Blog Archives

Dr. Brad Perkins helped to envision the Peake Fellowship’s platform and pilot efforts in community healthcare innovation when he was the Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Innovation Officer for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. He currently serves as Chief Medical Officer for Karius, a leader in liquid biopsy for infectious diseases. Previously, Brad had served as co-founder and Chief Medical Officer at The Commons Project Foundation, Chief Medical Officer with genetics pioneer Dr. Craig Venter at Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI), and Executive Vice President for Strategy and Innovation and Chief Transformation Officer at Vanguard Health Systems, a multi-state, for-profit, integrated health services provider with nearly 46,000 employees.

Before entering the private sector, Brad served two decades in the U.S. Public Health Service and the CDC where he led the Meningitis and Special Pathogens Branch and investigated global bacterial disease epidemics. He co-discovered the bacteria that causes Cat Scratch diseases and conducted research leading to development of several new bacterial meningitis and pneumonia vaccines, which became global standards for vaccine therapy. In 2001, Brad led the field and laboratory investigations into U.S. anthrax attacks and helped build the nation’s emergency response capability. He also led CDC efforts to improve population health for specific demographic groups. Brad earned a BA in Microbiology and an MD from University of Missouri. He did his residency at Baylor College of Medicine and earned an MBA from Emory University.

Bill Suarez is a team-building professional accomplished in designing, developing, and maintaining cloud management systems, applications, cybersecurity, network infrastructure, and technology service organizations. For decades, Bill has specialized in reducing the total cost of ownership for maintaining technology best practices based on each organization’s business objectives. Throughout his career, Bill has developed strong partnerships between enterprise users and solution providers to ensure customers keep current on system updates and cybersecure innovations.

Most recently, Bill joined Whalley Computer Associates to formalize its technical account management function that extends to enterprises across the U.S. and Canada. Previously, Bill helped build and manage the infrastructure for industry pioneers including software engineering tool developer Rational Software, which was acquired by IBM for $2.1 billion in 2002, and cybersecurity management tool provider Carbon Black, which was acquired by VMware also for $2.1 billion in 2019. Along the way, he had been a customer of the Whalley services team that he now helps to lead.

Bill has also served as vice chair of his local agricultural commission to make the local agricultural businesses as economically and environmentally sound as possible. Bill’s industry experience in both implementation and strategy reinforces the impact he makes for ecosystem members across market categories and geographies.

Dean brings to Peake his in-depth experience on critical infrastructure for high-security & operational mission systems. Dean began his career as an engineering co-op student working for the U.S. Department of Defense. After engineering positions with Boeing and Booz Allen Hamilton, Dean founded Entegra Systems, a technical and mission services company. As Entegra CEO, Dean sought to create the kind of company that he would want to work for — one with an open door policy; that embraced diverse backgrounds, skill sets, and technical disciplines; that offered great benefits and work environment; and that addressed vitally important and meaningful work. Entegra became known for those traits under Dean’s leadership. In 2021, the firm was acquired by Acclaim Technical Services.

Dean earned a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Clemson University and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering, with a concentration in Telecommunications, from Johns Hopkins University. Dean’s experience building high-impact service organizations reinforces the growth of each community partner.

Hector serves as Community Outreach Administrator for the Job Connector by MIT where he builds on his previous roles at the intersection of community and technology. Specifically, Hector honed his customer service expertise as an Apple Store Specialist and his outreach & engagement skills as the Manager of the Find It Cambridge website. Find It Cambridge provides online access to activities, services, and resources around Cambridge, Massachusetts, a city Hector has loved since he emigrated from El Salvador at age six.

Hector attended Hamilton College on a Posse Scholarship graduating in 2008 with a BA in Women’s Studies with a minor in Hispanic Studies. He founded the Hamilton College site for the Young People’s Project (YPP) which encourages youth civic engagement while teaching mathematics skills to local students from Utica, New York. Hector has served on the boards of the Posse Foundation, Cambridge Camping, Cambridge Economic Opportunity Council, and the Cambridge Homes. He brings his many years of professional community building experience to strengthening the Peake Fellowship.

Growing up in Somerville Massachusetts, Julia has always had a fondness for supporting local businesses. When she was as young as 14 with a local flower farmer and later at farmer’s markets, selling food from a great local restaurant – Flora Restaurant. In 2018, Julia graduated from the University of Vermont with a degree in Psychological Science. Her passion for human behavior and years of experience in retail management at Gap Inc. contribute to her insights and continual improvement of coaching for the Peake Fellowship and Peake Fellowship Development Team at Venly.

Dr. Michael Wertheimer serves as the Cybersecure Collaboration Lead for Venly & its Peake Fellowship Development Team based on his career at the forefront of managing risk and national security. Dr. Wertheimer served as Managing Director of Cyber Security Strategy at Morgan Stanley and led all facets of the firm’s technology and information risk strategic portfolio. He was the chief architect of the firm’s defense-in-depth network architecture and led a small team of world-class cyber professionals responsible for threat hunting and adversarial pursuit.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Wertheimer shares Venly’s and the Peake Fellowship’s passion for helping local businesses grow, create jobs, and strengthen each community served. His unique background helps community ecosystems by geography, industry, and demographics develop distributed strategies for the collective cyber defense of their members.

Before Morgan Stanley, Dr. Wertheimer served 26 years as a National Security Agency cryptologist, senior technical leader, and senior executive leader. As NSA Director of Research, he contributed to breakthroughs in mathematics, engineering, and computer science. In this role, he led over 500 civilian scientists in the advancement of cryptology, cybersecurity, trusted systems, big data processing, threat analysis, and high-performance computing.

Dr. Wertheimer was an inaugural member of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. He served as ODNI Assistant Deputy Director for Analysis and Chief Technology Officer, overseeing Intelligence Community efforts to bring increased depth and accuracy to analysis. He launched A-Space, a Time Magazine Best Invention of 2008, and the Library of National Intelligence.

Throughout his career, Dr. Wertheimer has pioneered applied learning initiatives and he served as a Professor of Practice in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Dr. Wertheimer is the recipient of many awards for public service, including a Presidential Rank Award, the Exceptional Civilian Service Award, and the Director’s Distinguished Medal. He received a BA Magna cum Laude in Mathematics and Philosophy from the University of Rochester and his MA and PhD in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania where he studied on an NSA graduate fellowship.

Gary Evee, is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Evee Security Consulting Group. Evee Security’s mission is to enable businesses to reduce risk by proactively developing a more secure and resilient cybersecurity environment.

Gary previously held a range of leadership roles during his 22 years at IBM across business development and operations. In his most recent role, Gary lead go-to-market strategy for IBM’s mobile and financial services cybersecurity solutions. Gary has a proven track record of managing and scaling new enterprises. He has served as a technology and cybersecurity advisor to a number of Higher Education institutions including Cambridge College, which specializes in applied learning for students that miss the 18-22 year old undergraduate window; and Johnson C. Smith University, a 154-year-old Historically Black College/University in Charlotte, NC. Gary holds a BA in Political Science from Hampton University. Gary’s expertise in collaboration across academia, industry, and government strengthens students’ career experiences and the cybersecure growth of Anchor Communities.