Blake Southerland, MBA, CISSP
Two decades on the defense side of cybersecurity, where the programs are large, the rules are strict, and the audits are not optional. Now bringing that discipline to organizations that do not have a security team, at a price they can actually afford.
Where he has been
Today Blake leads the cybersecurity and IT team for a 600-person Air Force division: a twelve-person team responsible for security, operations, and technology support for a federal mission. Before that he was Branch Head for Systems Security and Program Protection at Georgia Tech Research Institute, leading fifteen engineers and analysts across more than thirty-five mission-critical systems. Before that, Director of Technology for the Dodge County School System, responsible for 3,500 users and a $3.5 million technology portfolio on a small-town budget.
What the letters mean
The CISSP is the certification most security leaders are measured against. It covers the whole field, from risk and governance to networks and incident response, and it requires years of verified experience before you can even sit for it. The MBA is why his advice starts with what the business can afford and what it is trying to do, not with what a vendor wants to sell.
Why this exists
Big organizations have a security team. Most businesses have an owner, an office manager, and whoever set up the Wi-Fi. The Snapshot is the first piece of a risk-management practice built for them: a quick, honest read of where you stand, then a short list of what to do about it, cheapest first, in plain English.
"Helping others is a passion of mine. If I can do it, anyone can. They just need a hand to help them up."