Warning: Gratuitous back patting follows.
What is something cool you've done?
I took a year off in 2012 to trek the Khumbu region, meditate in front of the Bodhi tree in Bihar, fill my belly with dosas, idlis, vadas, sambar, and chutney in Kerala, chase lemurs in the national parks and reserves of Madagascar, witness a Malagasy intertribal kerfuffle, explore Freetown Christiania in Denmark, and summit Kilimanjaro. The best part of that year was meeting my (now) wife at a Halloween party.
It may surprise you...
I've attended on two different occasions 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreats - in Bodhgaya (where Gautama Buddha is said to have achieved enlightenment) and in Dharamsala (where the Dalai Lama began a permanent exile). I did not achieve enlightenment.
What are some of your favorite movies?
- The Big Lebowski
- The Fountain
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
- Elf
- Thor: Ragnarok
What kind of work do you find most fulfilling?
- Leading Teams
- Process Improvement
- Research & Development
- Innovating
What are the technologies, stacks, and skills you're proficient in?
- Process Improvement & Automation
- Product Management
- Information Security & Cybersecurity
- Program & Project Management
- Cloud and Big Data Strategy & Implementation (AWS, Azure)
- Performance Optimization
- Capability Maturity Model Integration
- Enterprise Architecture
- Continuous Integration
- Atlassian Ecosystem: JIRA, Confluence, Bamboo, BitBucket
- Drupal Content Management System
- LAMP Stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP)
- Amazon Alexa Skill Development
What are your favorite development efforts?
- Two-way SMS nudge bot (for use in kinesiology, substance misuse, and student and classroom outcomes)
- Server-less bulk mail for research surveys tool
- Secure video hosting service for classroom-based initiatives
- Media (audio / video) derived classroom-analytics via automated transcoding, transcribing, and natural language processing for insights and relationships
- Xamarin mobile starter-templates for social science research initiatives
- Custom Alexa skills using AWS, Lambda, and Python
What is your favorite quote or phrase?
"Ancora imparo" which means "Yet, I am learning."
What else?
I'm a virtual CTO with a bunch of credentials and more than 21 years of IT experience in organizations spanning finance, education, healthcare, government, process improvement, and not-for-profit industries. Some of the organizations I've worked for include: J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Royal Bank of Scotland, Merrill Lynch, Noble Group, and American Institutes for Research.
Ask my colleagues or clients about me and they'll be sure to mention my strong communication and team-building skills, positive attitude, and ability to efficiently knock-out any challenge thrown my way. Most importantly, they'll say I'm a good person (often funny, but not quite stand-up comedy funny) who genuinely cares for others.
Of the certifications I've attained, I'm most proud of the OSCP (Offensive Security Certified Professional) which requires passing a 24 hour practical test (hacking into five servers) that pushes the limit on penetration testing and ethical hacking skills.
What certifications do you have?
I'm a certified Governance of Enterprise IT Executive (CGEIT), Information Security Manager (CISM), Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Offensive Security Professional (OSCP), CSX Cybersecurity Practitioner (CSX-P), Enterprise Architect (TOGAF), and Project Management Professional (PMP).
Great, but what have you done with those certifications?
The knowledge reinforced and gained helped me deliver large-scale ($14.5M+) information technology initiatives on time and on-budget by effectively collaborating with, facilitating, leading, and coaching cross-functional distributed teams. I've transformed (digitization, modernization) both business and technical units - for the better. I've led numerous enterprise information systems projects to successful completion playing various roles: product manager, program manager, project manager, process improvement specialist, solutions architect, risk manager, DevSecOps lead, and application developer.
In my current role, I lead product vision, strategy, and roadmap planning to prototype and market behavioral and social science research and evaluation products to enhance everyday life. I also develop and execute security strategy to strike a balance between risks and controls.