The West Michigan Cyber Security Consortium is a multi-jurisdictional and public/private partnership whose purpose is to enhance the prevention, protection, response, and recovery to cyber security threats, disruptions, and degradation to critical information technology functions.
The WMCSC was formed in 2010 to improve cyber security information sharing among businesses, emergency management professionals, law enforcement, and the broader communities inside the Department of Homeland Security’s Region 5 and Michigan’s Region 6.
The Consortium began with approximately 25 individuals from Information Technologies Management Association (ITMA), which represented large and small businesses in West Michigan. As of December 2018, membership included 700 individuals that reach across the 13 Michigan’s Region 6, as well as representation from Allegan, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Detroit, Traverse City, and other areas across the state and region.
The Consortium is led by a steering committee that meets quarterly to plan member meetings and activities, review projects, and make budgetary decisions.
Abraham Jones – Chair
Stacy Madden – Co-Chair
Anthony Tuttle – Co-Chair, Community Training & Outreach
Rebecca Brooks – Co-Chair, Community Training & Outreach
Ashley DeGroff – Co-Chair, Cyber Community Engagement
Rebecca Harvey – Co-Chair, Cyber Community Engagement
John DeRyke – Co-Chair, General Community Engagement & Outreach
Nikolai Gevorkyan – Co-Chair, Marketing & Media Engagement
Katy Leedy – Co-Chair, Marketing & Media Engagement
Jim Kuiphof – Co-Chair, Executive Advisory
Sara Schmidt – Co-Chair, Executive Advisory
Tim Becker
Ed Bobola
Faith Heikkila
Barb Hiemstra
Rose Johnson-King
Brian Kowalczk
The West Michigan Cyber Security Consortium was founded to provide the following services to the greater IT and cyber communities of Region 6:
Determine key cyber security issues encountered by local, state and national entities
Provide educational opportunities related to the key cyber security issues
Develop cyber security guidelines or templates that can be utilized by any entity
Promote networking between IT representatives
Help members assess their existing cyber security preparedness, identify mitigation plans, and connect with resources
Determine a secure information-sharing system for cyber-related issues
Develop benchmarks for achieving key goals and objectives
Drawing heavily from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) voluntary cybersecurity Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure, the key goals and objectives of the WMCSC are to provide support for the following cyber security tasks:
