The San Antonio Chamber of Commerce Cybersecurity Council was hosted by Capital Factory within the newly constructed Tech Port Center & Arena for its monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 4th.
To begin the meeting, Council Chair Larry Hurtado, founder of Evanesco Inc., introduced Jessica Steinhoff from Capital Factory. Jessica is a recently retired Finance Airman and Contracting Officer from the USAF and retired out of JBSA-Randolph. She now serves as the VIP manager for all of Capital Factory, helping start-ups find their first employees, mentors, and investors through coordination of detailed agendas and curating introductions to portfolio companies. Jessica presented on Capital Factory’s operations and their success in helping start-ups across the state. Key highlights from Jessica’s presentation included:
- Capital Factory’s Texas Startup Manifesto, a driving motivation to convince entrepreneurs to treat the entire state of Texas as one big city, due to the close proximity between major cities like Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio
- Texas’ emerging tech growth in areas like Aerospace & Defense, Biotechnology & Life Science, and Information Technology
- Capital Factory’s Center for Defense Innovation, a highlight of non-dilutive government funding that Capital Factory Portfolio startups have received since 2019 by collaborating with Army Futures Command, AFWERX, DIU, NGA, and the Texas National Guard
Following Jessica’s presentation, Larry introduced Joseph Coppola and Casey Parra from the Alamo Colleges District to present on the Information Technology Apprenticeship Launch. During their presentation, they highlighted the expansiveness of the Alamo Colleges District within the region, which is recognized as the largest provider of workforce training in the area, and statistics regarding their student demographics. Pertaining to the Information Technology Apprenticeship launch, they detailed:
- Key fundamentals students involved in the cybersecurity program would learn including analyzing common security failures, describing the ethics within cybersecurity practices, offensive cybersecurity tactics, and resolving host or network intrusions
- Differences between the rigorous demands and on the job learning of a registered apprenticeship versus other work-enhanced learning experience models
- Core components of a registered apprenticeship: employer involvement, structured and paid on the job learning, job related educational instruction, rewards for skill gains, and national occupational credential opportunities
The next Cybersecurity Council meeting will be held on June 1st in conjunction with the 16th Air Force out of JBSA – Lackland.
For more information on the Cybersecurity Council, click here.