David “Dave” Mayer is a SANS Certified Instructor and CIO and Managing Director of Advanced Assessments at Neuvik, where he specializes in offensive security, red teaming, and adversary emulation. At SANS, he is co-author and teaches SEC565: Red Team Operations and Adversary Emulation, bringing students a practitioner’s view of how real-world adversary simulations are planned, executed, and translated into stronger enterprise defenses.
Dave’s career began in healthcare information security, where he progressed through support, analyst, and engineering roles before moving into Offensive Security. He later served in red team, vulnerability assessment, and penetration testing roles at Citi, led red team operations at prestigious consulting firms, and now leads advanced assessment work at Neuvik. That path gives his labs a grounded, end-to-end perspective: students learn not only how to emulate adversaries, but how to communicate findings that help defenders mature.
