Strategist, author, pianist, Auditor and Squirrel Herder
About
Summary
Some say it's best to do one thing well, and that works for many folks. I'm not that. I've spent decades in a major multinational, and that gives me the breadth of experience, scope and perspective that comes from years of working in information technology. Ask me anything about IT: strategy, cybersecurity, incident response, workforce planning, business continuity, risk and opportunity, project management, or audit. I picked it all up along the way. But it's useless if not reduced to concrete, understandable stuff that people can use. And it's the stuff of the marketplace, which is only one side to being human.
The other stuff - writing short stories, poetry, long and short novels, piano suites, also define who I am and how I see the world. If you want someone who will bust through brick walls for you but who may not ask why, go hire that bulldog. If you want someone who's watched the wrong brick walls crumble, who's lived through the mistakes and persistence that's real life, then talk to me.
Life's too short to waste time at this stuff. Let's get going.
Life's Too Short to be a One-Trick Pony
Proudest Accomplishment
Wrote a complex, satirical business novel while holding down a key role in leadership development.
Experience Highlights
Manager, Enterprise IT Security
Ford Motor Company
Manager, Enterprise Information Systems Strategy
Ford Motor Company
Highlight Title
Education Highlights
MBA, University of Michigan
Graduated with distinction, emphasis on information systems
BA, Hope College
Graduated with honors and awards as top humanities scholar
Interests
IT Strategy
Determining how best to chart a way forward in disruptive and intensely technical times
IT Security and Compliance / Audit
Grappling with challenges across the security spectrum
Business Continuity and Business Resilience
More than business recovery - how to businesses maintain resilience in risky times?
Creative Writing / Fiction
Big Ideas expressed in Novels, novellas, short stories, poems
Piano Composition, Improvisation
Complex and uncompromising work: Three piano suites, three improvisation cds
Timeline
Principal, SME - CyberSecurity, ICEX (Intellectual Capital Exchange)
Bringing member Fortune 100 companies together to discuss critical cyber security and compliance issues. Use my expertise to provide insight and facilitate detailed intellectual exchange.
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Freelance / At Large, Self-Directed
I have concluded my Ford career but remain active in the fields of cyber security, compliance and audit, IT strategy, and business resilience / business continuity.
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Manager, Enterprise IT Security, Ford Motor Company
Managed 40+ security professionals to ensure applications and infrastructure across all areas of the business are compliant with information system policy and legal regulations. Senior consultant on risk, cyber security / strategy, and audit / compliance.
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Manager, Enterprise Information Systems Strategy, Ford Motor Company
Worked with the senior IT leadership team in developing and implementing the worldwide IT strategy. Researched trends across the IT industry, the automotive industry, and external indicators and trends to develop a robust approach to strategy development and refresh. Led a cross-functional global team of strategists at all leadership levels, to develop and enhanced strategy map addressing near, medium, and long-range challenges.
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Information Systems Positions (Various Management), Ford Motor Company
Managerial positions included: Availability analysis, production planning and control, enterprise data center hardware configuration, large-scale mainframe systems development, systems life cycle, enterprise business continuity, CIRT (incident response), IT audit
Achievements
Networked with other professionals
Limited-edition achievement recognizing early members of Workfolio
Skills
CYBER SECURITY
16
IT Strategy
20+
REGULATORY COmPliance & AUDIT
18
Writing / communications
18
Research, futuring, trends
12
Business resilience
15
Questions & Answers
Why did you choose your profession?
I did not have an IT background. But early in my Ford career, I watched a colleague interact with his machine as he coded a program. So I thought, that's for me. I am self-taught in programming languages, project management, audit (CISA certified), business continuity, and strategy. IT in a global multinational provided numerous challenges across the spectrum - large scale system development, program management, business continuity, leadership and strategy, cyber security and compliance / audit, to name a few. It was like having a dozen careers wrapped up in one.
Who are your main influences?
The Ford IT senior leadership team, for demonstrating how to work as a team on C-suite challenges. There are individuals who, through feedback, help me navigate complex writing efforts (I am on my second novel). Many cyber security / audit professionals help test my thinking on risk-based challenges. I was blessed with a strong research team, who opened my eyes on how to evaluate trends vs. fads, assess long-term implications of short-term actions. Others informed me through example of how to lead, to analyze, to do.
Describe your greatest accomplishment.
At Ford, it was leading a cross-functional team at all leadership levels to build a worldwide IT strategy that needed to be comprehensive yet lean, reducing the complex to simple terms. The world is complex and evolves rapidly. We had to make a solid assessment, develop short, medium, and long range plans, and get the message out across the world.
Personally, though, I think writing two novels and three major piano suites while holding down a demanding job demonstrates to the world my drive to go beyond work and achieve greater things.
What tools do you use?
Professional tools - besides the usual office stuff, mind-mapping is indispensible. It helps to organize complex topics around a big theme. I used a mind-map to develop a people-centric information strategy that served as an early model for the more formal stuff we did later on.
As well, research can rely on the big firms -- Gartner, Forrester, IDG, etc. -- but you're a better researcher if you do some of your own primary research and think deeply about what's going on out there. That way you can separate the good material from the brochureware. There's a lot of open-source and professional material if you know where to look.
Formally, I also use ISACA and OCEG as members-only sources of information on audit, cybersecurity, compliance, and GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance).
For writing fiction, I am now using Scrivener, which helps to develop scenes and keep materials organized. It facilitates what writers really need - a means of keeping things organized when you are keeping plotlines, characters, and dozens of scenes straight.
For music - Finale is a leading notation program and was used to develop the three piano suites. I have also used Notion. MuseScore is an open-source alternative. There are also a suite of tools needed to get from composition to CD production.
What are you working on right now?
I am Information and Cyber Security Principal for ICEX (Intellectual Capital Exchange), which is a small organization whose primary purpose is bringing Fortune 100 companies together to discuss best IT practices in an intimate, confidential and trust-driven environment -- no vendors, no one selling anything. Just key players in industry discussing challenges and learning from each other. There are several areas of interest, called Accelerators -- covering everything from strategy to architecture, infrastructure and operations. I help drive the Information and Cyber Security one.
I am a member of Infragard (DHS / FBI / cyber law enforcement), as well as ISACA (IT Audit) and SEMCACFE (fraud examiners). Continuing to provide assessments of developments across these fronts.
I have just completed the second draft of my second novel, which is out for trial read. This will be revised over time. I am also blogging on both business-related and social justice topics.
What are your long-term goals?
Continued exploration, adding valued perspective to those in need - organizations large or small. I have capped a 40 year Ford career with a move into a new chapter. I am poised to consult, compose, share my experience with the world. I can engage at all levels of an organization.
Privately, continue enhancing my writing capabilities. Publish my second novel. Take my compositions to the next level.
Resources
Images
Blog
Jim One
What Is Grace?
Maybe you’ve had “Jim”s in your life, maybe not.
There are two Jims I remember from my days in the Ford Parts and Service IT organization. I’ll start with the first Jim.
The first Jim really defined “rough around the edges.” He was an old-school COBOL programmer working with IBM’s IMS (Information Management Systems) databases. He was also a man with few, if any, social graces. Not that it mattered to him. He was a stocky Black guy, craggy face set in perpetual scowl — or, at least in a...
