Today, Derek Harp interviews Billy Rios, the Co-Founder of QED Secure Solutions.

Billy is an experienced technical leader with a strong background in successful strategic security planning, security program development, and security program execution. He excels at seeing the big picture, identifying gaps, and managing initiatives. He is comfortable managing security initiatives for high-profile, high-visibility products and services. He plays an integral role within organizations by providing collaboration, motivation, and direction across teams in diverse and demanding environments. 

Billy’s Dad was in the army, so his family moved around a lot while he was growing up. He currently lives in Colorado. As well as being a long-term contributor to the cybersecurity field, Billy is a former military veteran, active reservist, technologist, author, entrepreneur, security ninja, snowboarder, Jiu-Jitsu brown belt, a well-known researcher in the cybersecurity space, husband, and father. 

He joins Derek today to discuss his background, career journey, and career highlights. He also offers many valuable nuggets of advice for entrepreneurs and anyone in military units looking to break into the commercial cybersecurity industry.

Show highlights:

• Billy explains how his entry into cybersecurity started with hacking video games as a young kid.
• Billy received scholarships for the Airforce and Marine Corps. He shares his motivation for choosing the Marine Corps and discusses what he did while serving there.
• Billy talks about his study program at the University of Washington. 
• Billy has focused on cybersecurity since he left active duty in the Marine Corps almost 20 years ago.
• Billy discusses the guidance he received from leaders and mentors in the organizations he worked for before becoming an entrepreneur.
• How Billy’s diverse roles and experiences shaped his perspective and helped him get to where he is today.
• Billy shares advice for anyone interested in becoming an entrepreneur.
• What do they do at QED Solutions?
• Billy shares his advice for those who want to transition from military to corporate cybersecurity. 
• Billy gets into the awesome yet scary things about being a researcher.

Links and resources:

(CS)²AI

QED Secure Solutions  

Billy Rios on LinkedIn