Security & Leadership Career

SaaSVista

Built production AI systems deepening hands-on expertise in AI governance, non-human identity risk, and agentic AI integration. Key platform: SaaSVista (ai.saasvista.io). Trust Pack is the commercial product: builds credible compliance artifacts for GRC teams navigating AI governance, mapping AI usage to NIST AI RMF, ISO 42001, and EU AI Act. Powered by the open-source AIBOM Scanner (published on PyPI, github.com/saasvista/aibom-scanner) detecting 61 AI SDK patterns across 30+ providers. Architected the full stack (FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Astro, React) and built companion tools including AppMapper, AgenticScrum, and an MCP memory server.

• • Trust Pack (commercial product): builds credible compliance artifacts for GRC teams answering AI governance questions. Maps AI usage to 48 controls across 3 frameworks (NIST AI RMF, ISO 42001, EU AI Act) via 36 risk rules, with Anthropic Claude enrichment behind a PII anonymization pipeline, generating branded PDF + JSON reports with 30/60/90-day action plans
• • AIBOM Scanner (open source, github.com/saasvista/aibom-scanner): zero-dependency Python CLI published on PyPI (v1.0.0, Apache-2.0) with a GitHub Action and SARIF output for GitHub code scanning. Detects 61 AI SDK patterns across 30+ providers, 34 risk rules, and 48 compliance controls. OSS lead-gen layer feeding Trust Pack
• • Agentic AI Governance: detects agentic frameworks (CrewAI, AutoGen, LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, MCP) and flags governance gaps alongside the NIST AI RMF, ISO 42001, and EU AI Act control mapping
• • Chinese AI Provider Detection: identifies 10 Chinese AI providers in codebases including 3 BIS Entity-Listed CRITICAL (Zhipu, iFlytek, SenseTime) and 7 data-sovereignty flagged (DeepSeek, Qwen, ERNIE, and others), with OpenAI-compatible base_url detection, a concrete export-compliance differentiator for security buyers
• +12 more achievements

Linx Security

First Sales Engineer partnering with co-founders to shape technical go-to-market strategy for next-gen IGA platform. Architected demo environments and automation tools that reduced POC setup time by 80%.

• • Architected inaugural demo environment reducing POC setup time and accelerating customer evaluations
• • Developed production-grade PowerShell tools extracting AD data from 20k-60K user population environments into platform-ready schemas
• • Created Python automation framework converting complex AD hierarchies into Linx entitlement models with 99.9% accuracy
• • Led technical discovery workshops translating Fortune 500 requirements into tailored solution roadmaps
• +6 more achievements

AuthMind

Pre-sales SE for AuthMind, an identity observability platform: full visibility into what every human and non-human identity is doing, with automated detection of Zero Trust policy violations. Specialized in ISPM/ITDR for enterprise accounts including Fortune 500.

• • Delivered monthly security assessments identifying critical vulnerabilities for enterprise clients including Fortune 500
• • Authored 'Protecting Against Credential Stuffing Attacks' technical blog for AuthMind
• • Demonstrated AuthMind inside customer Zero Trust architectures, surfacing policy violations by both human and non-human identities and identifying lateral movement risk from compromised service account credentials across hybrid environments
• • Participated in ISSA security round-table discussions on emerging identity threats and mitigation strategies
• +8 more achievements

Silverfort

First North American hire driving explosive growth from Series A startup through unicorn-trajectory growth. Generated 43% of North American sales ($12M+ ARR) with 3x higher demo-to-close conversion rate vs team average.

• • NHI Product Pillar: Originated Silverfort's service account protection use case in 2019, before NHI was a recognized category. Identified a gap when a customer asked how to secure service accounts where MFA was not applicable. Engineered a behavioral analytics solution: baselined normal authentication patterns per service account, enforced adaptive allow/deny policies to block anomalous connections. Partnered with Silverfort's Lead Data Scientist on the baselining, feeding real customer authentication data from the field; the approach was published in Silverfort's SUNBURST service-account analysis. Engineering validated the approach and built it into the platform as one of two flagship use cases, equal in prominence to MFA. I found the use case. The product team built the feature.
• • Market Segment Origination: Opened the cyber insurance market segment at Silverfort. Recognized a pattern in inbound calls where prospects cited insurer mandates to close every Active Directory interface, obtained a prospect's policy document showing requirements that read like Silverfort's own capability list, and built the sales motion to target it. Aimed it at small and mid-market manufacturers, who buy cyber insurance, rather than large enterprises, who self-insure. Closed 17 deals in the first quarter and ran the motion a full year, matching the combined production of the enterprise sales team. Silverfort built a dedicated business unit around the segment with its own BDRs and sellers.
• • POV Scoping: Unblocked a stalled Fortune 10 evaluation by cutting its proof requirement. The customer had insisted on testing 16 separate LDAP applications, each needing cross-team coordination to repoint, after the first had already passed flawlessly. Argued the remaining tests were redundant because those applications all authenticate against Active Directory the same way and the criterion was already proven. The evaluation closed at $1.5M.
• • Sales Cycle Transformation: Reduced sales cycles from 2-4 months to 14 days through POC automation and streamlined evaluation processes
• +9 more achievements

Safer Strategy

Founded profitable IT security VAR specializing in Quest One Identity solutions and DevOps automation. Built business from ground up landing 8 enterprise clients across the life of the business.

• • Built profitable VAR business from ground up landing 8 enterprise clients across the life of the business
• • Led AD bridge and PAM/MFA implementations for large enterprise environments
• • Developed automated deployment framework using Git-managed scripts and custom documentation generation
• • Codified deployment processes using Infrastructure as Code and configuration automation
• +5 more achievements

Quest Software / Dell

Progressed from post-sales consultant (Bank of America) to senior pre-sales architect and product leadership team member. Dell acquired Quest Software in 2012; continued through acquisition. Consistently one of the top-performing SEs in the IDM business unit across 8 years (2008-2016), among 75+ sales engineers.

• • Revenue Leadership: Consistently one of the top-performing sales engineers in the IDM business unit across 8 years (2008-2016), in an organization of 75+ sales engineers
• • Career Progression: Post-sales consultant at Bank of America -> pre-sales SE -> became go-to for QAS within 3 months -> Senior Solutions Architect -> Product Leadership Council
• • Sales Excellence: Dell Silver Cash Winner 2014; Quest 100% Club nominations every eligible year
• • Strategic Accounts: Principal SE for Fortune 500 accounts (30K-150K users) closing multi-million dollar deals including $8.1M Federal PAM deal and $1.4M NetApp deal
• +5 more achievements

Bank of America

Consultant on the B2B proxy group. Later returned to BofA as Quest Software's first delivery engagement. Excelled on that project and earned the invitation to transition into sales engineering.

• • Managed B2B proxy infrastructure for one of the largest financial institutions in the US
• • Performance on this engagement directly led to Quest Software recruiting him as a Sales Engineer
• • Bridge role between deep Unix systems background and enterprise software career

Permeo Technologies

Joined with the goal of transitioning into sales engineering. Earned CISSP certification in 2003 to match credentials of the SE team, previously certified 2003-2022 and now lapsed. Company folded the day before the scheduled meeting with the sales manager to discuss the SE role transition.

• • Earned CISSP certification (#59706) in 2003, motivated by seeing other SEs carry the credential; previously certified 2003-2022, lapsed
• • Company shut down the day before scheduled meeting to discuss SE role transition
• • Retained to shut down IT infrastructure as one of the last employees
• • Company later acquired by Blue Coat Systems

Nortel Networks

Second stint at Nortel, supporting developers across roughly 4,000 Unix systems, mainly engineering workstations and developer servers, in an environment with essentially no standardization. High-caliber clientele (software engineers building telecom systems) and a supportive manager who provided growth opportunities. Discovered the Sales Engineer career path here after meeting an SE and recognizing it as the ideal blend of technical skills and people skills.

• • Supported developers across roughly 4,000 Unix systems in Nortel's telecom infrastructure
• • Wrote shell scripts to apply configuration changes across the fleet: iterating a list of target systems in a for loop, connecting to each, and adding or removing configuration file entries everywhere
• • Clientele was exceptionally technical: software engineers building carrier-grade telecom systems
• • Discovered the Sales Engineer career path after meeting an SE on-site. Realized it combined growing technical skills with natural people skills.
• +2 more achievements

Paranet (Sprint)

Joined approximately one month after Sprint's acquisition of Paranet. Placed on site at GTE as part of an eight-person team providing 24/7 support for an 8,000-node HP-UX environment. Hewlett-Packard had built the solution for GTE and managed the program; Paranet supplied additional contractors, and the team manager was an HP employee. Pre-DevOps era with no automation tooling: naming standards, a known configuration per system, custom bash scripts, and NIS (Network Information Service) for authentication.

• • Administered an 8,000-node HP-UX environment for GTE as part of an eight-person team on 24/7 coverage, pre-DevOps era with zero automation tooling
• • Configuration management before the tooling existed: strict naming standards across workstations, servers, and databases, with a specific known configuration bound to each system and kept in sync by custom shell scripts
• • Authentication via NIS (Network Information Service), notoriously insecure protocol but the standard of the era
• • This large-scale systems thinking foundation, managing thousands of bare-metal Unix boxes without modern tools, became the origin of the architectural mindset that later enabled AI-augmented development
• +1 more achievements

Nortel Networks

First stint at Nortel as a contractor. Deployed Unix monitoring systems for new switching gear being installed at AT&T sites nationwide, traveling the country as part of a major telecom infrastructure project. Between deployments, invested downtime in self-directed security study, the beginning of a deep security focus that would eventually lead to the CISSP certification, held 2003-2022 and since lapsed.

• • Deployed Unix monitoring systems at AT&T sites across the country as part of major switching gear rollout
• • AT&T was a major Nortel customer, hands-on with carrier-grade telecom infrastructure
• • Self-directed security study during downtime, learning offensive and defensive techniques
• • Technical skills began to mature significantly during this period

IEX

Early-career startup experience. Approximately one year tenure building foundational systems administration skills.

• • Startup environment: wore multiple hats in small team
• • Continued building Unix systems administration expertise

Collin County

First encounter with Unix: administered an IBM AIX RS/6000 system for county elections. The role that launched a Unix career spanning 8,000-node networks and ultimately 30 years in technology.

• • First Unix system: IBM AIX RS/6000, the starting point for an entire career trajectory
• • Managed elections technology infrastructure for Collin County
• • Transitioned from PC/desktop background to enterprise Unix administration

RTS (Responsive Terminal Systems)

Grew up in the family computer business from age 8. Formally began working during high school, then transitioned to full-time technician while attending University of North Texas in Denton. Learned computing fundamentals from UTD (University of Texas at Dallas) Dr. Roy, who taught classes to RTS employees, attended as a teenager absorbing lessons on memory, storage, and computing architecture.

• • Learned computing fundamentals from UTD professor Dr. Roy, who taught classes to company employees, attended as a teenager (~1991)
• • Exposed to computing from age 8 through parents' business
• • Full-time technician while commuting to University of North Texas in Denton
• • Foundation in hardware, networking, and systems that predates formal IT career by years