I'm a passionate, considerate, and engaged information security leader who has been focused in this area for over 25 years and have built and led 6 security programs (4 with the actual CISO title).
I have a M.S. in Finance and am very strong on the business side of security, working with the company executive leaders on identifying risks and collaborating to proactively reduce risks without impacting the business and the ability for people to perform their jobs.
I regularly present to the Board of Directors on my strategic plan and how I’m executing against it.
The people side of security is very important.
I meet with people throughout the organization to understand the risks and educate them on how to make good security decisions.
I’m a servant leader, helping others to be effective which then makes the organization successful.
My undergraduate degree is in Psychology and my first Master’s degree is in Social Work.
I understand how to motivate people and create a positive work environment.
I led teams building and maintaining security tools, supporting compliance assessments including PCI, SOC 1, SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001 and ICFR, conducting breach incident response and investigation, securing mergers and acquisitions, supervising disaster recovery exercises, and managing physical security.
Before becoming a leader in information security, I performed all these roles as a hands-on practitioner, providing me a deep understanding of the skills and requirements for my teams to be successful and to build a tactical plan.
I served on the RSA Conference program committee for 4 years.
I have presented at various security events, including:
* FutureCon Denver 2023, 2025 (keynote presentation)
* RSA APJ Conference 2017
* RSA Conference 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2024
* Rocky Mountain Information Security Conference 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2025
* CSA
* ISSA
* ISACA
* OWASP
Outside of cybersecurity I enjoy traveling, hiking, off-roading, skiing, and volunteering with Team Rubicon.
- City and County of Denver - Chief Information Security Officer (CISO): 2024 - Present (1 year)
- University of Colorado Colorado Springs - Strategic Artificial Intelligence Advisory Member: 2024 - 2025 (1 year)
- Beazley Security - Director of Advisory Services and CISO: 2024 - 2024 (less than a year)
- California State University, Northridge - Adjunct Faculty: 2023 - 2024 (1 year)
- REPAY - Chief Information Security Officer: 2021 - 2023 (2 years)
- Blue Lava, Inc. - Advisor: 2018 - 2023 (5 years)
- Pepperdine Graziadio School of Business and Management - Advisory Board Member: 2017 - 2023 (6 years)
- Tenable - Security Program Manager: 2019 - 2021 (2 years)
- RSA Conference - Program Committee Member: 2017 - 2021 (4 years)
- iEmpathize - Board Member: 2017 - 2020 (3 years)
- Guardian Life - CISO at ReedGroup: 2018 - 2019 (1 year)
- ReedGroup - Business Information Security Officer: 2017 - 2018 (1 year)
- Red Robin - Director - Standards, Risk, Compliance, and Security: 2016 - 2017 (1 year)
- FactorChain - Advisory Board Member - Technical Advisor: 2016 - 2017 (1 year)
- Sports Authority - Director, Security Compliance: 2016
- Sports Authority - Manager, Security Compliance: 2015 - 2016 (1 year)
- Wells Fargo - Team Lead - Information Security Engineer: 2014 - 2015 (1 year)
- Wells Fargo - Information Security Engineer: 2013 - 2014 (1 year)
- Apex Systems - Information Security Engineer Consultant at Wells Fargo: 2013
- Stream Global Services - Sr. Manager: 2012 - 2013 (1 year)
- SBAlliance - Program Manager: 2010 - 2012 (2 years)
- Lockheed Martin Information Technology - Cyber Intel Analyst Stf: 2005 - 2010 (5 years)
- Gambro Healthcare - Information Security Analyst: 2004 - 2005 (1 year)
