Bio
I was born and raised in Michigan and still remember the first computer I ever used: an HP Pavilion 6736 running Windows 98. From an early age, I was naturally drawn to technology, often gifted computers as a child. That curiosity led me to discover my first vulnerability in elementary school — though I didn’t realize what it was at the time.
My interest deepened in high school during a web design class, where I earned my hacker handle: Spoutingwhale. In 2022, I began working as a cybersecurity analyst intern at a Fortune 500 insurance company, later joining them part-time in 2023. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity from BYU in 2024, I started my current role as a cybersecurity engineer.
I’m passionate about all things cyber. In my spare time, I regularly work on side projects and explore new, old, and obscure IT and cybersecurity tools. I’m always looking for ways to grow my knowledge and contribute to the community.
In the future, I hope to serve as a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) to help organizations see cybersecurity not as an annoying expense, but as a strategic investment — one that builds financial resilience, trust with customers, and increases shareholder value.
Below, you’ll find a summary of my experiences and my full resume.
Career Experience
My experiences are more detailed in my formal resume (At the bottom of this page)
- Cybersecurity Engineer II - Raytheon Technologies
- Cybersecurity Analyst - Auto Owners Insurance Company
- BYU Cybersecurity Research Lab System Administrator
- BYU Cybersecurity Department Teaching Assistant
- BYU Cybersecurity Student Association Presidency Member and Instructor
- BYU Network Engineering Association Presidency Member
Certifications
- CompTIA CASP+/SecurityX - July 2024
- CompTIA Security+ - September 2023
- CompTIA PenTest+ - October 2023
- CompTIA CySa+ - January 2024
Competitions
I participate in (and live for) all types of cyber competitions, here are some I have been involved in:
- Assisted and/or hosted 5 CTFs
- 2024 BYU NCAE Cyber Games coach
- 2-time national finalist - NCAE Cyber Games
- National Runner Up - 2023 NCAE Cyber Games
- Spring 2023 National Cyber League Experienced Students Bracket: 3rd Place Team
- Fall 2023 National Cyber League Experienced Students Bracket: 4th Place Team
- Competed in countless public CTFs
Project/Career Related Experience
- Incident Response
- Vulnerability Assessment
- System Hardening
- System Administration
- Nessus/Tenable
- SCAP, STIG, ACAS Compliance
- Splunk
- Python
- Script Automation
- Docker
- Vulnerability Managment
- Virtualization
- Opnsense Firewall
- Cisco Networking
- Linux Administration and Hardening
- Secure Web Hosting
- Web Application Firewall
- Technical Writing