About
Empowering People. Strengthening Security.
In today’s digital world, cyber threats aren’t just a technical problem—they’re a people problem. The weakest link in cybersecurity is often the human element, and I’m on a mission to change that. I equip and inspire individuals with the knowledge they need to avoid becoming a vulnerability, turning them into the first line of defense rather than the weakest link.
With over nine years of honorable service in the U.S. Navy, I bring battle-tested leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving skills to the cybersecurity landscape. My background combines technical expertise with hands-on instruction, allowing me to translate complex concepts into clear, actionable knowledge.
Why Work With Me?
Bringing me onto your team means filling your Cybersecurity Analyst role with a professional who not only understands security but also knows how to build teams, develop training programs, and lead people toward success.
My Skillset at a Glance
🔹 Network Analysis: Skilled in using Wireshark for network traffic analysis and threat detection.
🔹 Mechanical Expertise: 9+ years of hands-on experience working on gas turbine engines.
🔹 Training & Development: 6+ years of experience designing and delivering training programs.
🔹 Leadership & Instruction: Certified Navy Master Training Specialist & Technical Instructor.
🔹 Technical Proficiency: Experienced with AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, ProEngineer, MS Word, and PowerPoint.
🔹 Exceptional Communication: Strong written and verbal skills, making complex ideas easy to understand.
I thrive in environments where problem-solving, education, and security come together. Whether it’s securing networks, training teams, or bridging the gap between technology and people, I’m ready to make an impact.
Let’s connect and build a stronger, more secure future—together.
Personal Narrative: Building a Cybersecurity Career
I did not take the traditional, straight path into cybersecurity. If you look at my background, you will see a journey that spans across several distinct stages of my professional and personal life. Over the years, I have been a military instructor in the Navy, a mechanical and electrical designer, a network drafter, and now, an IT and Security Analyst. For a long time, I viewed these chapters as entirely separate career paths. But as I transition into the next phase of my cybersecurity career, I realize they were never detours. They were the building blocks. Each role taught me foundational skills that I rely on every single day in cybersecurity: systematic troubleshooting, meticulous documentation, technical communication, and the resilience to learn and adapt to highly complex systems. My education at Old Dominion University (ODU) has been the bridge connecting all of those past experiences to my future.
My professional journey began in the United States Navy, where I had the privilege of serving as a technical instructor. During that time, I delivered more than 1,500 hours of technical instruction to entry-level Naval personnel. Standing in front of a classroom day after day, I was responsible for developing learning objectives, preparing test items, evaluating instructional materials, and assessing whether our curriculum was actually working. That experience taught me a lesson I carry to this day: technical knowledge is practically useless if you cannot communicate it effectively. It also taught me how to read a room, adapt my message to people with vastly different levels of experience, and break down complex concepts into digestible pieces. Today, whether I am explaining a vulnerability to a network engineer or outlining a risk to management, I lean heavily on those instructional skills.
After my military service, I transitioned into the civilian sector, taking a role with Oceaneering International as a Mechanical and Electrical Designer. This was a deep dive into the world of engineering processes, technical specifications, electrical schematics, and computer-aided design (CAD). My days were spent evaluating systems, designing parts, interpreting dense specifications, and creating engineering drawings. While this wasn’t cybersecurity, it fundamentally rewired my brain to think like an engineer. I learned that strict requirements matter, that documentation is an absolute necessity, and that the smallest oversight in a design can lead to catastrophic, systemic failures.
I took that engineer’s mindset with me to General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), where I initially worked as a Drafter III. I was tasked with creating highly detailed network diagrams, collaborating closely with network engineers, and using software like AutoCAD and Visio to map out intricate systems. In this role, I saw firsthand just how vital accurate, up-to-date documentation is when multiple technical teams need to operate in sync. When a network goes down, or a change is made, that documentation is the only map you have.
Eventually, my personal and professional interests began to heavily gravitate toward cybersecurity. At home in Chesapeake, Virginia, I had already become deeply invested in technology. Between raising five kids, I spent my free time building custom desktop computers, managing virtual machines on Proxmox VE, running Kali Linux, and writing Python scripts to automate statistical analysis and file navigation. Even my downtime was technical—hosting local web servers and playing Minecraft on local network addresses with my son. I was already living and breathing technology, so pivoting my career to focus on securing it felt like the natural next step.
That pivot became a reality in my current role as an IT/Security Analyst at GDIT. Getting to apply cybersecurity concepts in a live, high-stakes operational environment has completely shifted my perspective. Before working in the field, cybersecurity often felt abstract—a massive web of frameworks, controls, and terminology. Working in the trenches showed me that cybersecurity is a living, continuous process. Every day, I manage air-gapped networks, utilize Nessus for vulnerability scanning, build Splunk queries to hunt for compliance anomalies, and apply DISA STIGs and CIS Benchmarks to harden critical systems.
Through this hands-on work, I realized that finding a vulnerability is actually the easiest part of the job. The real work is prioritizing that vulnerability, understanding how a patch might break a legacy system, coordinating with stakeholders, and documenting the remediation. You have to understand both the technical flaw and the operational environment it lives in.
This is where my education pursuing my Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity at Old Dominion University came into play. ODU gave me the theoretical “why” behind the “how” of my daily work. Instead of seeing my academic coursework and my day job as two separate worlds, I began to see them reinforcing each other in real time. Cryptography courses helped me grasp the absolute mathematical fundamentals of authentication and secure communication. Networking courses illuminated exactly how systems talk to each other and how vulnerabilities exploit those pathways. Digital forensics taught me the rigorous discipline of preserving evidence and building a case systematically, rather than jumping to conclusions.
Crucially, my interdisciplinary coursework at ODU challenged me to look at security problems from perspectives far beyond technology. I learned that cybersecurity is a human problem, an economic problem, and a political problem. It involves organizational behavior, public policy, privacy, and ethics.
My certifications have also been vital markers of my professional growth. Earning my CompTIA Security+ provided a broad baseline, while my GIAC GFACT and GSEC certifications expanded my deep technical knowledge. But credentials alone aren’t enough; their true value is unlocked when combined with actual experience and academic theory.
As you navigate this ePortfolio, you will not find downloadable files hidden behind links. Everything is embedded directly on the site for full visibility. I have organized my artifacts around three core skill areas: Cybersecurity Operations and Technical Skills, Cybersecurity Analysis and Interdisciplinary Problem Solving, and Professional Communication and Leadership.
Creating this portfolio has allowed me to step back and look at my career as one cohesive narrative. My Navy experience taught me leadership and communication. My engineering days taught me precision and systems thinking. My home lab keeps my hands on the keyboard. ODU gave me the academic foundation, and GDIT provides the operational battleground. I am not simply a student transitioning into the workforce; I am an experienced professional leveraging a diverse, interdisciplinary background to solve the complex cybersecurity challenges of tomorrow.
Reflection:
Looking at my collegiate journey
Introduction
When I enrolled in the cybersecurity program at Old Dominion University, I was not a blank slate. I brought with me years of experience in military instruction, engineering, technical documentation, and hands-on IT operations. What I needed was not just an introduction to technology, but a framework to translate my existing background into the specialized, high-stakes context of cybersecurity.
My experience at ODU has profoundly shaped my professional identity, largely because it taught me to view cybersecurity through an interdisciplinary lens. As Repko and Szostak (2021) describe in their work on interdisciplinary research, complex problems cannot be solved within the vacuum of a single discipline; they require integrating insights from multiple fields. Cybersecurity is the ultimate complex problem. A data breach might stem from a technical software flaw (Computer Science), but mitigating it involves understanding human psychology (Sociology/Behavior), regulatory compliance (Law/Policy), and business impact (Economics/Management).
The nine artifacts embedded throughout this ePortfolio are organized into three primary skill categories. Together, they demonstrate how my academic experiences have interwoven with my professional background to ensure I am highly prepared for a career in cybersecurity analysis, governance, risk, and compliance.
Skill Area 1: Cybersecurity Operations and Technical Skills
The first section of my portfolio highlights my operational and technical competencies. While cybersecurity is interdisciplinary, it is undeniably anchored in deeply technical concepts.
Artifact 1: Cryptography and Secure Communications My coursework in cryptography provided a critical foundation in how data is actively protected. This artifact explores concepts like encryption, hashing, and key exchange, demonstrating how principles of advanced mathematics and computer science are applied to modern security architectures. The greatest lesson I learned while creating this artifact was the absolute necessity of precision. In engineering, I learned that a misread spec could ruin a mechanical assembly. In cryptography, I learned that a minor flaw in implementation can compromise an entire network. This artifact perfectly illustrates interdisciplinary learning by bridging mathematical theory with practical information technology.
Artifact 2: Digital Forensics My digital forensics artifact developed my ability to investigate digital evidence systematically. The process of writing this piece taught me how to navigate file systems and preserve chain-of-custody, but more importantly, it trained me to think like a legal investigator. Forensics lives at the intersection of computer science and law. I learned that finding anomalous data is only half the battle; knowing what the data legally signifies and determining how confidently you can stand behind a conclusion in a formal setting is what makes an investigation successful.
Artifact 3: Network and Security Work This artifact bridges classroom theory with enterprise architecture, exploring network communication, protocols, and security controls. Creating this artifact felt deeply personal because it directly mirrors my daily responsibilities as an IT/Security Analyst at GDIT, where I manage air-gapped networks and apply STIGs. I learned to view networking not just as a series of cables and routers, but as a holistic risk environment. This aligns seamlessly with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 2.0, which emphasizes a systems-oriented approach to enterprise risk management, proving that technical infrastructure is intrinsically linked to organizational governance (Pascoe, Quinn, & Scarfone, 2024).
Skill Area 2: Cybersecurity Analysis and Interdisciplinary Problem Solving
The second section of my portfolio moves beyond configuring firewalls and dives into analysis, strategy, and policy. This is where the interdisciplinary nature of the ODU program truly shines.
Artifact 4: Between the Lines Security Analyst Job Advertisement Analysis For this artifact, I conducted a deep analysis of a Security Analyst job posting for the Aptos Foundation. Drawing on methodologies for analyzing professional discourse (Harper, 2012), I looked past the technical requirements to understand what the organization truly valued. While they asked for knowledge of least privilege and Nessus, the subtext of the advertisement revealed a desperate need for communication, coordination, and independent judgment. Writing this artifact completely changed how I view my own career readiness. It taught me that Human Resources, Organizational Management, and Cybersecurity are deeply intertwined. Employers do not just want technical encyclopedias; they want analytical problem solvers.
Artifact 5: National Cybersecurity Strategy and Critical Infrastructure This artifact required me to analyze cybersecurity from a macroscopic, geopolitical perspective. Studying the White House’s National Cybersecurity Strategy (2023) forced me to consider the complex relationships between the federal government, private industry, and critical infrastructure. The writing process taught me that policy decisions dictate technological development, and vice versa. An organization must balance robust security with financial realities and mission objectives. This artifact sits squarely at the intersection of Political Science, Economics, and Information Security, proving that technical controls cannot be implemented in defiance of operational reality.
Artifact 6: Artificial Intelligence and Cybercrime Researching the dual role of artificial intelligence in cybercrime was perhaps my most profound interdisciplinary experience. AI is a staggering technical achievement, but as Brundage et al. (2018) note in their research on the malicious uses of AI, its societal impact is dictated entirely by human actors. AI can automate threat hunting, but it can equally automate phishing campaigns. This artifact required me to synthesize computer science with sociology and ethics. I learned that as a security professional, I must anticipate human behavior just as much as I monitor network traffic.
Skill Area 3: Professional Communication and Leadership
The final section of my portfolio focuses on the “soft skills” that are actually the hardest to master. A recurring theme in my career from the Navy to engineering to GDIT is that technology fails without human leadership.
Artifact 7: Research and Technical Writing Cybersecurity professionals spend a massive amount of time documenting incidents, drafting policies, and writing reports. This artifact showcases my ability to synthesize complex technical data into readable, actionable prose. While drafting this, I reflected on my 1,500 hours as a Navy instructor. I realized that writing a security audit report in Splunk is fundamentally the same as writing a military training curriculum: you must identify your audience, strip away the jargon, and make the information immediately useful. This bridges Communications and English with Information Technology.
Artifact 8: Technical Presentation and Communication Knowing the answer to a security problem is not enough; you must know how to present it. A systems administrator requires granular, command-line details about a vulnerability, while a C-level executive needs to know the business risk, the operational downtime, and the financial cost of remediation. Creating this artifact taught me the psychology of leadership. To drive change in an organization, you must frame security risks in terms the business understands.
Artifact 9: Leadership, Documentation, and Professional Collaboration My final artifact serves as a synthesis of my collaborative and leadership experiences. According to the NIST National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Framework, cybersecurity work spans vastly different roles, all of which require intense collaboration and documentation (NIST, 2020). Whether I was collaborating with network engineers on CAD drawings or leading account access reviews during my IT internship, teamwork has been central to my success. This artifact demonstrates how I adapt a detail-oriented, leadership-driven mindset to modern vulnerability management and system hardening.
Conclusion
My journey through the cybersecurity program at Old Dominion University has fundamentally proven that cybersecurity is not a solitary, isolated discipline. It is a highly interdisciplinary field that demands a fusion of technical acumen, analytical rigor, ethical judgment, and effective communication.
The nine artifacts presented in this ePortfolio showcase my holistic career readiness. My operations artifacts prove I can navigate the technical weeds; my analytical artifacts prove I can connect granular data to geopolitical and business realities; and my communication artifacts prove I can lead teams and articulate risk. The most valuable lesson I am taking away from my academic experience is that cybersecurity is ultimately about people. We protect systems so that organizations can achieve their missions safely.
As I look toward my future as a full-time Security Analyst, I am confident that I am ready. I am not leaving my past identities as a military instructor or a technical designer behind. Instead, I am bringing those strengths with me, fully integrated with the academic theory and practical operations knowledge I have gained at ODU. I am prepared to adapt, continue learning, and lead in the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity.
References
Brundage, M., Avin, S., Clark, J., et al. (2018). The malicious use of artificial intelligence: Forecasting, prevention, and mitigation. Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford.
Harper, R. (2012). The collection and analysis of job advertisements: A review of research methodology. Library and Information Research, 36(112), 29–54.
National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2020). Workforce framework for cybersecurity (NICE Framework) (NIST Special Publication 800-181 Rev. 1). U.S. Department of Commerce.
Pascoe, C., Quinn, S., & Scarfone, K. (2024). The NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 2.0 (NIST Cybersecurity White Paper 29). National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Repko, A. F., & Szostak, R. (2021). Interdisciplinary research: Process and theory (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
The White House. (2023). National cybersecurity strategy. Executive Office of the President.