A personal story
From the smartest person in the room, to the one finally in it.
U.S. Air Force Academy graduate, U.S. Air Force veteran and Founding CEO of Blue Goat Cyber, where medical device cybersecurity is treated as patient safety. Two-time bestselling author, certified high-performance coach, and keynote speaker. This is the long way around to how he got here, and why, after six blood clots, the mission turned personal.
"I didn't want to show any weakness, and I pushed myself to be the best."
- IOrigin
Show No Weakness.
Born in Riverside, California. Moved to Arkansas at twelve. Parents divorced shortly after. I lived with my mother, addicted to pain meds, not working, on food stamps, welfare, and W.I.C.
I played football. I was smart. I liked heavy metal. I never belonged to any of those tribes, so I made a different bet: if I couldn't belong, I'd be the best at everything. I built my whole life on that premise.
- IIThe Climb
I lived in the relentless pursuit of achievement.
VP in the ego-driven world of cybersecurity. 24 Ironmans, many Half Ironmans, 50-mile ultramarathons, and multiday adventure races. 300 skydives. 200 scuba dives. 70 countries. Two of the Seven Summits climbed. Survival training with Bear Grylls.
Standing on the peak of Mount Elbrus, I should have felt nothing but accomplishment. What I actually felt was isolation. Projecting myself as the best and smartest was a lonely posture. I'd done remarkable things, and belonged nowhere.
- III2014
Entrepreneurship was forced personal growth.
I started my own cybersecurity company. Suddenly I was surrounded by other entrepreneurs offering real advice, and I was closed to all of it, trying to maintain my image as the one with all the answers.
It forced an honest question: what is it costing me to always posture as the smartest guy in the room? Growth. Better solutions from other minds. And, deepest of all, the belonging I'd never had.
- IVToday
I made a conscious choice to belong.
I stopped joining groups to prove I was the smartest, and started joining them to add value and receive support. I built Blue Goat Cyber to be a place where everyone's brilliant ideas are wanted.
I found new purpose in teaching highly intelligent technical people, the ones who've hit a ceiling, or watched less-capable peers get promoted, how to break down the ego and master the soft skills that actually move the needle. That work now lives in the bestselling books and the self-paced Secure Methodology course.
- VThe Proof
The work compounded. So did the meaning.
In 2022, pain in the back of my left leg sent me to the ER. They found six blood clots that should have killed me. Cybersecurity for medical devices stopped being an abstraction, and Blue Goat Cyber stopped being just a company. It became the bet I wanted my life to ride on.
Three years later, Blue Goat has supported more than 250 FDA medical device submissions with zero failing to clear due to cybersecurity. The Med Device Cyber Podcast publishes weekly. The In-Between, my second book, traded the chase for the present moment, life in the micro, written from the other side of the mountain.
The smartest person in the room kept trying to summit something. The person who finally belongs is more interested in who he's standing next to.
By the numbers.
The metrics that mattered before the only one that did, belonging.
- 24
- Ironman triathlons
- 300+
- Skydives
- 70
- Countries traveled
- 2 / 7
- Seven Summits climbed
- 6
- US patents
- 25+
- Industry certifications
Professional background
Cybersecurity experience behind the work.
My work brings together engineering, military service, cybersecurity entrepreneurship, and technical leadership. The same thread runs through my writing and speaking: technical expertise matters most when people can understand it and act on it.
- Service
- US Air Force veteran
- Education
- BS Engineering · US Air Force Academy
- Advanced
- MBA · Webster University
- Based in
- Tempe, AZ (Greater Phoenix)
Notable certifications
25+ active certifications, including:
- CISSP, Certified Information Systems Security Professional
- CISSO, Certified Information Systems Security Officer
- PMP, Project Management Professional
- CRISC, Certified in Risk & Information Systems Control
- CHPC, Certified High-Performance Coach
- Certified Master Neurolinguistic Programmer (NLP)
Current focus · Blue Goat Cyber
- FDA premarket cybersecurity (FDA 2026, §524B of the FD&C Act)
- AAMI SW96 security risk management, ISO 13485, ISO 14971, IEC 62304
- Medical device penetration testing, threat modeling, and SBOMs
- eSTAR-ready documentation for 510(k), De Novo, and PMA submissions
From Alpine Security to Blue Goat
I founded Alpine Security in 2014 and sold it in 2020. Building a cybersecurity company taught me that technical ability alone does not make a team effective. That people-side lesson became central to my leadership work.
Explore my career timeline →Founder & CEO, Blue Goat Cyber
Today, I lead Blue Goat Cyber, a medical device cybersecurity firm. Our focus is helping device manufacturers address cybersecurity as part of patient safety, from design and risk assessment through regulatory submissions and ongoing vulnerability management.
My Blue Goat Cyber profile ↗Cybersecurity & technical leadership
I connect medical device cybersecurity with the human skills required to deliver it: communication, accountability, and leadership. My book, The Smartest Person in the Room, and the Secure Methodology explore how technical teams turn knowledge into effective action.
Off the clock
I still climb mountains, run far, dive deep, and jump out of airplanes.
The difference is that I do them with friends now, for pleasure, not to prove I belong. Endurance is no longer a substitute for connection; it's a celebration of it.
On track
Karting weekly, working toward racing Skip Barber Formula 4. F1 fan; race weekends are sacred.
Loud and live
Heavy metal, always. Already counting down to Metallica at Sphere in 2027.
Off-duty fuel
Tacos. Non-negotiable. I will travel for a good one.
Family
The person I finally wanted to stand next to.
Melissa and I were married on November 21, 2024 in Las Vegas. The smartest-person-in-the-room version of me would have called the wedding a milestone. This version calls it the point.
A note for readers of The In-Between: "Vanessa," the nurse who ran into that intersection on May 9, 2022, is Melissa. Same person, same instincts, now my wife.
She's also VP, Strategic Partnerships at Blue Goat Cyber (LinkedIn); same mission, same table, every day. We train together, travel together, and trade race numbers on the same start lines: Ironman bikes through the lava fields on the Big Island, summits, long quiet miles. The work I do matters more because she's in the room when I come home from it.
Two-time bestselling author
Books that came from the work, not around it.
Both bestsellers grew out of three decades inside cybersecurity and the harder lessons of leadership, self-leadership, and what it actually takes to move technical people forward.
Bestseller, 2021
The Smartest Person in the Room
The Root Cause and New Solution for Cybersecurity
The 7-step Secure Methodology. A leadership and communication framework for technical teams who keep solving the wrong problem.
ISBN 978-1544516219
Bestseller, 2023
The In-Between: Life in the Micro
Leadership begins with self-leadership
The small moments, the gaps between the highs and the lows, are where character is built and decisions actually get made.
ASIN B0CP8RYV55
Next up, Medical Device Cybersecurity. The Book. Coming 2026, covering FDA premarket and postmarket, EU MDR, PMDA, NMPA, threat modeling, SBOMs, and coordinated vulnerability disclosure. medicaldevicecybersecuritybook.com
The arc, in brief
Three decades, six chapters.
1990s
Air Force Academy, military cyber operator
2014
Founded Alpine Security
2020
Bestseller, The Smartest Person in the Room. Sold Alpine.
2022
Blood clots, caught by a scan. Founded Blue Goat Cyber.
2024
Launched the Med Device Cyber Podcast
2026
Medical Device Cybersecurity. The Book.
What's next