Greg Scheidel

Greg started programming because it combined writing, solving puzzles, and creating something out of whole cloth. He loved the idea that he could have a vision of what he wanted a program to do, figure out how to realize that in code, and then actually make that come to life on a computer. In and after school, those same interests and drivers expanded to other areas of information technology such as network and database design and architecture. Over time - he moved into leadership roles, but whatever particular project or technology he was working with, there was always that element of figuring out how to make things work and bringing them to life.

His wife asked him - years ago - what he actually did for a living. Greg took a few days to think about it, then told her that he solves problems. Sometimes the problems are solved through technology; more often they're solved through changing how people work with technologies. It happens that some of the most challenging problems are related to security and that security problems are easier to solve if you can view things holistically and find weaknesses and strengths in the overall system. But no matter what particular role he’s in, he’s always solving problems and trying to make things better.

Greg has spent over 30 years working in various aspects of IT including system support, network design and implementation, application development and programming, database design and implementation, service management, security, and information assurance. He understands those individual parts but also how all those parts work together holistically. Greg firmly believes that larger systems exists to serve the needs of the organization and can't be managed effectively unless that is understood and used as a guiding principle. He thrives on communicating that message to others and loves seeing that "Aha!" moment when a student connects the dots and realizes how multiple concepts, tools, technologies, policies, processes fit together as a whole.

Greg is adept at explaining technical concepts to non-technical people, and non-technical concepts to technical people. He’s worked in project management, service management, and business management and often brings concepts from those disciplines into the classroom - both to help explain technical concepts to people familiar with those other disciplines, and to illustrate to the more technically inclined how their work fits into and their organization's non-technical services and objectives.

He has a diverse background and range of experiences, understanding of how technical and non-technical systems work together to serve the organization, ability to communicate effectively with people from diverse backgrounds, openness to learning even when I'm the 'instructor', and passion for helping others learn. Combined, these attributes make him uniquely qualified to teach.

As an instructor, Greg is personally vested in ensuring that students really do *get* it. He doesn’t want to be a talking head and make sure they get through the material; but is there to help students actually *understand* the material by way of sharing his knowledge and experience. As much as possible, he treats teaching as a dialogue. Greg wants to understand how students are processing the conversation and whether it makes sense. As a result, he rarely walks away from a class without having learned something new himself - whether it's a new technique, tool, or just a new way of looking at the material.

He's currently leading a security program - as a contractor counterpart to the agency CISO - that provides a full range of IT security services including SOC, incident management, risk management, penetration testing, forensic and malware analysis, cyber threat intelligence, security engineering, security awareness training, auditing, and policy support. He is also a faculty member of the SANS Technology Institute, an NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense and multiple winner of the National Cyber League competition. Greg enjoys spending time with his family, reading science-fiction and fantasy, and playing racquetball and (occasionally) sand volleyball. His personal website is www.scheidel.net.