Download resume.pdf(the non-draggable version)Summary
I build at the intersection of cybersecurity risk and applied AI: two US patents and twenty-plus years across DoD network forensics, hyperscale assessment platforms, and commercial security tooling. Currently leading AI & cybersecurity R&D at a mid-market firm and co-running a security-awareness startup. SherTechAI is where I do it for small businesses.
Experience
VP of AI & Cybersecurity R&D · ProCircularApr 2026 – Present · Iowa City, IA
- Leads R&D for the firm’s AI and cybersecurity tooling portfolio, including multi-agent reasoning systems applied to offensive security workflows.
- Architects agentic systems that coordinate specialized AI agents over a message bus — triage, correlation, threat-intel enrichment, deep-dive analysis.
- Publishes bylined commentary at TechRadar, InfoWorld, and VKTR on agentic AI governance and offensive security.
Senior Offensive Security Engineer · ProCircularJan 2025 – Apr 2026 · Iowa City, IA
- Cloud security audits across AWS environments; penetration testing and perimeter assessments for K-12, higher-ed, and mid-market organizations.
- Built risk models for engagement scoping and remediation prioritization; automated the repeatable parts of offensive security so humans could do the clever parts.
Co-Founder & CTO · CybercadeOct 2022 – Present · Iowa
- Games-based platform for workforce security awareness. Ships AI-powered games with ethical guardrails, fine-tuning, and retrieval-augmented generation.
- One of five Technology Startups of the Year, Technology Association of Iowa (2023); Global Insurance Accelerator residency (2024).
Earlier (the two-decade montage)
- Senior Director, Customer Success · Pearson (2021–2022) — Customer-centered design for state assessment platforms.
- Director, Information Security & Compliance · Pearson (2015–2021) — Founded the Assessment Information Security Office; safeguarded 400M+ student PII/PHI records across 80 platforms; led 40+ SOC 2 and HIPAA audits.
- Performance & Cloud Engineering leadership · Pearson (2004–2016) — Lead inventor on real-time anomaly detection serving 240M+ users; led the migration of assessment platforms from on-premise to AWS; built Pearson’s first comprehensive application monitoring framework.
- Application Engineer, DISA contractor · CNS Inc (2000–2004) — Network forensics and WAN optimization for the DoD. Held TS/SCI clearance.
Patents
- US 10,795,754 (granted 2020) — Automated Testing Error Assessment System. Lead inventor; real-time anomaly detection in production for 240M+ users since 2017.
- US 63/636,593 (provisional, 2024) — System and Methods for Measuring Human Factors of Cybersecurity Risk.
Skills
AI / LLM
Agentic systems & multi-agent orchestration · Azure OpenAI · RetellAI voice agents · LLM guardrails & prompt-injection defense · promptfoo evals & red-teaming · RAG · fine-tuning
Security
Offensive security & penetration testing · cloud security audits (AWS) · risk modeling · SOC 2 / HIPAA compliance leadership
Engineering
React · TypeScript · Next.js · Vite · Tailwind · Node/Python · AWS · Vercel · Azure DevOps
Writing & speaking
Bylines at TechRadar, InfoWorld, and VKTR. Featured speaker, Iowa AI Summit for Industry (2024). Guest lecturer, University of Iowa Tippie College of Business (2018–2024). Founder, AWS Eastern Iowa User Group.
Education
M.A., Social Studies Education · University of Iowa
B.A., Psychology & Communication Studies · University of Iowa
Solved cases: see case-files/Open case-files/
* Trained as a teacher, spent two decades securing software for millions of students, now I teach AI agents to behave. Same job if you squint.