Steve Bates, Chairman of the Board:

Steve has been at the nexus of business transformation and technology enablement for nearly 15 years. A passionate proponent of business-led IT, Steve has served various leadership roles in world-class organizations including IBM, Schlumberger and KPMG. For the past 8 years, Steve has focused his efforts on primarily serving the Energy Industry, consulting with senior executives across a wide swath of operational and functional challenges such as enterprise cost optimization, service management, process integration, vendor selection and operational controls. Currently with KPMG, Steve is partnering with technology executives supporting the advancement of today’s CIO Agenda.

Steve is well-known in the Houston marketplace and has served on Board of Directors of ISACA and Techxans. He is proud to chair the Board of the GRC Executive Summit.

Michael S. Giles, Vice-Chairman of the Board:

Michael S. Giles is founder and President of Enterprise Risk Associates, LLC, a professional services firm formed in 2005, specializing in Operational Risk Assessment and Performance Measurement.  With more than nineteen years of consultative experience, over a broad array of industries and organizations, Mike has a proven track record for assisting his clients isolate and identify the root causes of their business problems and focus on implementable strategies to offset the risk inherent in operations.  Leveraging a repeatable process for identifying, qualifying, quantifying and mitigating “operational risk”, his firm emphasizes the establishment of key metrics, before and after improvements, to measure performance against established baselines.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics from Sam Houston State University.

Tracy Tyler, Board Secretary:

As Managing Director of the Houston office of Adams Harris, Inc., a national professional services firm, Tracy currently manages a team of directors and professionals that provides clients with accounting/finance, internal audit, corporate tax, and technology risk management services.  Tracy began her career at Price Waterhouse, LLP and spent 5 years in its assurance practice in the middle market and energy divisions. While there, she had significant exposure to SEC reporting and specialized transactions.

She is a licensed CPA and holds a BBA and an MS in Accounting from Texas A&M University.

James K. Sayles, Board Member:

James Sayles is Vice President, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer for Favored Solutions and thought leader in Governance, Risk, and Compliance.  Mr. Sayles has worked with more than two dozen of the world's largest banks and financial institutions as well as some of the largest global oil and gas companies implementing strategic corporate governance frameworks and strategies. With over 12 years experience, Mr. Sayles is a proven leader in working with Board of Directors, Audit Committee Members, Chief Audit Executives and Chief Information Officers in building effective corporate governance frameworks that includes enterprise risk oversight and management, internal audit and compliance programs. Mr. Sayles is an expert in regulatory compliance and risk management frameworks, including Sarbanes-Oxley, Basel II, GLBA, HIPAA, PCI Data Security, FISCAM/FISMA, SAS 70, FFIEC, COSO, ISO, and the PCAOB Auditing Standards, as well as other international regulations and frameworks.

James Sayles has an MBA in International Business from Robert Kennedy University.

Daniel Khron, Board Member:

Dan A. Krohn is a general business attorney with an emphasis on technology and Internet matters. The majority of his clients are closely held businesses, entrepreneurs and professionals with a wide variety of interests and obligations. Dan entered the University Of Texas School Of Law, where he received his J.D. in 1974.  Following graduation, Dan served as law clerk to the Travis County District Courts. He then became the first administrative law judge for the Texas Department of Banking, where he presided over hearings on state bank applications, domicile changes and other related matters.

A popular speaker and author on law, trends and technology, Dan has spoken to the Electronic Messaging Association, the University of Texas Computer Law Conference, the Asian Chamber of Commerce, the Houston E-Commerce Success Super Conference, the Houston Chapter of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants and many others. His writing has been published in the Houston Business Journal, DBA Houston, Indigo Sun and Houston News Today Online.

Melvina Audain, Board Member:

Born on the beautiful Caribbean Island of St. Kitts, raised in Leeds, England, Melvina now calls Houston, Texas home.  A supplier of hospitality services for over 16 years Melvina’s experiences includes; an internship at the Dorchester Hotel in London, England, a food & beverage manager at the Four Seasons Hotel, Houston, and a sales & marketing manager & event coordinator at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.  During her seven (7) years at the helm of the Meeting & Events department at The Minute Maid Company, Melvina and her team successfully coordinated hundreds of meetings, trade shows, special events, executive retreats, industry relations gatherings, product launches and numerous sporting events to include the Summer & Winter Olympics and the Grand Opening of Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros baseball team.  With her years of experience, and many rock solid relationships that were nurtured over the years, Melvina founded Global Meeting Resources (GMR) - a full service, professional meeting and special events management firm in 2003.

Dorian Cougias, Board Member:

Dorian J. Cougias is the founder and Lead Analyst of Network Frontiers, a company that focuses on systems continuity, regulatory compliance, and IT infrastructure consulting, training, and publishing.  He is also an Adjunct Professor of Technology, lecturing and serving on the board of advisers for the University of Delaware; College of Human Services, Education, and Public Policy.  Dorian has authored hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including the award-winning Backup Book: Disaster Recovery from Desktop to Data Center, and most recently the Unified Compliance Series.  As the primary architect of the Unified Compliance Framework, Dorian and his research partner, Marcelo Halpern of the international law firm Latham and Watkins, have created the first independent initiative to exclusively support IT compliance management.  Dorian also serves as an adviser, research fellow, or working group member to the Financial Technology Forum, IT Compliance Institute, NetFocus, Hospitality Law, the National Association of Convenience Stores, and the Hospitality Financial & Technology Professionals.