PFIC – Paraben’s Forensic Innovation Conference – is pleased to have Jeffrey “Skunk” Baxter as our keynote this year. Not only is he one of the world’s leading guitarists, but he is one of the top innovators in the world of cyber security and the stop of cyber-terrorism. We hope you will come and join us at PFIC to hear his words of wisdom on what is next in the field of innovation when it comes to our cyber risks…Unquestionably one of the rock/pop world’s leading guitarists, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter also has a life story so unusual it recalls the title of Alton Delmore’s autobiography, Truth is Stranger Than Publicity. Born in Washington D.C., but raised partly in Mexico, partly in a Connecticut prep school and partly in late ’60s Boston, Baxter was delivering amps to a session when the guitarist didn’t arrive. He grabbed a guitar and then, at age 13 began a recording career that is still going today. in 1972, he attracted notoriety, as a founding member of Steely Dan, delivering legendary guitar on tracks such as “Do It Again”, “My Old School” and “Rikki, Don’t Lose That Number”. He joined the Doobie Brothers in 1974, later bringing Michael McDonald to the band and helping that group craft such enduring treasures as “Takin’ It To The Streets”, “It Keeps You Runnin'” and “What A Fool Believes”. During this same period he worked as a session guitarist on Joni Mitchell’s “Hissing of Summer Lawns” and Little Feat’s “Time Loves A Hero.” During the ’80s and ’90s he continued his high level of session work, contributing key guitar lines to projects by Ringo Starr, Bryan Adams, Freddie Hubbard, John Cougar Mellencamp, Rod Stewart, Dolly Parton, Gene Simmons, Donna Summer and Edgar Winter as well as producing albums for artists like Carl Wilson, Nazareth and the Stray Cats, earning numerous Gold and Platinum albums. He was also involved with AKAI, as their Senior Technical Adviser, Epiphone Guitars, with a signature model and Roland Corp, in on-going design work on the Guitar Synthesizer.
Baxter is also currently a consultant/contractor for a number of US Government agencies and advises top military, government and civilian groups on missile defense, terrorism, counter-terrorism, cyber-warfare, intelligence, virtual reality, next-generation technology and unconventional strategies. Mr. Baxter currently serves as an adviser to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and a member of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment. Mr. Baxter is also a Senior Fellow and member of the Board of Regents at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, a Senior Thinker at the IHMC, (Institute for Human & Machine Cognition) a member of the Director’s Strategic Red Team at MIT/ Lincoln Laboratories as well as holding consulting agreements with SAIC, ITT, Defense Group Inc., Northrop-Grumman, General Dynamics Information Technologies, Ball Aerospace, Defense Group Inc. and Sierra Nevada Corp. He is a Specialist Reserve Officer with the Anti-Terrorist Division of the Los Angeles Police Dept and a member of the Terrorism Early Warning Group.
