The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Awards were announced March 28, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person May 10.
Next is Shane Breland, chief information officer at Core4ce, and finalist in the Chief Information Officer Public & Private category. Here, he shares key achievements, focus areas going forward, career advice and more.
What key achievements did you have in 2023?
In 2023, our team achieved significant milestones in bolstering our cybersecurity posture to safeguard both Core4ce and U.S. government data. Our primary focus was on enhancing compliance with the NIST 800-171 standard and successfully navigating our ISO 27001 surveillance audit. These achievements represent a considerable step forward in fortifying our digital defenses and ensuring the integrity of sensitive information.
What are your primary focus areas going forward, and why are those so important to the mission?
Moving forward, our strategic objectives focus on embracing innovation and efficiency to build on our achievements by incorporating IT process automation and the integration of artificial intelligence into our enterprise systems.
Streamlining repetitive tasks and workflows through automation is a cornerstone of our strategy for the year ahead as we aim to enhance operational efficiency, minimize human error and accelerate response times to security incidents from routine maintenance to incident detection and response.
In parallel, we are looking for ways to incorporate AI to fortify our cybersecurity defenses and enhance employee efficiency. By leveraging AI-driven analytics and machine learning algorithms, we seek to augment our threat detection capabilities and bolster proactive risk mitigation efforts. AI holds immense potential for enhancing the effectiveness and agility of our cybersecurity operations by identifying anomalous patterns in network traffic and predicting potential security breaches. The integration of AI into our enterprise systems presents opportunities across other systems for tasks like content management, proposal response and training creation.
As we embark on these transformative endeavors, our overarching goal remains steadfast: to uphold the highest standards of cybersecurity excellence while embracing cutting-edge technologies to stay ahead of emerging threats.
What is your best career advice for those who want to follow in your footsteps?
Become a problem solver ⏤ a skill that is simple but often overlooked and yet critical for the success of most companies. Many people jump to a solution before ever identifying the problem, which leads to wasted resources. I try to refrain from joining discussions about a particular technology, product or vendor until we write down answers to these two fundamental questions:
1. What is the problem we are trying to solve? Understanding the root cause and scope of an issue is essential for devising solutions. Whether it’s addressing a security breach or implementing a new enterprise system, clarity on the problem at hand is important before taking action.
2. What does success look like? Defining clear objectives and outcomes is crucial for gauging progress and measuring success. By understanding the requirements and envisioning the desired result, you can identify the best course of action before brainstorming potential solutions.
By cultivating a problem-solving mindset and regularly asking these critical questions, aspiring IT professionals can become invaluable to the organization and will be sought after by teammates and senior leadership when complex problems arise.
Fun Fact: What is something about you that most people don’t know?
After dropping out of college for the second time, I worked as a roughneck on an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Working grueling 12-hour days, seven days a week, 100 miles off the coast of Louisiana was enough to send me running back to college looking for something to do with my brains rather than my back.