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Cybersecurity
Expert.
Pre-Sales Leader.
Podcast Host.

CISSP-certified security practitioner, award-winning pre-sales engineer, and independent voice in InfoSec. Over a decade helping Fortune 100 enterprises navigate complex security challenges — from architecture to adoption, from threat modeling to strategic outcomes.

// profile.json
20+
Years in the Industry
Two decades in cybersecurity, infrastructure, and enterprise technology
10+
Years Pre-Sales Engineering
Zscaler · Citrix · IronKey — Fortune 100 technical champion builder
252+
PEBCAK Episodes
5 years of weekly InfoSec news, interviews & the DJOW
478%
President's Club Quota — FY21
Zscaler Global Sales Engineer of the Year
Top 1%
Cybersecurity Knowledge
CISSP · Zero Trust · Modern Threat Intelligence
CISSP — ISC2 Certified · Zscaler Global SE of the Year · PEBCAK Podcast · 252 Episodes · Zero Trust · IAM · SaaS Security · President's Club FY21 — 478% Quota · InfoSec News Every Monday · ZDTA · ZCCA · CISSP · CISSP — ISC2 Certified · Zscaler Global SE of the Year · PEBCAK Podcast · 252 Episodes · Zero Trust · SASE · Cloud Security · President's Club FY21 — 478% Quota · InfoSec News Every Monday · ZDTA · ZCCA · CISSP ·
Core Expertise

Defending the modern enterprise.

From architecture to adoption, from threat intelligence to deal cycles — a full-spectrum security practitioner who has lived every layer of the stack across Fortune 100 enterprises.

[ 01 ]
🔐
Zero Trust Architecture

Practitioner-level expertise in ZTNA, SASE, and identity-centric security. Advises Fortune 100 enterprises on full architectural transformations — what to build, what to buy, and how to make it stick across complex organizations.

[ 02 ]
Pre-Sales Engineering

Named Zscaler Global SE of the Year. A decade of full-cycle technical sales: discovery, whiteboarding, custom PoCs, competitive displacement, and champion development at scale.

[ 03 ]
🎯
Threat Intelligence

Top-1% knowledge of the current threat landscape — ransomware-as-a-service, supply chain attacks, nation-state actors, social engineering, and zero-day exploitation. Covered live every week on PEBCAK.

[ 04 ]
📊
Customer Success & Adoption

Bridges the gap between technical teams and business outcomes. Architects maturity assessments, policy optimizations, and adoption playbooks that drive measurable security improvements and long-term retention.

[ 05 ]
🎓
Enablement & Mentoring

Builds training programs and mentors engineers and technical teams across security concepts, architecture, and implementation. Created programs adopted globally at Zscaler designed to outlast any single engagement.

[ 06 ]
🎙️
Thought Leadership

Five years. 252+ episodes. Global audience. The PEBCAK Podcast is an independent InfoSec voice — technically rigorous, consistently published, never beholden to any vendor's marketing budget.

10+ Years Pre-Sales

Winning complex enterprise deals at Zscaler, Citrix, and IronKey

F100 Clients Advised

Fortune 100 architectural reviews, PoCs, and competitive displacements

252+ Podcast Episodes

Unsponsored, unfiltered weekly InfoSec news every Monday since 2021

CISSP Certified

ISC2 · ZDTA · ZCCA — credentialed across security and cloud architecture

Pre-Sales Leadership

Turning technical
depth into revenue.

With over a decade in pre-sales engineering roles across cybersecurity, endpoint security, and cloud infrastructure, Chris has developed a rare ability to operate equally well in a boardroom and a proof-of-concept lab.

His approach combines rigorous technical knowledge with a talent for building the kind of trust that accelerates deal cycles and creates long-term customer advocates.

  • Named Zscaler Global Sales Engineer of the Year — technical leadership, faster deal cycles, and champion development in competitive pursuits
  • Earned FY21 President's Club at 478% of quota — multi-million-dollar revenue through strategic pre-sales and precise solution positioning
  • Led full-cycle technical sales for Fortune 100 accounts — from discovery through competitive displacement of entrenched legacy vendors
  • Developed global SE training programs adopted across Zscaler's worldwide sales engineering organization
  • Conducted architectural maturity assessments and Zero Trust health checks for large-scale enterprise deployments
Zscaler · San Jose
Customer Success Architect
Aug 2023 — Present
Advising enterprise customers on Zero Trust and AI-driven security optimizations. Conducts architectural maturity assessments, builds adoption playbooks, and partners cross-functionally with engineering and business teams to drive security outcomes at scale.
Zscaler · San Jose
Consulting Sales Engineer
Feb 2016 — Aug 2023 · 7 years
Global SE of the Year. President's Club FY21 at 478% quota. Led Fortune 100 PoCs, custom demos, whiteboarding sessions, and architectural risk assessments — displacing legacy vendors across network, cloud, and security domains.
IronKey by Imation · Campbell
Sales Engineer
Jun 2014 — Feb 2016
North America pre-sales for encrypted endpoint and data protection. RFI/RFP responses, competitive intelligence, partner enablement, and customer-driven product roadmap feedback.
Citrix Systems · Santa Clara
Senior Solutions Engineer
Apr 2013 — Feb 2014
VDI-in-a-Box pre-sales with channel partners. Integration evaluations, knowledge base authorship, and post-sales support for hybrid virtual desktop deployments.
IronKey by Imation · Campbell
Technical Services Engineering Lead
May 2011 — Apr 2013
Led global post-sales support for encrypted endpoint solutions. Primary escalation for critical customer issues — root-cause analysis, workarounds, and product roadmap input.
Independent Media

The PEBCAK Podcast

Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard. Weekly information security news for people who actually work in the field — no vendor spin, no filler, no fluff. Guest interviews, gadget reviews, cybersecurity career tips, and the always-reliable Dad Joke of the Week. Every Monday since 2021.

264+Episodes
5 yrsOn Air
~40mPer Episode
GlobalAudience
#149
Technology Podcasts — Kenya
Global reach · Ranked by Apple Podcasts
// latest_episodes.log
PEBCAK Podcast
InfoSec News by Some
All Around Good People
EP 264 OpenAI Attacks Hugging Face · VW Drivers Blocked Using GrapheneOS · Microsoft's Hidden Identifier IDs Scattered Spider
EP 263 No Chatbot · No Midnight · No Insider Info · No Simple Patch Tuesday · No Soup for You
EP 262 Facebook Theft · Fake Heads · Federal Time · Failure to Launch
EP 261 Claude Proxies · Pilfered Pixels, and Polymarket · iPhone 18 Predictions
EP 260 Phish Fails · Canada Botnet Busts · Keystroke Confessions · Prime Day Hauls
Speaking & Thought Leadership

Where technical truth meets the room.

Available for conferences, corporate events, podcasts, and panels. Brings practitioner-level expertise and the same no-nonsense energy as the podcast — technically rigorous, never dry.

// Keynote · Conference
Zero Trust in the Real World

Beyond the buzzword — how enterprises actually implement Zero Trust without ripping out their infrastructure. Practical, opinionated, and grounded in real Fortune 100 deployments.

// Workshop · Practitioner
The Modern Threat Landscape

How today's attackers operate — ransomware-as-a-service, supply chain compromises, nation-state tactics, and social engineering at scale. Built for practitioners, not executives looking for reassurance.

// Career · Coaching
Breaking Into Cybersecurity

Technical interview prep, positioning yourself in a competitive market, and building real credibility as a security practitioner. A recurring PEBCAK topic with consistently strong listener response.

// Enterprise Security
Securing the Modern Enterprise

A practitioner's take on building security programs that scale — balancing risk, usability, and compliance across complex organizations where security has to work with the business, not against it.

// Panel · Podcast Guest
SASE & Cloud Security Strategy

A practitioner conversation on secure access service edge — what it is, what it isn't, and how organizations should evolve their security posture as workloads permanently leave the perimeter.

// Invite Chris
Available to Speak

Looking to book Chris for your conference, event, or podcast? Connect on LinkedIn or reach out through the PEBCAK community. No gatekeepers, no agents.

Beyond the Keyboard

Expert.
Dad. Coach.
Volunteer.
Runner.

The best security professionals understand people — not just systems. Chris invests as heavily in his community as he does in certifications. Coaching youth sports and volunteering at school aren't side activities. They're part of the same commitment to showing up.

Baseball Coach

Coaches his kids' baseball teams — the same preparation, trust-building, and team strategy from the enterprise world applied to the diamond.

Soccer Coach

Youth soccer coach focused on developing players the right way — fundamentals first, confidence always, fun never optional.

🏫
School Volunteer

Active volunteer at his kids' school. Strong communities start with parents who show up — not just parents who donate.

🏃
Top 0.5% 10K Runner

Competitive long-distance runner ranked in the top 0.5% nationally for the 10K. The same discipline and endurance that defines his career, logged in miles.

Connect

Let's talk security.

Whether you're looking for a speaker, a podcast guest, a pre-sales advisor, or just want to talk shop about the latest threats — the best way to reach Chris is through LinkedIn or the PEBCAK Podcast community. No middlemen.

✓ CISSP — ISC2 ✓ ZDTA — Zscaler 2024 ✓ ZCCA — Zscaler ✓ Cal Poly SLO
🔒 Privacy-first — no email or location published