In today’s episode of (CS)²AI Podcast, Derek Harp is joined by Jim McGlone. Jim is from Kenexis. He is an industry veteran working on control systems, safety, and security. Jim was born in Baltimore, Maryland. His dad worked for government contractors, so Jim was taken all over the world as a child. He remembers living in Germany, where his dad was responsible for all the control systems, and targeting mechanisms on cold war nuclear missiles pointed at Russia. His life was a little stressful and strange back then because his family took some weird vacations to places in Switzerland which Jim, only in his fifties, learned were safe houses. Later, when he was in grade school, their family moved back to a small town in Ohio where Jim grew up amongst some interesting people living on the edge of Amish country. 

After graduating from high school, Jim went to the University of Akron intending to get a double E Degree. He did not do well, unfortunately, and dropped out after three years. He later graduated from the University of New York, with honors, with degrees in computer technology, nuclear technologies, and physics. Then, ten years later, he earned his MBA. 

Jim is a multi-talented individual! What really sets him apart from others is his insatiable curiosity. He is constantly changing and evolving. In this episode, he talks about his career and how the unusual education choices he made early on later influenced his career path. He did not follow the expected order of things, preferring to do it in his own time. Later in his career, he went back and completed much of what had earlier been expected of him. You will not want to miss this episode if you’re curious, like Jim, and always striving to grow and develop. 

Show highlights:

• Jim’s children get upset with him because he is unable to tell his grandchildren what he does in his career because it is too complicated. (13:45)
• Jim just did several safety courses and is preparing to get some certifications for process safety, like risk analysis. (14:46)
• How education in the military differs from other education. (15:15)
• Where industrial controls and systems intersected with Jim’s journey. (16:00)
• Jim’s career journey just after he got out of the navy. (17:59)
• The point at which Jim’s life became all about computers and software. (21:58)
• Meeting Bryan Singer and traveling with him, doing sustainability and security summits. (25:31)
• Jim went to work for Honeywell. (28:00)
• When Jim got ahead of the curve with the software he created. (31:10)
• Some circuits are so critical that we need to rethink what they get hooked up to. (35:05)
• Jim is coming up with standard language around cyber security. (45:35)
• Some of the challenges Jim has faced in his career: Good advice for anyone who’s looking to get into cybersecurity as a career (47:00)
• How mentorship has played a part in Jim’s life. (57:24)

This podcast is brought to you by: Waterfall Security Solutions, Fortinet, Network Perceptions, Industrial Defender, Tripwire and Q-Net Security.