About me
My Experience
Over 25 years in Executive level Technology Management, primarily in Infrastructure (Network/Telecom), Security, and
Law Enforcement Technologies (LMR/Forensics).
CISO - Division Manager - San Mateo County: March 2021 - Present
Started with the organization managing Countywide telecom, compute and store (VMware/800+ virtual machines) and Countywide public safety radio. Was asked to also manage the network and security division, and fill the vacant assistant CIO position. Ultimately choose to concentrate my efforts on Network and Security. As CISO completely revamped the technical underpinnings of the organizational security program, through the successful implementation of advanced anti-malware (Palo Alto XDR), SIEM (XDR data lake), XSOAR security orchestration platform, DHS sponsored Intrusion Detection Platform, Advanced DNS protections coupled with a Countywide Intrusion Detection and Prevention platform (Palo Alto Threat Protection and Wildfire), Countywide vulnerability platform (Tenable.SC), as well as a 24/7/365 security operations center. Furthermore, re-wrote virtually all security policies as well as authoring the first comprehensive countywide cyber-incident response plan. In addition, designed and implemented Cloud Highway by fully implementing cloud computing across two co-location providers and peering various providers through the implementation of private computing fabric.
Assistant Director Network Services - State of Washington: April 2020 - March 2021
Manage all core network, telecommunications and firewalls for organization with over 60,000 users. Appointed Chairman of the Statewide Interoperability Executive Committee.
Assistant Director of IT - Infrastructure and Security Division - Prince William County Virginia: October 2018 - April 2020
Executive level position managing network, telecom, hyper-converged infrastructure, public safety radio and operational security for the entire organization.
Deputy Chief Information Officer - Ventura County California: May 2015 - October 2018
Executive level position managing network, telecom, public safety radio and operational security for organization with 9000 users.
Chief Information Officer - Madera County California: February 2005 - April 2015
Appointed department head position managing all technology for the organization including application development, network, telecom, security.
Director of Network Services - Orange County California: November 1998 - January 2005
Managed network, telecom, data center environment, web application development, security for a 14,000 user organization. Held CISO position from November 1998 to June 2002 when permanent CISO was secured.
My Skillsets
I am an inquisitive technologist who always seeks to leverage technology to solve organizational challenges and enrich the lives of those I support and serve. I thrive on excellence of process and outcomes.
Specific application technologies I have managed and supported hands on:
Microsoft O365/AD/SQL/SSRS/Dynamics CRM · Okta/AAS · PeopleSoft Financial/HRIS · Workday · Federal Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) · Granicus · OnBase/Laserfiche EDMS · Acela AMS/Permit · General SDLC (& DevOps) · ServiceNow ITIL
The following is a sampling of the platforms I am both experienced with supporting and managing:
Checkpoint - Palo Alto Firewalls/Advanced Threat · Azure Security · Cisco Switch/Router/ASA/PIX · Endpoint E/XDR (various) · Security Orchestration (SOAR) · Splunk, InsightDR, LogRythm, Palo Alto XDR SIEM · Tenable SCCV · CIS-CSC/NIST/HIPAA Compliance · Nutanix/VxRail ·AWS Direct Connect/Azure ExpressRoute · LMR and MW/Fiber backhaul -Motorola/Harris/Ceragon/Ubiquity · Guidance Encase v3-v7 (Currently hold EnCE) · Clearpass NAC · Various IDS/IPS · Mitel, Cisco CUCM, and virtually all other digital, cloud (Teams Telephony) or VoIP/SIP telecom platforms.
My Passions
I have many personal passions, one of which is hiking. I have successfully climbed Mt. Whitney seven times out of ten attempts.
I am a lover of music, especially classical piano. Over the years, I have learned to play several instruments but piano remains my favorite.
The skills I learned as a former JPGA (Golf) member provided a foundation of dedication to excellence in everything I do, which has enhanced my professional journey. I have a passion for personal achievement and diving deep to help others to attain their full potential.
I define success in two ways: first, consistently exceeding every goal and objective for myself and my team; second, always look for ways to benefit others through my efforts - in many ways Servant leader.
Ultimately, I am driven to use technology to solve problems and challenges within organizations and communities, and doing so successfully energizes my professional satisfaction.
Finally, I am an avid motorcycle enthusiast. My latest purchase is a 2023 BMW RT, which is really fun to ride, more so than back in my cafe racing days!