Who We Are

Since 1992, Unified Compliance has developed ground-breaking tools to support IT best practices with a special focus on regulatory compliance, metrics, systems continuity, and governance. Developed in 2005, the Common Controls Hub, the SaaS portal built on to the Unified Compliance Framework®, is Unified Compliance’s flagship product. The UCF’s content and methodology is the direct result of our deep understanding of IT regulations and standards as well as decades of experience consulting for clients, publications, and vendors in the mission-critical IT arena.

 


 

Who Developed the UCF?

The Unified Compliance Framework® represents original research by Dorian J. Cougias, founder and Lead Analyst of Network Frontiers LLC and his research partner, Marcelo Halpern of the international law firm of Perkins Coie which oversees all legal aspects of the UCF, together with input from our field editors worldwide.

The UCF® was developed to answer several questions:

In order to answer these questions, thorough and in-depth research into the technical as well as legal interpretations of each authority document in question had to be undertaken. As a result, Network Frontiers and Perkins Coie have cornered the market with the largest, broadest compliance methodologies in the world, including methodologies for solid research, cross referencing, glossary, fact checking, and editorial to maintain the high standards enjoyed by the vendors and end users of the Unified Compliance Framework.

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Dorian J. Cougias

Dorian J. Cougias

DORIAN J. COUGIAS is the Lead Analyst of the UCF and co-founder of Network Frontiers, a company focusing on the science of compliance, including harmonization methods, metrics, systems continuity, and governance.

Over the last sixteen years, Dorian has overseen the establishment, sale, and re-launch of Network Frontiers, has served as CIO of two of the leading advertising agencies in the world, and has served as CEO of an international software company. He has written and spoken extensively on all matters of information technology, is a leading expert witness, and has won numerous writing and speaking awards.

Dorian serves as an adviser or working group member to the Payment Card Security Council, Financial Technology Forum, and other industry organizations. He is also an Emeritus Professor of Technology, lecturing and serving on the board of advisers for the University of Delaware; College of Human Services, Education, and Public Policy.

As the primary architect of the Unified Compliance Framework® (UCF), Dorian and his research partner, Marcelo Halpern of the international law firm, Perkins Coie, have created the first and largest data structure and library of regulatory compliance content for governance, risk and compliance (GRC) management. The UCF (and its Software-as-a-Service portal, the Common Controls Hub) provide a structure, a methodology, and the evidence needed to prove compliance, allowing companies to easily and transparently accelerate their IT compliance and governance.

Marcelo Halpern

Marcelo Halpern

MARCELO HALPERN is a partner in the Chicago office of the international law firm of Perkins Coie which has a focus on Licensing & Technology.

Marcelo has provided representation and advice to global “Fortune 100” companies, start-up and emerging growth companies, domestic and foreign governments, as well as traditional Chicago and Midwest based companies. His experience includes structuring and negotiating technology-based strategic alliances and joint ventures; domestic and international outsourcing transactions; internet exchanges and marketplaces; software, database and content licensing; counseling on digital strategy concerns including internet security, data acquisition, and privacy issues; ISP, ASP, hosting, and software services agreements; internet advertising and sponsorship agreements; technology development and co-development transactions; ERP implementation transactions; private labeling, co-branding, and other marketing and distribution strategies; venture capital investments; and mergers and acquisitions involving technology companies or intellectual property assets.  Marcelo also provides general corporate representation to software, consulting, internet, ecommerce and technology companies.

Mr. Halpern has been recognized in Chambers’ USA Guide to Leading Business Lawyers,The Best Lawyers in America, and inIllinois Leading Lawyers Network. He currently serves on the Board of Editors forThe Internet Newsletter and forThe E-Commerce Law Report  and formerly served on the Board of Directors, and as Secretary and Treasurer for the MPEG-4 Industry Forum, a nonprofit international organization dedicated to the promotion of technological standards in digital media. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Computer Law at The John Marshall Law School in both its JD and LLM programs. Marcelo is a member of the American Bar Association (Section of Science and Technology), the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association (Computer Law Committee), and the Computer Law Association. Marcelo also serves on the firm’s also serves on the firm’s Diversity Scholars Program Committee and Technology Committee.

Prior to joining Perkins Coie, Marcelo was a partner in the Chicago law firm of Latham & Watkins and also Gordon & Glickson LLC, where he led that firm’s internet and e-commerce practice group.  Prior to attending graduate school, Marcelo served as vice president of a software development and consulting firm and worked as a software systems developer and manager.

Education

J.D., Columbia Law School, 1992 Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar; Associate Editor,Columbia Business Law Review M.B.A., Columbia University Graduate School of Business, 1992 Beta Gamma Sigma B.A., Wesleyan University, 1985

Lynn Heiberger

Lynn Heiberger

On the board of Unified Compliance since its inception, LYNN HEIBERGER returned as COO to bring leading end-to-end analysis of and revisions to the Unified Compliance Framework (UCF), Common Controls Hub, and UCF Mapper business models. This has resulted in optimization of processes and operations, as well as revenue growth.

Lynn also has oversight of sales and operations including third party services and contracts, financial oversight of budgets, AR, and AP, recruiting, and on-boarding.

Lynn has over 20 years of IT application and infrastructure experience spanning publishing, insurance, and GRC. Her background includes leading teams of systems integrators, technical delivery specialists, and domain architects in security, storage, network, platform, telephony, Windows services, and database services for design, deployment, and Tier 4 ongoing support. She is an expert in compliance, security, process implementation, and cost benefit analyses, meeting all regulatory and business requirements and designing and managing budgets in excess of $50 million.

Prior to joining Unified Compliance, Lynn oversaw Infrastructure Architecture and Integrated Services at AAA Insurance Exchange where she implemented successful compliance programs for PCI and other state regulatory requirements.

Steve Chang

Steve Chang

Steve Chang is the Founder and Managing Partner of Allomer Capital Group, a private investment firm that invests flexible, long-term capital in partnership with leading industry executives to help companies accelerate growth and maximize potential. Allomer Capital is a partnership between Steve Chang and Moore Strategic Ventures, LLC, the privately held investment company for Louis M. Bacon, Founder and CEO of Moore Capital Management, LP.

Prior to founding Allomer, Steve co-founded Clearlake Capital Group, a private equity firm, as a Managing Partner and member of the Investment Committee. Steve was also previously a Partner and member of the Investment Committee at Tennenbaum Capital Partners (acquired by BlackRock), a Principal at Barnard & Co., and an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Steve currently serves as a director of Alterian Software, Corvium, iA (Innovation Associates), Malk Partners, Talespin, Truce Software, and Network Frontiers (Unified Compliance). He has previously served as a director of various other public and private companies, including Ashley Stewart, Celink, Enterasys Networks, Intentia International AB, ITC^Deltacom, Lawson Software, Online Resources Corporation, and Solutionary. He also currently serves on the Curtis School Board of Trustees. Steve received both a B.S. and an M.S. in Biological Sciences and an A.B. with Distinction in Quantitative Economics from Stanford University.

Mike Hrabik

Mike Hrabik

Mike brings a strong security background as founder and CEO of SecureSky, a cloud security company providing managed security and compliance solutions for IaaS, SaaS, and hybrid environments. Additionally, as co-founder and president and CTO of Solutionary, an early pioneer of managed security and compliance services (MSSP) (acquired by NTT in 2013), and as global CTO and America's CEO of NTT Security, Mike led innovative security R&D and technology initiatives to support 10 SOCs and their global and regional regulatory requirements.

Mike's operational experience providing security and compliance for Solutionary/NTT and its clients' complex environments will give us valuable perspectives as we extend our secure API gateway to enable integrated and real-time compliance for today's dynamic and distributed environments. In addition, SecureSky's CSPM/SSPM solution aligns with UCF's compliance-as-code vision and our ML mapping technology development to automate the linkage of cloud technical controls to our unified compliance schema.

As founder and CEO of SecureSky, Mike Hrabik is focused on securing client cloud environments against current and emerging threats. He is responsible for leading the company's business objectives and the innovation of a patent-pending, active protection platform.

Prior to founding the company in 2018, Mike was the Global CTO, Regional CEO of NTT Security, where he was responsible for planning and driving the integration of region-based, security services and platforms. As co-founder and president of Solutionary (acquired by NTT in 2013), he was instrumental in the company’s vision including technological planning, strategic initiatives, development and future growth. He was the principal architect for Solutionary’s services, patented ActiveGuard® software technology, and Security Operations Centers.

DORIAN J. COUGIAS is the Lead Analyst of the UCF and co-founder of Network Frontiers, a company focusing on the science of compliance, including harmonization methods, metrics, systems continuity, and governance.

Over the last sixteen years, Dorian has overseen the establishment, sale, and re-launch of Network Frontiers, has served as CIO of two of the leading advertising agencies in the world, and has served as CEO of an international software company. He has written and spoken extensively on all matters of information technology, is a leading expert witness, and has won numerous writing and speaking awards.

Dorian serves as an adviser or working group member to the Payment Card Security Council, Financial Technology Forum, and other industry organizations. He is also an Emeritus Professor of Technology, lecturing and serving on the board of advisers for the University of Delaware; College of Human Services, Education, and Public Policy.

As the primary architect of the Unified Compliance Framework® (UCF), Dorian and his research partner, Marcelo Halpern of the international law firm, Perkins Coie, have created the first and largest data structure and library of regulatory compliance content for governance, risk and compliance (GRC) management. The UCF (and its Software-as-a-Service portal, the Common Controls Hub) provide a structure, a methodology, and the evidence needed to prove compliance, allowing companies to easily and transparently accelerate their IT compliance and governance.

MARCELO HALPERN is a partner in the Chicago office of the international law firm of Perkins Coie which has a focus on Licensing & Technology.

Marcelo has provided representation and advice to global “Fortune 100” companies, start-up and emerging growth companies, domestic and foreign governments, as well as traditional Chicago and Midwest based companies. His experience includes structuring and negotiating technology-based strategic alliances and joint ventures; domestic and international outsourcing transactions; internet exchanges and marketplaces; software, database and content licensing; counseling on digital strategy concerns including internet security, data acquisition, and privacy issues; ISP, ASP, hosting, and software services agreements; internet advertising and sponsorship agreements; technology development and co-development transactions; ERP implementation transactions; private labeling, co-branding, and other marketing and distribution strategies; venture capital investments; and mergers and acquisitions involving technology companies or intellectual property assets.  Marcelo also provides general corporate representation to software, consulting, internet, ecommerce and technology companies.

Mr. Halpern has been recognized in Chambers’ USA Guide to Leading Business Lawyers,The Best Lawyers in America, and inIllinois Leading Lawyers Network. He currently serves on the Board of Editors forThe Internet Newsletter and forThe E-Commerce Law Report  and formerly served on the Board of Directors, and as Secretary and Treasurer for the MPEG-4 Industry Forum, a nonprofit international organization dedicated to the promotion of technological standards in digital media. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Computer Law at The John Marshall Law School in both its JD and LLM programs. Marcelo is a member of the American Bar Association (Section of Science and Technology), the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association (Computer Law Committee), and the Computer Law Association. Marcelo also serves on the firm’s also serves on the firm’s Diversity Scholars Program Committee and Technology Committee.

Prior to joining Perkins Coie, Marcelo was a partner in the Chicago law firm of Latham & Watkins and also Gordon & Glickson LLC, where he led that firm’s internet and e-commerce practice group.  Prior to attending graduate school, Marcelo served as vice president of a software development and consulting firm and worked as a software systems developer and manager.

Education

J.D., Columbia Law School, 1992 Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar; Associate Editor,Columbia Business Law Review M.B.A., Columbia University Graduate School of Business, 1992 Beta Gamma Sigma B.A., Wesleyan University, 1985

On the board of Unified Compliance since its inception, LYNN HEIBERGER returned as COO to bring leading end-to-end analysis of and revisions to the Unified Compliance Framework (UCF), Common Controls Hub, and UCF Mapper business models. This has resulted in optimization of processes and operations, as well as revenue growth.

Lynn also has oversight of sales and operations including third party services and contracts, financial oversight of budgets, AR, and AP, recruiting, and on-boarding.

Lynn has over 20 years of IT application and infrastructure experience spanning publishing, insurance, and GRC. Her background includes leading teams of systems integrators, technical delivery specialists, and domain architects in security, storage, network, platform, telephony, Windows services, and database services for design, deployment, and Tier 4 ongoing support. She is an expert in compliance, security, process implementation, and cost benefit analyses, meeting all regulatory and business requirements and designing and managing budgets in excess of $50 million.

Prior to joining Unified Compliance, Lynn oversaw Infrastructure Architecture and Integrated Services at AAA Insurance Exchange where she implemented successful compliance programs for PCI and other state regulatory requirements.

Steve Chang is the Founder and Managing Partner of Allomer Capital Group, a private investment firm that invests flexible, long-term capital in partnership with leading industry executives to help companies accelerate growth and maximize potential. Allomer Capital is a partnership between Steve Chang and Moore Strategic Ventures, LLC, the privately held investment company for Louis M. Bacon, Founder and CEO of Moore Capital Management, LP.

Prior to founding Allomer, Steve co-founded Clearlake Capital Group, a private equity firm, as a Managing Partner and member of the Investment Committee. Steve was also previously a Partner and member of the Investment Committee at Tennenbaum Capital Partners (acquired by BlackRock), a Principal at Barnard & Co., and an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Steve currently serves as a director of Alterian Software, Corvium, iA (Innovation Associates), Malk Partners, Talespin, Truce Software, and Network Frontiers (Unified Compliance). He has previously served as a director of various other public and private companies, including Ashley Stewart, Celink, Enterasys Networks, Intentia International AB, ITC^Deltacom, Lawson Software, Online Resources Corporation, and Solutionary. He also currently serves on the Curtis School Board of Trustees. Steve received both a B.S. and an M.S. in Biological Sciences and an A.B. with Distinction in Quantitative Economics from Stanford University.

Mike brings a strong security background as founder and CEO of SecureSky, a cloud security company providing managed security and compliance solutions for IaaS, SaaS, and hybrid environments. Additionally, as co-founder and president and CTO of Solutionary, an early pioneer of managed security and compliance services (MSSP) (acquired by NTT in 2013), and as global CTO and America's CEO of NTT Security, Mike led innovative security R&D and technology initiatives to support 10 SOCs and their global and regional regulatory requirements.

Mike's operational experience providing security and compliance for Solutionary/NTT and its clients' complex environments will give us valuable perspectives as we extend our secure API gateway to enable integrated and real-time compliance for today's dynamic and distributed environments. In addition, SecureSky's CSPM/SSPM solution aligns with UCF's compliance-as-code vision and our ML mapping technology development to automate the linkage of cloud technical controls to our unified compliance schema.

As founder and CEO of SecureSky, Mike Hrabik is focused on securing client cloud environments against current and emerging threats. He is responsible for leading the company's business objectives and the innovation of a patent-pending, active protection platform.

Prior to founding the company in 2018, Mike was the Global CTO, Regional CEO of NTT Security, where he was responsible for planning and driving the integration of region-based, security services and platforms. As co-founder and president of Solutionary (acquired by NTT in 2013), he was instrumental in the company’s vision including technological planning, strategic initiatives, development and future growth. He was the principal architect for Solutionary’s services, patented ActiveGuard® software technology, and Security Operations Centers.