Alumni Leadership Council
Seeking to engage and strengthen the INI alumni network and help INI achieve its strategic goals.
Mission
Connecting alumni more closely with each other, the INI and CMU, their community and professional partners.
Creating sustainable strategies to engage INI alumni in meaningful ways.
Providing insight drawn from our careers and INI experience.
Meet the INI Alumni Leadership Council
Formed in 2009 as a group of valued advisors and passionate advocates.
Yen-Ming Chen
Chair 1/2025-12/2026
1999 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Networking (MSIN)
Yen-Ming is a Senior Program Manager at Apple, where he leads a team that focuses on managing regulatory compliance and security risk. He has over 15 years of technical and management experience in Risk, Security and Compliance covering various technologies, countries and industrial regulations. In fall 2017, he sponsored an INI practicum project to build a solution of trust management platform powered by Blockchain.
Vijeyta Aggarwal
2006 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Networking (MSIN)
Aggarwal is the Chief Product Officer of Telivy and the founder of Vectro Inc. She has experience of building several zero to one, or completely original, products at Hippo, Guidewire and PayPal, many of which became multi-million-dollar products. Aggarwal’s startup Vectro Inc. has been selected to join the 2024 cohort of the VentureBridge program.
Dimitrios Bakalis
2024 Graduate - Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence Engineering - Information Security (MSAIE-IS)
Bakalis is a Machine Learning Engineer at DeepSig Inc., where he works at the intersection of AI, signal processing and wireless communication. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with an M.Sc. in Artificial Intelligence Engineering — Information Security in December 2024. Prior to CMU, Bakalis earned a BEng/MEng (five-year integrated master’s degree) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens.
Hao-Wei Chen
2013 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Technology - Information Security (MSIT-IS)
Hao-Wei is a Security Engineering Director at Audible, an Amazon subsidiary. He was a founding member of Incident Response, Red Team, Product Security and Insider Threat Investigation functions under Amazon’s Information Security organization. During his tenure as the Head of Vulnerability Research and Product Security, Hao-Wei led a team of engineers and program managers in launching Amazon’s first public bug bounty program with direct sponsorship from Amazon Retail CEO. Beyond his professional endeavors, he actively drives multinational initiatives in technology and community building, with a particular focus on cybersecurity and nonprofit entrepreneurship. He founded the Seattle-based nonprofit NEX Foundation, aiming to connect and support young talents in their career development. He also established the Taiwan International Foundation (TWIF) in Washington DC, with the vision of building an online platform and physical museum to promote Taiwan’s culture and history. Additionally, Hao-Wei serves in advisory roles at educational NPOs that promote higher education, security education and diversity inclusion.
Devika Yeragudipati Devarakond
2012 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Security Technology and Management (MSISTM)
Devarakond is currently a Security Engineer in Apple Media Services at Apple, where she works with engineers and product owners to understand risk and help with secure design, implemention and deployment of products. She is very interested in security (risk, validation, assurance, threat modeling, pen-testing, security awareness), as well as diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Ben Draffin
2017 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Technology-Information Security (MSIT-IS)
Draffin is a Security and Compliance Lead based in the Bay Area. "I am fascinated by the human motivations for committing fraud and computer security attacks. I love how varied the responses are. Using a password manager is great, and also checking your credit report. Both prevention and reaction are effective and interesting!" His interests include live theatre, live music, minimalist extended travel, meditation and running.
Alfredo Freyre
1994 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Networking (MSIN)
Alfredo Freyre is a Solution Architect Team Lead at Avertium, a full lifecycle information security service provider helping mid-to-enterprise organizations protect assets and manage risk against today’s cyber threats. Our mission is to make our customers’ world a safer place so that they may thrive in an always-on, connected world. He leads and supports Avertium sales teams with a problem-solving mindset and deep understanding of the service portfolio, assisting customer’s in applying the products/services to their needs. He supports business development with customer-facing discussion, best practices and presentation of services, working closely with Account Executives, services and leadership to optimize customer solutions and revenue. With over 25 years of experience in the information security field, Freyre is a seasoned subject matter expert helping companies reduce their business risk and mature their security posture by acting as a trusted security advisor to the C-suite and decision makers in providing tactical and strategic solutions.
Previously, Freyre served as a Director at British Telecom (BT), supporting global sales initiatives and advising Fortune 500 clients on securing their digital environments through consulting, ethical hacking and managed security services. His background includes deep expertise in attack and penetration techniques, security architecture and threat defense, with work showcased in demonstrations to the U.S. Senate and industry seminars abroad. He has held key roles at Cyber Defense Labs, International Network Services, Predictive Systems, Global Integrity, SAIC, Bell Communications Research and AT&T Bell Laboratories.
Diwakar Goel
2010 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Technology-Mobility (MSIT-Mobility)
Goel is a Software Development Engineer at Amazon with over a decade of experience in tech, specializing in cloud infrastructure, networking and real-time communications. He has worked at Oracle, Qualcomm and McAfee, and brings experience from both early-stage startups and research at CMU, Ericsson Research, Nokia Research and Imperial College London.
He is especially interested in security and mobile systems—prior to CMU, he taught a nationwide ethical hacking course in India and has continued to explore these areas through both academic and industry projects.
Nitin Gupta
2001 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Networking (MSIN)
Gupta is the VP & Head of Engineering for WhatsApp / Meta. He has been with the company for over eight years, during which time he has played a vital role in the growth and development of the engineering team. Under his leadership, the team has grown over 10x and the number of monthly users multiplied to 2+ Billion. He has been instrumental in building key products and features such as messaging, calling and monetization products. Additionally, he is responsible for ensuring the integrity, reliability and security of WhatsApp's planet-scale infrastructure. Prior to joining WhatsApp, Gupta was the founding engineer and held various executive roles at Riverbed Technology, an enterprise infrastructure company. He also worked for Yahoo!
Hugrun Hannesdottir
2021 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Security (MSIS)
Hugrun Hannesdottir is a Senior Security Engineer I at the gaming company Electronic Arts Inc. Hannesdottir is with the Verification and Pentest team, where she performs security assessments on EA products to identify vulnerabilities and advise on remedies. Before this position, Hannesdottir completed her master's in Information Security, during which she actively participated in Women@INI, hosted a presentation at WiCyS and partook in cybersecurity competitions such as CPTC.
Erye Hernandez
2014 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Security (MSIS)
Hernandez is a Senior Security Engineer on Google's Threat Analysis Group where she leads efforts on the analysis and disruption of threats, reverse engineering of malicious code samples and understanding various threat actors to protect Google and its users. Prior to Google, she worked on malware research and detection at Palo Alto Networks and FireEye. Erye received her Bachelors in Computer Science from George Mason University. She also played in lots of Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions with CMU's Plaid Parliament of Pwning (PPP). In her spare time, she enjoys baking and playing video games.
Yasmine Kandissounon
2014 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Security (MSISTM)
Kandissounon is passionate about securing software systems. She also has a huge interest in seeking solutions to challenges facing under-developed communities, especially issues in sub-saharan Africa.
Xinfeng Le
2014 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Technology-Mobility (MSIT-MOB)
Xinfeng is a Senior Product Manager at Waymo where she led various cross-functional workstreams for Motion Planning and driving behaviors. Prior to Waymo, she led the carrier experience product team at Uber Freight. Xinfeng earned her Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Southeast University in China.
Amy Rhambia
2008 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Security Technology and Management (MSISTM)
An avid problem solver with unwavering passion for delivering delightful user experiences, Rhambia's industry experience is at the intersection of AI, Productivity and Ranking experiences. Over a career span of 15 years, Rhambia has served as product lead for initiatives across a breadth of products such as Outlook Mobile, Cortana, Windows at Microsoft, Siri at Apple, Content Collaboration at Slack and most recently Organic Content at Meta. In addition to building products, Rhambia loves mentoring, building organization culture and she led a STEM camp of 120 international students in Rwanda, Africa.
Benicio Miguel Sanchez Fuentes
2000 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Networking (MSIN)
Fuentes is a highly experienced IT executive with over 25 years in the industry and 15+ years in leadership roles. He is skilled in driving digital transformation, fostering innovation and building high-performing teams. His passion lies in leveraging technology to optimize processes, achieve strategic business goals and cultivate a culture of trust and collaboration. In his spare time, he enjoys playing guitar, singing and spending quality time with his family.
Ken Schwartzreich
1997 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Networking (MSIN)
Schwartzreich has been consulting since 1997 – he started developing web applications which have won awards from Microsoft. He transitioned into Cybersecurity, focusing on Identity and Access Management 25 years ago. In 2008, Schwartzreich launched a startup to compete with the offerings of major corporations (IBM, Broadcom) and was ranked highly in Gartner's Magic Quadrant.
Wayne Tung
1994 Graduate - Master of Science in Information Networking (MSIN)
Tung’s a management consultant, and his 28-year career includes significant experience in technology strategy, technology assessment & implementation, business process transformation, outsourcing, cost analysis/optimization, global strategic sourcing and procurement. He has successfully delivered several consulting engagements for electric utility, oil & gas, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, aerospace and government clients. These projects primarily focused on technology implementations & migrations, large outsourcing initiatives, software audits, contract negotiations and cost optimization.
Suyan Xu
2022 Graduate - Master of Science in Mobile and IoT Engineering (MSMITE)
Suyan Xu is a software engineer at Amazon working on large-scale checkout and platform infrastructure. She is an INI alumna (Class of 2022) based in Seattle and is passionate about building community through volunteering and alumni engagement. Outside of work, she enjoys salsa dancing, language learning and continuous career growth.
Tilden Jackson
ALC Student Representative
Cybersecurity will only grow in importance to the security of the US. Jackson graduated from Carnegie Mellon University as an undergraduate with a B.S. in Applied Physics and hopes to use his problem solving skills in his cybersecurity work. He is mostly interested in offensive security but is exploring hardware as well. He also likes to play Lacrosse and run.