Neal KUSHWAHA

Mr. Kushwaha’s background focuses on (1) cyber and its relation to international law (Law of Armed Conflict and International Humanitarian Law) and (2) data centre (IT infrastructure, IT security, physical data centre design, power, cooling, business processes, and IT consolidation). He is currently working on his PhD on cyber and international law.

Summary of Qualifications

With over 28 years of experience in IT, Mr. Kushwaha has strong IT operational knowledge. He has successfully moved 30 data centres covering 3 continents. He was responsible for building the IT Operations team and business at the Bank of Canada where his data centre design and commissioning experience was put to the test and was recognised and commended by the advisor to the Governor. Over the last two decades, he has been focused on delivering projects for several Federal Canadian Government departments, agencies, and services along with large private sector organisations.

Mr. Kushwaha’s experience doesn’t stop there, he has managed a wide range of project and reported to various levels of management. He enjoys juggling the time, cost, scope and quality of any project. He has strong negotiation skills and enjoys delivering presentations to all levels of staff and management.

Mr. Kushwaha is often requested to advise and guide private and public organisations with their cyber challenges as it relates to cyber crime versus cyber espionage, cyber sabotage, and cyber warfare. He delivers an annual conference where topics cover cyber, international law, data centres, cloud convergence, security, emissions, disaster scenarios/stories, and much more. Mr. Kushwaha holds multiple valid security clearances (Government of Canada and NATO), is certified by the Uptime Institute, and is fully bilingual.

Recently, Mr. Kushwaha has written papers on cyber issues and how they relate to the International Law of Armed Conflict and International Humanitarian Law. His papers were peer reviewed, published, and presented at the U.S. Army’s University of North Georgia, the 2018 European Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security at the University of Oslo (Norway), and the 2018 Knowledge Management conference at the University of Pisa (Italy). He holds an annual conference in Ottawa to share knowledge and educate people in the industry on security (physical, logical, personnel, and emissions), technology, and cyber matters with speakers from Europe, USA, and Canada.

Besides that, Neal is also an accomplished mountaineer with over 32 years of climbing experience. After supporting a daring rescue at 6,700 m, he finally summited mount Everest at 05:35 AM (local time) on 23 May 2018. In 2014, Neal attempted to climb Mount Lhotse (4th highest peak at 8,516 m / 27,940 ft) but was interrupted by an avalanche that took 16 lives. Neal not only discusses cyber and data centre matters, but is regularly called to deliver keynotes on his mountaineering accomplishments and challenges. He delivers exciting talks complete with images and videos while relating his climbing experience to business and even the cyber industry. On 28 June 2019, Mr. Kushwaha was awarded the Silver Medal of Bravery for risking his life to save another on Mt Everest.