Telecom

1996-2001

When I was 19, I worked an outside sales position for a local Internet Service Provider (ISP). I went business-to-business in rural West Michigan attempting to sell dial-up accounts and websites. It was 1996 and the World Wide Web was not well known or understood. This experience was like Marty McFly taking the DeLorean back to 1955 in hopes of peddling iPhone cases to Hill Valley residents. Had my sales quota been tied to the number of blank stares I received, I would have crushed it.

When I wasn’t enduring awkward conversations, I taught myself HTML, the Linux command line, and a graphics program. It wasn’t just a reprieve from fruitless door-knocking, I absolutely loved it. By the time I landed a website project, my boss gave me the opportunity to build it for some extra cash. I pounced. That project led to me transitioning to a technical role with the company.

The following year, I was given the opportunity to launch a dial-up ISP for a local telephone company with a close friend. This do-or-die caffeine-fueled crash course in routers, remote access servers, and a pile of Linux-based services is responsible for setting my Ludicrous Speed career in motion. Once the ISP was up and running, I remained on staff as System Administrator, managing all of the infrastructure and services, providing technical support, developing websites, and implementing networks for area businesses – including a state bank and school system.

Small & Medium-Sized Businesses

1998-Present

I started my first web studio in 1998 and freelanced as a parallel career until 2018. I didn’t sleep much, but I had a blast and learned a metric ton. During this time, I delivered hundreds of web projects for clients throughout the US and beyond – creative agencies,  newspapers, schools, banks, retailers, radio stations, systems integrators, recording studios, realtors, events, photographers, medical practices, startups, manufacturers, artists, musicians, engineers, nonprofits, a search engine, and even a lumberjack.

After starting RedFactor in 2018, I maintained some web clientele but shifted much of my focus to Splunk development. Today, I still maintain a little web work. Since starting down this path in 1998, there’s never been a time that I haven’t had a web client.

Faith-Based & Nonprofit

1998-Present

In 2002, I went to work for Gospel Communications International – the non-profit behind the most visited faith-based websites on Earth (e.g., Bible Gateway, Gospelcom.net, Cross Search, and others). In this role I provided technical consultation and support to an alliance of 400 organizations internationally. I also served in a product management role, championing the roadmap and strategy for a massive commercial Content Management System and managing external development teams.

In addition to my extensive project-based work with small business, I delivered websites and various technical solutions for churches, ministries, and other nonprofits. I’ve also donated considerable time to such organizations in a volunteer capacity.

Public Sector

2004-2021

In 2004, I relocated to Virginia for a contract position with US Customs & Border Protection (CBP), where I led enterprise projects related to internet gateway, secure wireless, network services, disaster recovery, and network management. I also developed bespoke applications and scripts to automate infrastructure tasks across WAN and data center environments.

The scope of my role at CBP expanded significantly, becoming the Principal Network Management Systems Architect for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In this capacity, I designed, deployed, and managed network monitoring capabilities and network services for a global network consisting of over 250,000 users across 5,000 sites. I also authored multiple papers, including Department-level standards and extensive system design documentation.

I left DHS/CBP in 2013 for a position with Splunk. I started as a pre-sales engineer working with Federal law enforcement agencies and ultimately moved into Senior Manager role over multiple engineering teams that supported Federal civilian customers. In this role, I also did gobs of public speaking, developed solutions with other technology partners, and did a fair amount of technical writing – including technical marketing papers like Using Splunk for CDM and CMAAS.

In 2018, I left Splunk to start RedFactor, an ISV and consultancy that brought commercial Splunk apps to market that were adopted by a number of Federal agencies and universities.

Healthcare

2018-Present

Not long after my leap of faith from Splunk, I had the opportunity to work on a very unique project that, unbeknownst to 2018-me, would significantly change the trajectory of my career. I led the development of a patient privacy monitoring solution for NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP). The Privacy Platform sliced and diced data from clinical applications to provide visibility into the behavior of clinical staff with Protected Health Information (PHI), to identify inappropriate or malicious access to patient data and satisfy HIPAA requirements. The project was a huge success. (If you’re interested in the gory details, I gave a talk with Splunk Product Management at .conf18.)

I went on to work with True Zero Technologies, a leading cybersecurity consulting firm, where I started a healthcare practice. I built a product and services around what I had done for NYP and delivered to other healthcare organizations.

In 2021, I had an opportunity to go to work full time with NYP, pioneering a SecDevOps Team and owning the solution I’d built as a consultant. Today, I serve as the Director of Security Development Operations and lead teams of cybersecurity practitioners, developers, and data analytics engineers that defend the enterprise and create technical solutions to solve unique operational challenges.