New Braunfels, Texas, United States
With over 25 years in the IT industry starting with a solid foundation in sales and customer facing roles, I’ve had the honor and good fortune of working with and for some of the best companies, partners, and customers in the world. As a recognized leader in cyber operations, I have received accolades from customers and partners including the FBI and US Air Force; Travelers, Beazley, Chubb, and Tokio Marine cyber insurance providers; Mullen Coughlin, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, and Constangy Brooks Smith & Prophete law firms. Highlights of my career include the training of AI and machine learning models to achieve greater than 99.9% accuracy in detecting and preventing malicious code from executing on computers, detecting previously unknown attack campaigns on compromised websites that resulted in their takedown and remediation, while also being a part of four major mergers & acquisitions resulting in company valuations that were all over $500 million. One of the companies even reached unicorn status with an all-cash buyout agreement of over $1.4 billion. That company was also the fastest growing startup to hit the $1 billion mark.
• Own the end-to-end technical sales process for designated Majors accounts across Texas and surrounding regions • Design and deliver compelling technical presentations, architecture reviews, and executive-level security briefings to CISOs, IT Directors, and procurement stakeholders • Lead Proof of Value engagements from scoping through closure — proving Zscaler's ZIA, ZPA, ZDX, DLP, and Cloud Protection Platform capabilities against customer requirements and competitive incumbent solutions • Translate complex customer pain points into actionable zero trust architectures that align with business outcomes • Serve as the technical voice in executive meetings, board-level discussions, and RFP/RFI processes • Partner closely with Account Executives, product teams, and Zscaler's professional services organization to ensure seamless deal execution • Bring competitive intelligence to the field — understanding what Netskope, Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, and others are shipping, and positioning Zscaler's differentiation
Manage a tiger team of 5-15 incident response, digital forensics, and recovery engineering employees to service clients. Build strong business relationships as a trusted advisor and subject matter expert on cybersecurity product and service investments, ensuring alignment with business objectives and risk reduction. Perform as a liaison to facilitate collaboration between clients board of directors, c-suite, key stakeholders, and internal department heads to implement proof of concept deployments, demonstrate ROI, and mature their cybersecurity posture and programs. Conduct comprehensive security assessments and optimize configurations for multiple cloud, hybrid, and on premise environments including AWS, GCP, Microsoft Azure, O365, and Windows, Linux, and OS X operating systems. Develop and implement long term enterprise security strategies. Review, edit, and develop, policies and procedures, internal training programs, security assessments, table top exercises, penetration tests, and incident response, business continuity, and disaster recovery plans. Protect enterprise systems and information by promptly responding to security incidents, threats, and breaches. Identify, preserve, collect, document, and analyze evidence left by any threat actor(s). Proactively hunt for threats and identify, contain, and eradicate threats in the environment. Lead projects to improve the overall cybersecurity defense operations and reduce the risk of a breach by up to 95%. Stay up to date on the latest APT groups, cybercriminal groups, and their tactics, techniques and procedures. Produce and present threat intelligence reports using various sources of threat intelligence data to create actionable response plans. Lead digital forensics and incident response engagements from initial contact and scoping, to post incident services and consultation. Initial focus on containment, eradication, and recovery, with longer term focus on business productivity and continuity.
Trained Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning models. Analyzed and researched portable executable files using static, dynamic, and reverse engineering tools. Hunted and discovered previously unidentified and emerging threats through malware and network analysis. Responded to incident reports from customers who have encountered suspicious computer behavior. Recommended and carried out procedures designed to help systems recover from any damage inflicted prior to installing the Cylance product. Examined, identified, and understood the nature of cyber-threats such as viruses, worms, bots, rootkits, and Trojan horses. Worked on long term adversarial research projects (like Cylance's Operation Cleaver) Discovered, tracked and correlated attacker-related command and control infrastructure. Analyzed current and new exploit vectors and techniques for gaining and maintaining access. Worked with the SPEAR team on long-term research projects regarding malware. Protect clients enterprise systems and information by promptly responding to security threats and incidents, acting individually and as part of a team to resolve security issues. Identify, preserve, collect, document, and analyze evidence left by the threat actor(s) in client environments. Proactively hunt for threats and identify, contain, and eradicate threats in client environments while supporting their recovery efforts. Act as a subject matter expert to provide insight and guidance to clients engaging in response, remediation, assessment, and prevention measures. Analyze cyber security incidents to solve issues and improve incident handling procedures. Proactively coordinate with appropriate client departments during security incidents, to include stakeholders, management, legal, security, operations, and others. Conduct research and analysis using the latest methods, tools, and trends in digital forensics analysis. Create thorough reports and documentation of all incidents and procedures.
Develop test methodologies and test cases that assess the efficacy of a security technology as it pertains to enterprise use cases. Build out test lab environments, including installation of security control systems and endpoint products. Conduct and/or oversee on-site and remote vendor engagements. Adhere to all test Standard Operating Procedures including, but not limited to, test development best practices, test development workbook completion, scorecard development and engagement notes capture. Participate in the creation of thought leadership pieces (delivered as webinars or research papers) that assist enterprises in their decision making. Communicate findings to both technical and non-technical audiences. Oversee the execution of tests according to methodology concepts. Engage with and support enterprise clients to ensure the use cases and testing represent the challenges faced in product deployment.
Handle day to day administration of the company’s security infrastructure including anti-malware/anti-virus software, email security, workstation and server security, vulnerability assessment scanners, and various other security tools. Respond to and resolve security incidents. Identify needs and opportunities for improving the company’s security posture. Interface with other departments to advise, resolve, prevent, and overall mitigate risk while maintaining a productive environment. Provide rapid and effective support on all security matters to the company’s Help Desk group. Research, evaluate, implement and administer new security technologies. Participate in on-call duties in support of a 24x7 production environment representing the Security group. Perform periodic security audits and various tasks to ensure regulatory compliance. Provide technical leadership and guidance in security matters to projects inside and outside the department.