Ransomware Incident Response Planning

Ransomware attacks are ever-increasing globally. Here’s how to evaluate your cyber security partners and be resilient, when preparing for the worst.

Colonial Pipeline, Kaseya, Solar Winds, Microsoft… the list goes on and on. In the past 12 months alone, more than one third of all organizations globally have faced some type of ransomware incident, according to a recent survey by research firm IDC.

The ransomware industry has evolved in sophistication. Malicious actors even subscribe to Ransomware as a Service (RaaS), whereby criminal organizations lease ransomware variants the same way that legitimate software developers lease SaaS products. RaaS gives everyone, even people without much technical knowledge, the ability to launch ransomware attacks just by signing up for a service.

RaaS kits allow malicious actors, lacking these skills or time, to easily develop their own ransomware variants that can be up and running quickly and affordably. Such RaaS kits are easy to find on the dark web. A RaaS kit may include 24/7 support, bundled offers, user reviews, forums, and other features identical to those offered by legitimate SaaS providers. The price of RaaS kits ranges from $40 per month to several thousand dollars – trivial amounts, considering that the average ransom demand in Q3 2020 was $234,000.

A threat actor doesn’t need every attack to be successful in order to become rich. RaaS is big business, with total ransomware revenues in 2020 of around $20 billion—up from $11.5 billion in 2019.

Clearly, ransomware incidents are not going away any time soon. In fact, they are accelerating. It is vital to create a digitally resilient institution that can absorb the impact yet not be crippled by the attack, in order to recover quickly without significantly impacting students, faculty, and research. Digital resilience represents the ability to continue to operate through an impairment and stay in business while minimizing institutional harm, reputational damage, and financial loss.

Resilient organizations:

  • know their networks and data
  • set targets, measurements, and goals for cybersecurity
  • employ best practices in change management
  • prioritize risks and intelligence for better decision-making
  • respond rapidly to incidents while maintaining operational readiness, reducing the risk of data loss, and preventing additional harm

Given this “new normal,” what attributes should you consider when selecting a partner to help you minimize your risk and create a ransomware playbook to maintain resilience?

Not all cybersecurity services are created equal. Consider this checklist as one way to evaluate cybersecurity partners:

1. As the old adage says, “You cannot determine where you are going until you know where you are.”

Select a partner that is able to baseline and assess your current information security program. Typically, reputable cybersecurity services begin with a detailed policy assessment AND vulnerability assessment. What do we mean by that? A policy assessment analyzes your organization’s cybersecurity controls and its ability to remediate vulnerabilities. These risk assessments should be conducted within the context of your organization’s objectives, rather than in the form of a checklist as you would for a cybersecurity audit.

A vulnerability assessment is a systematic review of security weaknesses in an information system. It evaluates whether the system is susceptible to any known vulnerabilities, assigns severity levels to those vulnerabilities, and recommends remediation or mitigation, if and when needed.

Any cybersecurity service that doesn’t include both assessments will leave your institution exposed and more vulnerable to ransomware attacks. Vulnerability scans are like a photograph and show a snapshot in time, and that picture can change daily. Therefore, vulnerability scans should be provided continuously (e.g., daily, weekly or monthly).

2. Ask your cybersecurity partner…

…how they will assist in improving cyber hygiene in the form of patch management, to prevent ransomware attacks from having an access point into your network.

3. Hire a partner to help you create and routinely update your risk register in cooperation with your Board and Office of Risk Management.

Access control and governance issues must be scrutinized by all involved parties. Cybersecurity risk management is comparable to other forms of risk management and is therefore a Board-level issue. For example, did you know an institution can lose access to federal financial aid if it’s found to be out of compliance with national standards, such as National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-171?

4. Find a partner who will assist your institution in creating your unique ransomware incident response playbook.

Think of this as your ransomware crisis plan. Off-the-shelf playbooks are fine for understanding concepts, but since your organization’s network architecture, data, and faculty requirements are unique, your institution needs a customized playbook handy should the need arise.

5. Ensure your vendor partner performs or arranges for an annual third-party penetration test.

This “pen test” includes scanning your network for weaknesses and, optionally, attempting to exploit any vulnerabilities that can enable attackers to gain entry. This is critical as new vulnerabilities are discovered every day, and what was thought to be secure may no longer be.

6. An effective partner will audit your security controls against relevant cybersecurity frameworks…

…like TAC § 202 or NIST 800-53 R5, in addition to your state-specific frameworks that may govern data security. This is a regulatory environment that is constantly changing, and your partner should proactively provide you with compliance requirements and discrepancies.

7. Partner with cyber staff who routinely communicate with governmental and law enforcement agencies…

…to provide relevant alerts and trends to your CIO for remediation.

8. Every capable vendor should also be auditing your organization randomly…

…to confirm its compliance with your cybersecurity plan.

“Organizations face a clear and present danger, but the more salient truth is that boards and C-Suite leaders face a clear and present certainty since they bear liability for the failure.” Digital Resilience: Is Your Company Ready for the Next Cyber Threat? Ray Rothrock, 2018.


Via the E&I Columbia Advisory Group (CAG) contract, CAG is available to assist your institution with cybersecurity services, audits, planning, and to help with your ransomware incident response playbook.

CAG clients rank in top tier for COVID-readiness

The Dallas Business Journal recently published the rankings for COVID-related instructional readiness for Texas colleges and universities as ranked by the non-profit Educate to Career. This year, these national rankings indicate how robust the software and systems for distance learning are at each higher-education institution. Two of the Tier 1-ranked Texas institutions, Texas A&M University – Commerce and Texas Woman’s University, are Columbia Advisory Group IT service customers.

Six North Texas universities scored in the highest tier and two in the lowest tier on a ranking of how adaptable they are to life and learning during the COVID-19 crisis.

Educate to Career, a California-based education nonprofit, ranked four-year schools into tiers based on factors including in-classroom instruction, quality and experience with online learning and other factors.

To be in Tier 1, the highest group, schools had to be able to deliver their full curricula online and in-classroom and have a minimum of three years of experience in delivering online curricula. Educate to Career also weighed each school’s tuition and fees.

The North Texas schools in Tier 1 were University of North Texas in Denton, Texas Woman’s University in Denton, the University of Texas at Arlington, Dallas Baptist University, Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, and Texas A&M University-Commerce.

Other Tier 1 requirements include a physical campus for in-classroom instruction should health authorities allow colleges to open in September, robust software and systems to support distance learning programs, faculty experience in teaching online and reasonable tuitions and fees on a relative basis, according to the rankings.

Tier 2 universities have the systems required to deliver curriculum online and in-classroom. However, college faculty have less experience in delivering online curriculum than Tier 1 colleges.

In North Texas, Southern Methodist University and the University of Texas at Dallas (in Richardson) ranked in the second tier, according to Educate to Career.

No North Texas universities ranked in Tier 3, which is described as universities and colleges that “strongly emphasize in-classroom education over online teaching, and may not offer full curriculum online.”

Two North Texas schools ranked in Tier 4, described as colleges and universities that have “limited systems and experience in delivering online curriculum.”

Those were Texas Christian University and the University of Dallas in Irving.

Spokespeople for those two universities did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment about the rankings.

Improving Student Services and Recruitment Through Enhanced ERP

Improving Student Services and Recruitment through Enhanced ERP, SIS and CRM Integration

As higher education institutions strive to maximize actionable insights and student services across existing data pools, the need for complex data integrations continues to grow. When multiple campuses collaborate with curriculum and enrollment processes, the need for systems integration becomes even more critical.

As an IT provider to educational institutions across the country, our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Student Information System (SIS) teams are seeing increased interest in strategic enrollment partnerships, especially within college and university systems and community college districts. These partnerships require data clearinghouses to allow shared entities to recruit, enroll, receive tuition payments, advise students, and view student grades and course schedules at a central location for access by multiple higher education institutions, and despite variations in the software used at each member institution.

An excellent recent example is the RELLIS campus of the Texas A&M University System. The campus was created to feature high-tech, high-impact research facilities for technology development, testing and commercialization. The campus also features a collaborative education complex which offers multiple academic degrees from many universities within the A&M System as well as from Blinn College campuses, and offers opportunities for workforce skills training to the surrounding communities. CAG’s ERP specialist team was engaged to create a recruiting and candidate tracking system along with a complex data clearinghouse to facilitate enrollment and tuition payments across 10 colleges and universities.

“CAG’s team of IT experts are accustomed to the aggressive timelines and rigorous and evolving demands that an innovative project of this type will naturally entail. Their higher-ed focused IT services team will enable us to move quickly to provide integrated service to both our students and our member campuses,” said Mark Stone, Chief Information Officer for the Texas A&M University System.

In cooperation with leaders from each campus, the CAG team created data feeds from each institution that aggregate in Salesforce to allow students to take courses from any of their universities. The Salesforce CRM front-end allows RELLIS recruiting and marketing staff to drive student enrollment while back-end data feeds are unique to each institution due to disparate Student Information Systems at each university. This allows advisors to manage data from these universities and enter advisory notes that are pushed back to the system of record for each student. To achieve student authentication, CAG also integrated “single sign-on” for the institutions.

It was important to the Texas A&M University System to improve student service by simplifying the tuition payment process. The data solution CAG created allows payments to be made to the central location at RELLIS, and agreed revenue splits are subsequently sent to each institution. The clearinghouse gives students a single system login to view their course schedules and grades, thereby creating a seamless student experience.

For more information or a consultation on your data integration projects, please contact info@columbiaadvisory.com.

Spearphishing Defense Tips for Students

Cyber Criminals Conducting Successful Spearphishing Campaigns Against Students at Multiple College and Universities

Tips to share with students

By David Maxwell, Chief Information Security Officer & Director of the Information Security Practice at Columbia Advisory Group

The FBI has identified successful spearphishing campaigns directed at college and university students, especially during periods when financial aid funds are disbursed in large volumes. The Department of Education identified a similar spearphishing campaign targeting multiple Universities. In this attack, the cybercriminals sent spearphishing emails requesting students’ login credentials for the University. The email invited them to view and confirm their updated billing statement by logging into the school’s student portal. After gaining access, cybercriminals changed the students’ direct deposit destinations to bank accounts.

Protecting Yourself

For a phishing attack to work, the bad guys need to trick you into doing something. Fortunately, there are clues that a message is an attack. Here are the most common ones:

  • It is becoming much easier for cybercriminals today to find or purchase personal information so expect more personalized scams.
  • The email creates a sense of urgency, demanding “immediate action” before something bad happens, like closing your account. The attacker wants to rush you into making a mistake without thinking.
  • You receive an email with an attachment that you were not expecting or the email entices you to open the attachment. Examples include an email saying it has an attachment with details of Financial Aid or a letter from the IRS saying you are being prosecuted.
  • The email requests highly sensitive information, such as your credit card number or password.
  • The email says it comes from an official organization or uses a personal email address like @gmail.com, @yahoo.com or @hotmail.com.
  • The link looks odd or not official. One tip is to hover your mouse cursor over the link until a pop-up shows you where that link really takes you. If the link in the email doesn’t match the pop-up destination, don’t click it. On mobile devices, holding down your finger on a link gets the same pop-up.
  • You receive a message from someone you know, but the tone or wording just does not sound like him or her. If you are suspicious, call the sender to verify they sent it. It is easy for a cyber attacker to create an email that appears to be from a friend or coworker.

If you believe an email or message is a phishing attack, simply delete it or send it as an attachment to Email@Domain.edu. Ultimately, common sense is your best defense.

Do you need help managing cybersecurity at your educational institution? Contact one of our experts about cybersecurity assessments and fractional ISO services. 

Supplier Spotlight: Columbia Advisory Group

In conversation with Steve Erwin: Trends and Challenges for IT security in education
Our own Steve Erwin, Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer talks about present day trends and challenges for IT security in Education with E&I Cooperative Services. Click here for detailed interview.

Read More: https://www.eandi.org/resources/ei-blog/supplier-spotlight-columbia-advisory-group/

New Texas A&M University System RELLIS Campus IT Services Awarded To Columbia Advisory Group

New-Texa--A-M-University-System-RELLIS-Campus-IT-Services-Awarded-To-Columbia-Advisory-Group

Columbia Advisory Group (CAG) was selected as the nimble IT support service partner needed for the newly formed RELLIS Campus. TAMUS selected CAG after reviewing responses to a thorough Request for Proposal.

COLLEGE STATION, TexasJan. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Located eight miles from Texas A&M University College Station campus, the newly formed RELLIS Campus sits on 2,000 acres and offers classes to students pursuing degrees at campuses across Texas. As a pioneer in this shared-campus model, TAMUS needed to find a nimble IT support service partner to integrate student recruitment, enrollment, tuition payment, course scheduling, reporting, administrative and other IT needs across multiple parent campuses and data systems. After reviewing responses to a thorough Request for Proposal, TAMU System selected Columbia Advisory Group (CAG) as a partner in this new campus venture.

“CAG’s team of IT experts are accustomed to the aggressive timelines and rigorous and evolving demands that an innovative project of this type will naturally entail. Their higher-ed focused IT services team will enable us to move quickly to provide integrated service to both our students and our member campuses,” said Mark Stone, Chief Information Officer for Texas A&M University System.   

The contract also includes future integration of learning management systems (LMS) and single sign-on (SSO) capabilities.  The campus will feature high-tech, high-impact research facilities for technology development, testing and commercialization and a collaborative education complex to offer multiple academic degrees from many universities within the A&M System and Blinn College, as well as offer opportunities for workforce skills training to the surrounding communities. David McLaughlin, CEO of CAG, says, “Since the RELLIS campus is a completely new entity for TAMU System, this project required innovative thinking and a deep knowledge of higher ed processes and technology. Our team is ready to adapt quickly as the campus grows and needs evolve.”

About Columbia Advisory Group

Columbia Advisory Group (CAG) is a highly experienced Information Technology (IT) consulting firm. With 100+ years of combined technology experience and business acumen, CAG’s team has assessed and helped improve the performance of more than 300 technology organizations and IT departments. By focusing on simple, meaningful and practical solutions combined with straight-forward analysis and recommendations, CAG’s team has experience in many regulatory and economic environments with companies and organizations of all sizes. CAG not only offers a deep understanding of IT, but its solutions are software and hardware agnostic. Whether a client is high growth or economically challenged, CAG can adapt to the complexities and nuances of that business. Based in Dallas, Texas, CAG works extensively with clients throughout the U.S. 

About the A&M System

The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a budget of $4.2 billion. Through a statewide network of 11 universities and seven state agencies, the Texas A&M System educates more than 150,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceeded $946 million in FY 2015 and helped drive the state’s economy.

E&I Cooperative Services Selects Columbia Advisory Group for IT Services

DALLAS, Nov. 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Columbia Advisory Group (CAG) announced today that E&I Cooperative Services (E&I), the largest member-owned, non-profit purchasing cooperative serving the needs of education nationwide, has expanded its portfolio of contracts by adopting a CAG contract for Information Technology services. The contract, which was awarded by Texas A&M University-Commerce in a competitive solicitation process, will help E&I members in higher education and K-12 build, manage, and optimize IT infrastructure and services across their institutions, including hardware, software, cloud, enterprise applications, and more.

Specifically, members will be able to access CAG’s expert support for application management, cloud services, ERP implementation, Student Information Systems, Learning Management Systems, audio visual design, service desk support, and many other IT services, on a per project or fixed-fee contract basis.

“CAG brings exceptional consulting, strategy, data security and IT support services in a way that is flexible and scalable in every area of information technology—and at cost-effective rates,” said Keith Fowlkes, Vice President for Technology at E&I. “We are proud to work with a company with such a proven track record in education and many other sectors. They provide excellent full-service IT support to Texas A&M University-Commerce, and we recognized that the contract can significantly benefit many of our member institutions that have similar needs,” he concluded.

According to Travis Ball, Chief Procurement Officer at Texas A&M University-Commerce, “From Banner and Oracle support to an audio/visual refresh of our student center, CAG has proven to be a dedicated and professional partner in our IT success. We highly recommend the CAG team to any educational institution needing expert support.”

“With this exciting, new contract addition, we are more equipped than ever to offer our members the IT services and support they need to improve their operations while optimizing spend,” said Gary D. Link, Senior Vice President, Contracts at E&I. “Our ultimate goal is to continuously bring value beyond lowered costs, and we are confident that CAG will provide tremendous value to our members.”

E&I’s full contract portfolio can be found here.

About E&I

E&I Cooperative Services (E&I) is the only member-owned, non-profit purchasing cooperative solely focused on serving education and related facilities. E&I delivers expertise, solutions, and services through a diverse portfolio of competitively solicited contracts and value-added services. By leveraging the knowledge and purchasing power of its nationwide membership, E&I helps higher education and K-12 institutions reduce costs, optimize supply chain efficiencies, and save time on the RFP process. The Cooperative’s member-driven competitive solicitation process has been validated by the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP) as complying with generally accepted procurement standards. For more information, please visit www.eandi.org.

About Columbia Advisory Group

Columbia Advisory Group (CAG) is a highly experienced Information Technology (IT) consulting firm. With 100+ years of combined technology experience and business acumen, CAG’s team has assessed and helped improve the performance of more than 300 technology organizations and IT departments. By focusing on simple, meaningful and practical solutions combined with straight-forward analysis and recommendations, CAG’s team has experience in many regulatory and economic environments with companies and organizations of all sizes. CAG not only offers a deep understanding of IT, but its solutions are software and hardware agnostic. Whether a client is high growth or economically challenged, CAG can adapt to the complexities and nuances of that business. Based in Dallas, Texas, CAG works extensively with clients throughout the U.S. For more information, visit www.columbiaadvisory.com

About Texas A&M University-Commerce

Founded in 1889, Texas A&M University-Commerce is a member of The Texas A&M University System. Located in Northeast Texas, A&M-Commerce is home to more than 12,000 students, four academic colleges, a thriving graduate school, and more than 140-degree programs. As the region’s focal point of higher education, A&M-Commerce offers students facilities ranging from the world-class Keith D. McFarland Science Building and University Planetarium to the Sam Rayburn Student Center, to a fully equipped recreational facility and music hall. The university also has convenient locations in Corsicana, downtown Dallas, Midlothian, McKinney, Mesquite, and Rockwall.

Columbia Advisory Group Awarded ISO 9001:2015 Quality Certification for Delivery of IT Services

DALLAS, Oct. 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Effective September 21, 2018, Columbia Advisory Group (CAG) was certified for delivery of IT services under International Organization for Standardization

ISO 9001 is the international standard that specifies requirements for a quality management system (QMS). Organizations apply the standard to demonstrate their ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements. It is the most popular standard in the ISO 9000 series and the only standard in the series to which organizations can certify.

“We are pleased to have achieved this certification to ISO 9001:2015 and believe it speaks to the culture of ‘Continuous Improvement’ here at CAG,” states CAG Quality, Risk and Compliance Director Lori DeMello. “We are focused on exceeding our customer’s expectations in all areas and this certification speaks to that ongoing commitment.”

CAG Chief Technology Officer Steve Erwin explains what the certification will do for CAG and its customers: “ISO standards and processes make it easier to share technological advances and good management practices as well as to disseminate innovation. The widespread adoption of International Standards means that we can develop and offer services meeting specifications that have broad international acceptance in their sectors, allowing us to supply customers in many markets around the world.”

About ISO 9001:2015

ISO 9001 was first published in 1987 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), an international agency composed of the national standards bodies of more than 160 countries. The current version of ISO 9001 was released in September 2015.

About Columbia Advisory Group

Columbia Advisory Group (CAG) is a highly experienced Information Technology (IT) consulting firm. With 100+ years of combined technology experience and business acumen, CAG’s team has assessed and helped improve the performance of more than 300 technology organizations and IT departments. By focusing on simple, meaningful and practical solutions combined with straight-forward analysis and recommendations, CAG’s team has experience in many regulatory and economic environments with companies and organizations of all sizes. CAG not only offers a deep understanding of IT, but its solutions are software and hardware agnostic. Whether a client is high growth or economically challenged, CAG can adapt to the complexities and nuances of that business. Based in Dallas, Texas, CAG works extensively with clients throughout the U.S. For more information, visit www.columbiaadvisory.com

Columbia Advisory Group receives recognition for University internship program

COMMERCE, Texas, Jan. 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — On December 1st, the College of Business at Texas A&M University-Commerce recognized the Information Technology (IT) Managed Services firm Columbia Advisory Group (CAG) for sponsoring a new internship program. The program pairs graduate students from Computer Science and Business Analytics to solve real-world problems while working at CAG.

Chris Frost, Director of Student Information Systems for CAG at A&M-Commerce, explained that the program grew naturally from the Graduate Assistant program that he revamped for the school and created an opportunity for students to earn college credit and gain work experience on a new Document Management System rollout.

“This has been, and continues to be, one of the highlights of working with A&M-Commerce. The students brought their creativity and curiosity to the guided internship project at CAG. We achieved superior results on real-world projects while helping students gain an edge as they prepare to enter an ultra-competitive job market,” Frost explained. “Bringing together the knowledge of two leading University departments was a win-win-win for A&M-Commerce, their students and Columbia Advisory Group.”

Students who are pursuing a Master of Science degree in Computer Information Systems or a Master of Computational Science degree competed for the internship opportunity by submitting resumes and participating in interviews. “The practical skills honed by competing for a job are lessons in and of themselves, and the internship provided invaluable career insight,” noted Dr. Sang Suh, Computer Science Department Head.

Across campus, Dr. Chris Myers, Marketing and Business Analytics Department Head, said that the cross-disciplinary nature of the student internship team allowed them to “cross-pollinate ideas and strategies to solve problems more effectively, while enriching their academic experience. Employers increasingly seek practical experience and business acumen within technical teams, so these interns are well-prepared.”

As an IT consulting partner with various colleges and universities, Columbia Advisory Group has led on-campus projects for numerous higher-education campuses. As they pointed out during a recent on-campus recognition banquet, they’ve hired several students who participated in their programs after graduation from college. David McLaughlin, President and CEO of Columbia Advisory Group, said, “the chance to hire proven performers and Texas A&M Commerce grads to work for us is a unique opportunity we couldn’t pass up.”

About Columbia Advisory Group

Columbia Advisory Group (CAG) is a well-respected Information Technology (IT) consulting firm. An established and proven company with 100+ years of combined technology experience and business acumen, CAG’s team has assessed and helped improve the performance of more than 300 technology organizations and IT departments. By focusing on simple, meaningful and practical solutions combined with straight-forward analysis and recommendations, CAG’s team has experience in many regulatory and economic environments with companies and organizations of all sizes. CAG not only offers a deep understanding of IT, but its solutions are software and hardware agnostic. Whether a client is high growth or economically challenged, CAG can adapt to the complexities and nuances of that business. Based in Dallas, Texas, CAG works extensively with clients throughout the U.S. For more information, visit www.columbiaadvisory.com

About Texas A&M University-Commerce

Founded in 1889, Texas A&M University-Commerce is a member of The Texas A&M UniversitySystem. Located in Northeast Texas, A&M-Commerce is home to more than 12,000 students, four academic colleges, a thriving graduate school, and more than 140-degree programs. As the region’s focal point of higher education, A&M-Commerce offers students facilities ranging from the world-class Keith D. McFarland Science Building and University Planetarium to the Sam Rayburn Student Center, to a fully equipped recreational facility and music hall. The university also has convenient locations in Corsicana, downtown Dallas, Midlothian, McKinney, Mesquite, and Rockwall.

About the A&M System

The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a budget of $4.2 billion. Through a statewide network of 11 universities and seven state agencies, the Texas A&M System educates more than 150,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceeded $946 million in FY 2015 and helped drive the state’s economy.

CEO: David McLaughlin (D Magazine)

Columbia Advisory Group might only be two-and-a-half years old, but the information-technology consulting firm has already worked with more than 300 tech organizations and IT departments. Credit for much of that goes to David McLaughlin, the firm’s 50-year-old founder, and CEO. After co-founding MetaSolv Software during the 1990s tech boom—MetaSolv was sold to Oracle in 2006 for $219 million—the native Texan spent the next few years leading consulting practices for various companies. Eventually, he got together with a group of friends to launch Columbia Advisory Group in 2012. McLaughlin is also a philanthropist, serving as a non-medical board member for the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Foundation. Whether in business with his employees and clients or in his charitable endeavors, he says his biggest impulse is helping people and propelling them toward success. 

First Job

Working for a greenskeeper at a golf course. We weren’t directly supervised, so we had to get things done on our own. 

Current Company Culture

The people who work here are very independent-minded. Even the most junior people need minimal direction and are very self-motivated.

Management Style

I try to do and show the things that I need people to do; let them see that, and then find their own way and own style of doing it.

Success Strategies

The most important thing for our company is to continue to grow and cultivate our future leaders. You have to have the technical background and the communication skills to continue to bring people along. 

LessonsLearned

The things that don’t seem like a great career move or a great career choice can end up being the most fun and interesting things you do. 

Other Careers Considered Careers

I was going to be a military pilot! 

Strengths

My ability to maintain some level of calm whenever everything else is in chaos. I think I’m generally an optimistic and kind person, too. 

Weakness

I think a lot of us technology folks are generally pretty impatient, and it’s something I have to work on. I want things done yesterday. 

Motivation

Solving problems for companies, for investors, making people successful.

Biggest Challenge

Training and bringing along the next generation of senior people. It’s just a different paradigm. 

Family

My wife and I have been married for 20 years and we had one son; he was special needs, and he passed away about 7 years ago. He was sick for many years. It was a huge challenge. 

Best Advice

My dad wasn’t a big fan of quitting anything. Once you commit to something, you stay with it. It seems pretty simple, but it comes into play every day. 

Just For Fun

My wife and I like the outdoors and we hike the mountains with our two Boston Terriers, Chili, and Taco.