Chief Information Security Officer

C H R I S N I C O L A O U • H O U S T O N, T X • * 1 3 . 4 8 0 . 6 4 0 6 • C H R I S@N I C O L A O U . C C C H R I S N I C O L A O U, C C I S O

SUMMARY

Solutions-oriented technology leader, professor & mentor with an entrepreneurial spirit. Seasoned information technology expert with 20+ years of experience in strategic roles, often at the intersection of IT and new business development. Expertise in cybersecurity, enterprise architecture & infrastructure (cloud and on-premises), e-commerce, ITIL v3, Lean IT, and Agile as well as business modeling, risk assessment and client engagement. Passionate about individual & team development.

CORE COMPETENCIES / FOCUS AREAS

Cybersecurity Infrastructure Design & Mgmt AWS (Amazon Web Services)

Team Leadership Penetration Testing Agile Methodology

Strategic Communication

SOC 2

HITRUST

Stakeholder Management

Corporate Policy

HL7 Standard

Change Management

ISO 27001

Risk Management

WORK EXPERIENCE

2022- CISO, CloudSpace USA Houston, TX

CISO

CloudSpace USA is an advanced cloud infrastructure & security solutions provider offering one-stop, end-to-end solution services encompassing all aspects of information and data management, including managed cloud infrastructure & security solutions, implementation, and consultancy.

ISO 27001 guidance and consulting

SOC 2 guidance and consulting

Cybersecurity assessment (risk & asset based)

Secure infrastructure consulting

Penetration testing consulting and remediation

Corporate cybersecurity policy

2022- Cybersecurity Instructor/Professor, ThriveDX Houston, TX Cybersecurity Instructor/Adjunct Professor

ThriveDX

Teach university level cybersecurity classes including:

Infrastructure

Microsoft Windows

Linux

Cloud Infrastructure

Computer Networking

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C H R I S N I C O L A O U • H O U S T O N, T X • 7 1 3 . 4 8 0 . 6 4 0 6 • C H R I S@N I C O L A O U . C C 2020- CIO/CISO, Quantum Materials Corporation Houston, TX CIO & CISO

Wrote and enforced acceptable use and security policies and implemented internal infrastructure & productivity software to address business and team requirements. Built cybersecurity management and IT support teams that collaborated to assure usability and security of internal and external systems.

Managed four separate operations budgets ranging from $10M to $2M, including cloud products & services, engineers, project managers, support staff, remote offshore and nearshore developers to ensure systems uptime, security and functionality for app development and scientific R&D.

Negotiated & executed multi-million dollar and multi-team services and developers’ contracts on four continents with software & product development corporations hired to manage software development and research experiments. Also, managed and maintained those business relationships.

Assembled teams to support development of strategic plans for application development, cybersecurity, personnel security & product marketing for a healthcare application, including payment processing (PCI-DSS) & ecosystem.

Managed devops, software dev and internal IT teams in the effort to deliver secure infrastructure for a healthcare app developed and hosted in the cloud (AWS and Azure). Specifically, dozens of separate and peered VPCs containing hundreds of VMs each (Microsoft and Linux), of varying sizes, containers for separate micro services & apps over three continents (US, Europe & Asia) for redundancy/BDR and local law enforcement concerning information privacy (PII & PHI) for local residents. Achieved ongoing 99.999% statistical uptime over entire ecosystem over 18 months measured. In actuality, suffered zero downtime for the app due to the AZ and regional redundancy.

Ultimate responsibility for global network and physical security. Managed four director-level reports: dev-ops, software dev, product and project management directors, providing strategic guidance with planning, infrastructure, software, budget & contract negotiations and personnel.

Advised on refinement of digital roadmap to clarify vision, implementation phasing, and decision points to drive endorsement. Presented roadmap with my team to NHS (UK) to prove concept and security of the healthcare application that was already proven HIPAA secure. 2016 - 2019 IT Strategy Advisor, Occidental Petroleum Corporation Houston, TX As a member of the Enterprise Architecture team, I was charged with collaborating with infrastructure group to create a strategic plan for on-prem and cloud infrastructure build and management to accommodate 1, 3, 5 years growth.

Day-to-day work with US and international infrastructure groups developing management processes for technology audits including server, router and workstation retirement, upgrades, redundancy, backup and disaster recovery.

By planning, evaluating multiple hypervisors and deploying VMware, achieved a decrease in on-prem server, network and global datacenter footprint by one-third which simultaneously increased uptime 3

C H R I S N I C O L A O U • H O U S T O N, T X • 7 1 3 . 4 8 0 . 6 4 0 6 • C H R I S@N I C O L A O U . C C from 97% to 99.9% for over 15,000 individual users. Removed/retired over 750 servers and related network hardware & software.

Planned and managed internal and external execution teams for global transition from Microsoft Office 2013 to Microsoft 365 (O365 at the time)

Strategic advisor and communications director in stakeholder engagements concerning IOT, cybersecurity, emerging technologies and integration processes. 2014–2016 CIO, Land Lineage Inc. Houston, TX

Managed a $6MM budget to assemble teams of over 300 global managers and technologists to build and secure the cloud & on-prem infrastructure for a startup internet search firm focused on oil and gas land management.

Assembled a team of software developers and devops professionals primarily to build an application ecosystem within AWS. Implemented Agile methodologies within both teams (dev and devops) and managed all infrastructure including security.

Planned and built AWS cloud infrastructure and ecosystem of over 1000 servers (Microsoft and Linux), hundreds of VPCs, and petabytes of storage capability servicing over 20,000 users in hundreds of municipalities. Also, built virtual desktop environment using AWS WorkSpaces for over 700 employees

& contractors for easy user management and deployment.

As VP of technology in a technology startup, I was charged with finding, interviewing, and hiring multiple managers and technologists to build a collaborative team.

Managed collection, upload and organization of thousands of petabytes of data from all counties of Texas and eventually all of the US in the effort to track ownership title of oil producing properties for proper distribution of oil royalty payments that were to be aggregated by the application. 2000-2013 Founder/Managing Partner, Texas Data Network Services, Inc. Houston, TX Founded, built, and directed a managed services provider which serviced the SME (Small & Medium Enterprise) sector.

Consulted and advised hundreds of clients (over 6000 nodes), assembled teams of experts to design, build and support client-specific IT solutions (cloud and on-premises, infrastructure and software) with the ultimate goal of helping build client businesses to meet and exceed market reach and revenue goals.

Clientele included a variety of verticals (Healthcare, Law, Architecture, Retail, Construction, Restaurants)

Expertise in multiple generations of MS Windows Server & Desktop operating systems, Cisco & Sonicwall routing and switching.

Expanded territory to multiple cities in the US and eventually grew ecosystem to international clients and partners in Europe, South America and Southeast Asia.

Grew annual revenues from $65K to $6M.

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C H R I S N I C O L A O U • H O U S T O N, T X • 7 1 3 . 4 8 0 . 6 4 0 6 • C H R I S@N I C O L A O U . C C 1997-2000 IT Analyst & Business Development Manager, Cierra Solutions Houston, TX As an IT analyst at a mid-market, managed services provider (MSP), I provided general tech support, managing IT infrastructure, assets, and security for multiple disparate companies. In my business development role, I prospected for and closed new business.

Consistently managed between ten and fifteen client accounts ranging from $2M to $2B annual revenue.

First line technical support/helpdesk for hundreds of end-users and dozens of Microsoft Windows servers and all of the network gear involved with multiple small to medium enterprises.

Closed sales valued at over $7M in annual recurring revenue. 1992-1997 Data Flow Analyst & Project Manager, Lockheed Martin Services Houston, TX Managed collection, dissemination and distribution of mission critical data during STS-71 (SpaceLAB-MIR)

Wrote hardware and software training manuals for astronauts within the SpaceLAB system

Conducted training sessions with astronauts.

Manned a mission control console position for STS-71 CERTIFICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY EXPERTISE

EC Council C CISO Certification Number ECC5624803197 (January 2022)

ISACA CISA Formal Course Work & Member

Infragard Houston Member

Certified ScrumMaster

M.I.T.: Leading Organizations and Change

Lean Associate, ITIL v3, MCSE

COMMUNITY

Genesysworks: Founding Technology Advisor

Houstonians Futbol Club: Board Member & Coach

EDUCATION / MILITARY SERVICE

University of Houston

BA, Management Information Systems

USAF - Texas Air National Guard 1988-2000

Airman of the Year - First Air Force Division 1989

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