The Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group is where the messaging industry comes together to work against bots, malware, spam, viruses, denial-of-service attacks and other online exploitation. It leverages the depth and experience of its global membership to tackle abuse on existing networks and new emerging services through work in our targeted priorities, focus areas, and world-class best practices..  M³AAWG also educates global policy makers on the technical and operational issues related to online abuse and messaging.  The organization is driven by market needs and supported by major network operators and messaging providers.

M³AAWG Leadership

Amy Cadagin, M³AAWG Executive Director

Amy Cadagin has been M³AAWG's Executive Director since 2020. In this role, she oversees the operations, finances, programs, staff, and membership of a global organization while assisting the Board of Directors in achieving M³AAWG's mission and goals. Amy's career with M³AAWG began in 2006. She was a Program Manager, collaborating with Committee Chairs prior to each general meeting, overseeing the development of sessions, monitoring progress, promoting dialogue among diverse stakeholders, and ensuring the seamless operation of M³AAWG's activities. This work prepared her to hold positions as Operations Manager, Operations Director, and Co-Executive Director. Her stewardship has directly contributed to the organization's growth and success. Amy is a champion and advocate for diversity and inclusion within M³AAWG and the industry at large.

Sara Roper, M³AAWG Board of Directors Chairperson 

Sara Roper is M3AAWG's Chairperson. She leads M3AAWG's global team of 260 member companies and organizations focused on fighting online abuse and overseeing the efforts of over 80 committees, special interest groups, and initiatives. She was elected to the position in 2024. Sara has been a member of M3AAWG since 2009 and has served as Vice Chair and Chair of the Growth and Development Leadership Committee. She has also worked on several of the organization's committees and special interest groups, including the Collaboration Committee, which focused on best practice development and publication. 
 
Sara brings over two decades of industry knowledge to M3AAWG's mission. At Bank of America, she serves as the Cyber Crime Senior Specialist and Senior Vice President. Since 2021, she has helped internal business partners deconstruct scams and cyber fraud targeting the company, recommending strategies and capabilities to detect or control the activities of adversaries, to protect the financial ecosystem.

Sharon Kent, M³AAWG Board of Directors Co-Vice Chair 

Sharon Kent is M³AAWG's Co-Vice Chair. She assists the Chairperson in leading M³AAWG's global team of 260 member companies and organizations focused on fighting online abuse. She was elected to this position in 2024. Sharon has been a member of M³AAWG since 2018, when she began contributing to the organization by leading sessions on machine learning. She is currently serving as Co-Chair of the Artificial Intelligence Committee and was previously Co-Chair of the Technical Committee.
 
In her experience at Comcast, Kent leads a team of data science professionals who support the company's anti-abuse efforts. They have addressed various challenges, such as detecting account takeovers, scoring sender reputations, and phishing detection.

Severin Walker, M³AAWG Board of Directors Co-Vice Chair 

Severin Walker is M³AAWG's Co-Vice Chair. He assists the Chairperson in leading M³AAWG's global team of 260 member companies and organizations focused on fighting online abuse. He was elected to this position in 2024. Severin has been a member of M³AAWG since 2009. He previously served as Chairperson. He has also been Chair of the Messaging, Abuse Desk, and Technical Committees and continues to support outreach efforts to establish partnerships with other industry organizations, while guiding the work of the regionally focused anti-abuse working groups.
 
Severin brings over 20 years of industry experience across messaging security and incident response for Internet Service Providers and anti-abuse solution providers. He is currently the Director of Provider Products and Services at Vade, an anti-spam and phishing software provider.

Sam Silberman, M³AAWG Board of Directors Treasurer 

Sam Silberman has been M³AAWG's Treasurer since 2011. He leads the organization's finances to ensure the success of future programs and initiatives. Sam also holds the distinction of being a founding member of M³AAWG, joining the organization in 2005. He previously served as Co-Chair of the Marketing and Communications Committee and Internal Productivity Working Group. He continues to contribute to research and helps develop best practices to block bad actors from using internet services.
 
Sam brings more than 25 years of experience in email software development, combating spam, and improving email delivery through industry policy and technical solutions. He currently serves as the Director of Standards and Industry Relations at Constant Contact.

Tom Bartel, M³AAWG Board of Directors Assistant Treasurer 

Tom Bartel is M³AAWG's Assistant Treasurer. He will assist the Treasurer in leading the organization's finances to ensure the success of future programs and initiatives. Tom has been a member of M³AAWG since 2005. He continues to serve as Co-Chair for Growth and Development, working to amplify the impact and influence of M3AAWG initiatives through its network of partners. He also serves as Chair of the Awards Committee and contributes to M3AAWG's published resources with the Technical Review committee.
 
Tom is a seasoned technology entrepreneur bringing over 25 years of experience in email, security, and technology to M³AAWG. He currently serves as Senior Vice President of Data for Validity, a trusted data provider supporting mailbox providers, message security providers, and digital marketers with reputation data services for anti-spam, phishing, and message deliverability.

Jerry Upton, M³AAWG Executive Director Emeritus

Jerry Upton has served as M³AAWG Executive Director since the organization's founding in 2004. Previously, in his more than twenty years experience at Motorola, he held executive positions in standards, software and mobile phone products, alliance management and business development. Mr. Upton was also the founding Chairman of the Open Mobile Alliance, a mobile standardization forum, and a past TIA Engineering Committee Chair.

Michael O’Reirdan, M³AAWG Chairperson Emeritus

Michael O’Reirdan is Chairperson Emeritus after serving five terms as chairperson of the Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group, the industry’s largest global trade association working against messaging bots, spam, viruses, denial-of-service attacks and other online exploitation.  Previously, he was key in developing the organization’s Internet Service Providers Closed Colloquium, a M³AAWG committee of international network operators.  Professionally, Mr. O’Reirdan served as a Comcast Engineering Fellow with over 20 years of experience in the ISP field and with public facing messaging platforms.  He chaired the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s CSRIC III Working Group #7 that produced the first U.S. voluntary industry code to help reduce end-user bots (ABCs for ISPs), has served on executive advisory boards for several major computer vendors, and is active in other industry organizations. (Also see the videos Why the Industry Needs the ABCs for ISPs and Quantifying Consumer Bot Infections:The M³AAWG Bot Metrics Report.)

Chris Roosenraad, M³AAWG Chairperson Emeritus

After serving three terms as M³AAWG Chairperson, Chris Roosenraad maintains an active role in the organization as Chairperson Emeritus.  He has also served multiple terms as vice chairman, chair of the program committee, chair of the technical committee, and chair of the public policy committee.  Mr. Roosenraad is currently a director at NeuStar, running the UltraDNS product line.  Mr. Roosenraad has over 18 years of ISP experience having worked for carriers in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He has been involved in various computer vendor advisory boards and is active in other industry organizations. (See the video Learning from the Past to Protect the Future where he talks about the internet of things, self-driving cars and other emerging topics.)

The M³AAWG Expert Advisors also assist the committees in their work and share their expertise at M³AAWG meetings.

Journalists and industry analysts, for more information please contact: pr@m3aawg.org

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