Jay Rhykerd

Background

About Jay Rhykerd

I believe cybersecurity is more than safeguarding assets—it’s about building trust, enabling business growth, and preparing for the future. I am passionate about aligning cyber to how the business actually works (not just how we wish it worked). Key Focus Areas: Bias toward action: Driving initiatives that deliver immediate, measurable results. Quantified risk: Leveraging data to inform decision-making and prioritize efforts. Continuous compliance: Staying ahead of evolving regulatory requirements. Future-forward thinking: Anticipating tomorrow’s challenges with strategic foresight. Automation and efficiency: Reducing friction so teams can focus on what matters most. Collaborative Leadership: Building trust: Fostering strong partnerships and shared ownership of cybersecurity goals across the organization. Empowering teams: Developing high-performing teams that implement innovative solutions. Business alignment: Crafting security programs that deliver meaningful, measurable outcomes. For me, cybersecurity is about striking the perfect balance: protecting today’s organization while preparing it for tomorrow—all while making the process seamless and impactful. Past Roles Include - SRA International, Cybersecurity Analyst: Supported security for classified and unclassified networks focusing on FFA web application security, performing investigation and pen tests to identify critical vulnerabilities Pennsylvania State University (PSU), Cybersecurity Analyst: Provided security advisory services and conducted vulnerability and penetration testing University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), Information Security Analyst Computer Science Corporation: encryption and key management; earning DOE secret clearance