Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

I hold an Associate of Applied Science in Network Administration & Cybersecurity from Lake Superior College, graduating with High Honors and a 4.0 GPA in Spring 2022. During my time there, I was a consistent Dean’s List student and an active member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. I also competed in multiple seasons of the National Cyber League, achieving strong individual and team rankings. Earlier in my academic journey, I attended Bemidji State University for general studies before returning to complete my degree in cybersecurity.

Education

Lake Superior College is a community and technical college in Duluth, Minnesota, known for its strong programs in technology, healthcare, and trades, where I completed my AAS in Network Administration & Cybersecurity. Before that, I attended Bemidji State University, a four-year public university in northern Minnesota, where I focused on general studies.

Lake Superior College

Network Administration & Cybersecurity

Associate of Applied Science (AAS)

Cumulative GPA: 4.0

Graduated Spring 2022 with High Honors

The Network Administration and Cybersecurity degree combines both networking and systems administration fundamentals, with a focus on defensive strategies to securing systems.

Brown Institute of Technology

Computer Programming (Coursework)

1998

Gained foundational programming skills in multiple languages, including QBasic, HTML, VisualBasic, C++, COBOL, and FORTRAN.

Early Programming Experience

In high school, I took programming courses that began with LOGO on Apple Macintosh computers, introducing me to logic, structure, and creative problem-solving.
Advanced into HyperCard, where I learned to create interactive applications using a graphical, stack-based programming model - an early glimpse into object-oriented thinking and user interface design.
Alongside my classes, I taught myself RealBasic and VisualBasic, experimenting with building applications and learning programming concepts well beyond the classroom.

Bemidji State University

General Electives

1997 & 1999

Bemidji State University is a public university in Bemidji, Minnesota. Founded as a preparatory institution for teachers in 1919, it provides higher education to north-central Minnesota. It is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.

Training

I have completed advanced cybersecurity training through SANS, including FOR578 – Cyber Threat Intelligence, which developed my tactical, operational, and strategic CTI skills to strengthen threat hunting, incident response, and organizational awareness against evolving adversaries. I also trained with 7 Minute Security’s Light Pentest LITE, a hands-on Active Directory pentesting course that sharpened my ability to identify, exploit, and defend against real-world enterprise vulnerabilities. In addition, I’ve completed multiple FBI InfraGard trainings, including their Intelligence Studies course, which deepened my knowledge of intelligence analysis and public-private collaboration for critical infrastructure protection. Collectively, these trainings have broadened my expertise across cyber threat intelligence, offensive testing, and intelligence-driven defense.

SANS

FOR578 – Cyber Threat Intelligence:

FOR578 provides a complete framework for building, analyzing, and applying cyber threat intelligence across tactical, operational, and strategic levels. The course develops advanced analysis skills for complex scenarios, teaching students how to gather intelligence requirements through threat modeling and adversary data collection, validate sources, craft high fidelity indicators of compromise in formats such as YARA and STIX/TAXII, and apply analytic models including the Cyber Kill Chain, Diamond Model, and MITRE ATT&CK. Participants learn to generate actionable intelligence that strengthens threat detection, enables more accurate hunting, and drives effective incident response, while also developing the ability to understand the evolving threat landscape, communicate insights to leaders at every level, and identify cost effective ways to leverage open source, community, and commercial intelligence tools. By delivering intelligence that informs smarter defensive decisions, graduates enhance the effectiveness of security operations, incident response, and broader business functions.

FOR498 - Battlefield Forensics & Data Acquisition:

FOR498 teaches how to properly acquire, preserve, and validate data from diverse systems and media, ensuring forensic soundness even in high pressure or hostile environments. The course covers evidence collection from PCs, Macs, tablets, smartphones, RAM, virtual machines, cloud platforms, and enterprise applications such as Exchange, SharePoint, and network repositories, while also training students to perform rapid triage workflows that generate actionable intelligence in 90 minutes or less, capture volatile data from live systems, and manage investigative scenes to prioritize critical evidence. This training enables organizations to preserve digital evidence for regulatory, legal, and internal investigations while accelerating incident response, reducing analysis time, and strengthening collaboration between technical teams, investigators, and legal stakeholders. By mastering modern acquisition challenges including cloud, mobile, and large scale storage, teams can reduce reliance on external resources, prevent data loss during high pressure incidents, and maintain confidence in the integrity of their investigations.

7 Minute Security

Light Pentest LITE

The Light Pentest LITE course is structured as a 3-day course, with each class session being 3 hours long. This training consists of live (via Zoom), hands-on, instructor-led sessions focused on teaching you how to find, exploit and defend against common Active Directory weaknesses!

You will be given access to a "real" corporate network and a Windows virtual machine that is pre-loaded with all the tools and scripts you need to be successful during the course. We will work through a series of objectives together, with the ultimate goal of "owning" the entire enterprise!

Knowledge & Skills

I have a strong foundation in cybersecurity, networking, and systems administration, with hands-on experience across various enterprise technologies. My expertise includes server administration, virtualization, and network security, along with extensive work in threat intelligence and penetration testing. I am proficient in utilizing security tools for monitoring, threat detection, and incident response. Additionally, I have participated in numerous cybersecurity competitions and hands-on labs, continuously honing my skills in ethical hacking, digital forensics, and security analysis.

Server

Throughout my studies I have used multiple Windows Server 2019 servers to run different projects or to do work in lab environments. In my home lab I run a handful of different server platforms.

Solutions: Microsoft Server 2019, Ubuntu Server 20.04, FreeNAS/TrueNAS.

Networking

I have experience with different networking equipment from home and small business networks to enterprise level configurations. Have used Cisco’s Packet Tracer to explore network setups and solutions.

Solutions: Cisco, Ubiquiti, TP-Link, PFsense, Linksys, Netgear, Sophos.

Virtualization

I have experience with many virtualization solutions including both type-1 and type-2 hypervisors. I have utilized VMware player, Desktop Pro, ESXi, vSphere, and vCenter. I have also used Microsoft Hyper-V to run virtual environments. I utilize Proxmox in my home lab and do some work with Docker containers.

Solutions: VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, Microsoft Azure, Proxmox, Docker.

Threat Intelligence

There are many sources of threat intelligence and various Threat Intelligence Platforms available for use.

Solutions: Palo Alto Networks, Anomali ThreatStream, Anomali STAX, MISP, OpenCTI.

Threat Intelligence Feeds: Palo Alto WildFire & Unit42, Federal Partners, AlienVault OTX, and Deloitte.

Penetration Testing

Penetration testing, also known as “pen testing” or ethical hacking, describes the intentional launching of simulated cyberattacks that seek out exploitable vulnerabilities in computer systems, networks, websites, and applications.

Solutions: Bloodhound, Mimikatz, Rubeus, ADCollector, SharpShares, CrackMapExec, Inveigh, Neo4j, SharpHound, SharpGPOAbuse, PowerSploit, HashCat, John the Ripper

Tactics, Techniques, & Procedures (TTPs): Network Enumeration, DNS Zone Transfers, Password spraying, Bypass AMSI, Kerberoasting, ASREPRoasting, Unquoted Service Paths, Privilege Escalation, Pass-the-hash attacks, Credential "Traps," Abusing unconstrained delegation.

Lab Environment

Virtual labs allow students to complete laboratory experiments, exploring concepts online. I have used the following labs to build on my education and knowledge around key cybersecurity concepts and skills.

InfoSec Learning: Infosec’s cloud based, scalable, self-assessing virtual platform and labs are ideal for any school, business, or agency wanting to train and/or assess on any cyber or information security skill.

Cengage Labs: Live Virtual Machine Labs is an interactive learning environment in MindTap course activities where you can practice problem-solving skills, in real time, on live IT systems.

OWASP Juice Shop: OWASP Juice Shop is probably the most modern and sophisticated insecure web application! It can be used in security trainings, awareness demos, CTFs and as a guinea pig for security tools. Juice Shop encompasses vulnerabilities from the entire OWASP Top Ten along with many other security flaws found in real-world applications.

OpenDNS Security Ninjas: Security Ninjas is an Application Security Training Program created for our software developers here at OpenDNS. It has helped our developers write more secure code and hence reduced the burden on our security team.

Capture The Flag (CTF)

Participants compete in security-themed challenges for the purpose of obtaining the highest score. Competitors are expected to “capture flags” to increase their score. I have participated in the following CTF challenges to build a solid foundation and to continue developing my skill sets.

National Cyber League: The National Cyber League (NCL) is the most inclusive, performance-based, learning-centered collegiate cybersecurity competition today.

Hack The Box: Hack The Box is a massive, online cybersecurity training platform, allowing individuals, companies, universities and all kinds of organizations around the world to level up their hacking skills.

Hack The Box Academy: Cyber security training with hands-on exercises and labs made by Hack The Box.

Try Hack Me: A free online platform for learning cyber security, using hands-on exercises and labs, all through your browser!

NIST NICE Challenges: The NICE Challenge Project develops real-world cybersecurity challenges within virtualized business environments that bring students the workforce experience before the workforce. Our goal is to provide the most realistic experiences to students, at-scale year-round.

Achievements

I have consistently demonstrated academic excellence, earning a place on the Dean’s List for six consecutive semesters from Fall 2019 to Spring 2022 by maintaining a 4.0 GPA. As an active member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society since January 2020, I have been recognized for my academic achievements and commitment to scholarly excellence. Additionally, I have competed in the National Cyber League (NCL), where I achieved strong rankings in both individual and team competitions across multiple seasons, further honing my cybersecurity skills in real-world scenarios.

Dean's List

The Deans’ List represents high academic achievement. Students recognized for the Deans’ List during Fall or Spring semester achieved a grade point average (GPA) greater than or equal to 3.5.

Semester: Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022

Pi Theta Kappa

Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society is the international honor society of students attending open-access institutions and seeking associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees, or other college credentials.

Active Member Since: January, 2020

National Cyber League

The National Cyber League (NCL) is the most inclusive, performance-based, learning-centered collegiate cybersecurity competition today!

Fall 2019: National Rank 1,108/4,149

Bronze Bracket Rank 112/2,092

National Team Rank 23/689

Team Gold Rank 23/103

Spring 2020: National Rank 2814/5357

Silver Bracket Rank 1297/1533

National Team Rank 102/925

Team Silver Rank 15/276

Spring 2021: National Rank 1441/4180

Bronze Bracket Rank 166/2093