068: How to Protect Your Business Against Cyber Attacks + Economically Converting Plastic Waste Into Fuel with Regine Bonneau and Jeff Gold

In this episode of Saving With Steve, host Steve Sexton is joined by Regine Bonneau (CTPRP), CEO and Founder of RB Advisory, LLC, a leader in security compliance and cyber risk management solutions for public and private businesses, and Jeff Gold, Founder and CEO of Nexus, the world’s only commercial-scale, 100% circular waste plastics solution.

Colonial Pipeline, which carries gasoline and jet fuel from Texas up the East Coast to New York, has recently been attacked and adversely impacted. The White House and FBI disclosed it was due to a ransomware attack, in which criminal groups hold data hostage until the victim pays a ransom. This breach has heightened the vulnerability of the nation’s energy infrastructure to cyber-attacks. 

My first guest, Regine Bonneau (CTPRP), is the CEO and Founder of RB Advisory, and is a recognized leader in cybersecurity, risk management, and compliance. She joins us today to share her insight on the recent energy pipeline cyberattack, why it happened, what ransomware is, and how it gets through. Regine also discusses how ill-prepared our businesses and country actually are, but what can be done to better protect ourselves from such breaches and cybersecurity threats.

There is discarded plastic that has filled our oceans, parks, and landfills and will never break down, causing a multitude of problems to landscapes, fishing, and more. My second guest, Jeff Gold, is Founder and CEO of Nexus Fuels, a plastics-to-oil conversion company utilizing advanced designs and technology to achieve high energy efficiencies, oil yield, and high quality chemical feedstocks.

He joins us today to walk us through how he created the world’s first 100% commercial circular waste plastic solution and how he diverted 3 million pounds of landfill-bound plastic and turned into high grade oil that can be used for many things. Jeff shares the real problem with plastic waste, how Nexus goes about breaking down plastic, and what feedstock is and what it can be used for once it is recycled.

Regine Bonneau (CTPRP) is a highly sought-after expert and speaker within the cyber industry and a recognized leader in several technology industry associations for her extensive knowledge. She has more than 20 years of experience in the field of cybersecurity, risk management, and compliance in a variety of industries such as healthcare, financial, legal, government, and energy sectors from small to large enterprises. 

Regine is a New America Cybersecurity Fellow and member of the International Consortium of Minority Cybersecurity Professionals (ICMCP). She has been a keynote speaker for Microsoft during Small Business Week and has been featured in the Orlando Sentinel, the Orlando Business Journal, and other prominent publications.

Regine won the 2019 Eagle Award by the African American Chamber of Commerce for Emerging Business, a 2018 Orlando Neon Swan, which comprises an online list of Orlando women doing amazing projects for the tech community by succeeding in STEM fields and helping other women succeed.

She was also a winner of the 40 Under Forty award by the Orlando Business Journal and presented with the esteemed “Deeva in Tech” by Women on the Rise. Regine has been recognized by her industry as a business and technology leader most recently recognized as Consulting Magazine 2021 – Women Leaders in Technology. 

She is active in the community and is currently involved in several charitable organizations. She served on the Advisory Board for Arnold Palmer Medical Center (Champion’s Circle) and as a Board Member for NAWBO Orlando, Howard Phillips Center (Champion’s Circle), and the Greatest Investment Girl’s Camp.

Regine is Founder and CEO of RB Advisory LLC, which provides cyber risk management, security assessments, compliance services, forensic audits, and private consultations for the private sector and government clients. She founded RB Advisory after years of working in the risk management and compliance industries. RB Advisory is certified with the City of Orlando and the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority and is MWBE, DBE, LDB, and SBE certified.

Jeff Gold is Founder and CEO of Nexus Fuels, a plastics-to-oil conversion company utilizing advanced designs and technology to achieve high energy efficiencies, oil yield, and high quality chemical feedstocks.

Under Jeff’s leadership, Nexus has advanced quickly to become the global leader in sustainable, circular molecular recycling. Prior to starting Nexus, Jeff founded and is president of a 30-year-old technology-based high-hazard chemical remediation, engineering, and management firm currently serving governmental and industrial clients around the globe.

Nexus FUELS, LLC is a waste management and energy production company that has developed a commercial-scale process (Nexus Technology) for converting waste plastics into feedstocks for plastics production and fuels, which can be further refined into a full range of products.

Nexus uses its proprietary Nexus Technology to convert difficult-to-recycle waste plastics into feedstocks and fuels collectively called nexus ENERGY – broad-spectrum feedstocks converted back into virgin plastics (fully circular) and high grade fuels composed of gasoline, kerosene, diesel, heavy oils, and waxes.

Nexus technology uses thermal depolymerization (pyrolysis) to break long-chain hydrocarbons into smaller chains. nexus FUELS has perfected the technology to create a highly efficient and economic system providing low-cost, environmentally friendly products for our customers.