President & Founder, 2023. Frank Appunn has created and ran companies in the security and systems management space. Currently, he focuses on teaching from BS through PhD levels. Focus areas includes preventing future threats and vulnerabilities. He also consults in the governance, risk, and compliance areas.
For service to the community, he invests time with SecureMaine, InfraGard, and Maine security and municipal organizations. Frank served as Board President for SecureMaine from it's founding in 2023 through spring 2025 |
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Thank you to our retired 2024 Inaugural Board Officers!
Photo: 2023 SecureMaine Inaugural Board Left to right: John Ruppert (Treasurer, 2023), Frank Appunn (President), Jockel Carter (Vice President, 2023), and Kate Carpenter (Secretary, 2023) |
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