Joseph Adams, Project Manager in San Diego, CA, United States
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Joseph Adams

Verified Expert  in Project Management

Project Manager

Location
San Diego, CA, United States
Toptal Member Since
June 4, 2018

Joseph is a technical project manager and business process developer highly proficient in Microsoft technologies. With a focus on security, process, policy, and effective leadership he can step smoothly into a number of roles and work cross-functionally with teams across skillsets. The more complex the project or solution, the more of an opportunity he has to add value and bring the pieces together into smooth collaboration.

Project Highlights

Navisec
Took on the role of lead NIST assessor and implemented practices for how NIST assessments should be executed in the future. I've helped multiple organizations root out gaps in their security posture and implement effect remediation.
CU-Boulder Analytics 360 Platform
Took a ground-up machine learning and reporting effort from concept to delivery in higher education, government, and big data.
Aviation Operations Risk Management (AvORM)
Took a multi-year project through to completion for the US Military as the lead.

Expertise

Work Experience

Contract CISO

2021 - PRESENT
NaviSec
  • Implemented organization-wide policies on how security and privacy assessments should be executed. Specific focus on NIST, SOC2, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and other common frameworks.
  • Took lead and mentored client teams on the standup and operationalization of cybersecurity programs (greenfield and iterative). Established functional documentation, roadmapping, executive and senior leader value alignment, and implementation.
  • Documented findings have led to measurable improvement in client-company security postures. Report generation for senior leaders and vested 3POs.
  • Assisted with coaching and remediation to help client-company teams understand the context of security standards and how policies protect company information assets.
  • Qualitative security reviews with a focus on helping organizations implement procedures and policies responsibly and in a manner that minimizes workflow disruption. Apply managed change practices to security improvements.

President

2007 - PRESENT
Adam Jones Productions
  • Built multiple fully-functional social-networking style systems, front to back, including a mobile application and API interface.
  • Supported statistics-based process analysis systems used by the military to mitigate mission risk exposure.
  • Created and shipped over 20 software projects to the web and mobile application stores.
  • Assembled an original IP web portfolio that in 2009 generated over 12 million views per month, along with mobile apps that generated a combined 80,000 downloads.
  • Converted a very large military system from SQL Server to Oracle.

Product Manager

2014 - 2019
Cosmital Designs
  • Handled effective product design, data-driven feature development/iteration, and team management with a focus on delivering high-quality software that met our clients' business and market goals.
  • Researched technology platforms and emerging trends to make proper platform recommendations to clients.
  • Managed contracts and client relationships, as well as proposal preparation and invoicing.
  • Was responsible for presenting opportunities to clients formally, understanding the content of a good presentation, as well as strong communication skills.
  • Applied Lean methodology, and how "microversioning" leads to validated learning and market development.

Sergeant, Acting Communications Chief

2002 - 2006
US Marine Corps
  • Served three tours of duty in Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom in a combat role.
  • Implemented multiple practices that are currently Marine Corps policy.
  • Served consistently in higher-ranking billets throughout enlistment.
  • Awarded multiple commendations for field service excellence.
  • Held multiple instructor billets, including combat readiness and technical training roles.

Navisec

https://www.navisec.io

Took on the role of lead NIST assessor and implemented practices for how NIST assessments should be executed in the future. I've helped multiple organizations root out gaps in their security posture and implement effect remediation.

Acted as the lead for all NIST assessments, working with a diverse range of SMB and MMB groups on gathering, organizing, and evaluating their security posture in advance of formal third-party audits.

The discipline requires an in-depth understanding of business process mapping, data classification, industry-specific information compliance frameworks like HIPPA, NIST, FMB, and others, and risk management. An additional component is coaching and compliance consulting to help organizations remediate findings and a natural "forensic-style" where details matter.

"They're called data 'leaks' for a reason: all it takes is a tiny crack for them to get out."

CU-Boulder Analytics 360 Platform

Took a ground-up machine learning and reporting effort from concept to delivery in higher education, government, and big data.

While working as the product manager for the University of Colorado - Boulder I took the wide requirements of multiple university departments and translated them into specific deliverables. Concurrent with this were stakeholder meetings, serving as the team's scrum master, and managing timelines and resources for execution.

Additionally, I established the process by which new report requests would be received, analyzed, and put into development to serve the university's needs.

Role:
Product manager, scrum master, and data architect.

Aviation Operations Risk Management (AvORM)

Took a multi-year project through to completion for the US Military as the lead.

This system was a multi-year effort on behalf of US Air Force - Air Mobility Command. The scope of the project was to create a mission planning and risk management tool for the company and field-grade officers to use in daily workflow. The purpose was to create an easy system to operationalize risk management principles and create a reference tool for large-scale data-analysis and military flight operations quality analysis (MFOQA).

Role:
Technical project lead that involved a heavy feature design and scoping effort. Deliverables were decided upon based on business analysis of requirements and planned with hard dates in mind.

Talon Manufacturing Execution System

Led a team of four to the deployment of a fully custom manufacturing execution system.

This was a project that was a full process manufacturing control system. From the input of the initial sale into Microsoft Dynamics, the system did the following:

• Calculated optimal scheduling for manufacturing jobs
• Provided a manual terminal where the schedule is confirmed or modified
• Issued instructions to the automated fabrication stations that constructed the product (10 stations)
• On manual inspection of the completed part, updated shipping information, and auto-printed part labels

The project was built using ASP.NET, SQL Server, and integrated with Microsoft Dynamics, Zebra Printers, and Kepware Allen Bradley servers.

Role:
I was the project lead in charge of gathering business requirements and generating the task execution based on rigid timelines. Coordinated the efforts of multiple team members including architects, external machine vendors, and DevOps to develop and deploy the solution.

Digital Claim Pro

Architected and built a fully automated vehicle accident triage system for auto insurance companies.

The system is designed to work with telematics service providers that notify a connected service when a vehicle has been in a collision. Using the telemetry data provided the system analyzes the severity of the collision and not only determines the probability of the vehicle being repairable or total loss, but also deploys emergency services, vehicle recovery, and damage appraisal as appropriate.

This allows a very small team of insurance agents to manage a much larger fleet than possible using existing tools, and reduces the triage time from days to literally seconds.

Project is not publicly available for demo

Cybsersecurity PM

Helped plan and coordinate a next generation PIM methodology that would significantly improve the security posture for privileged identities in the Toyota network.

Served a key member of the Woven by Toyota PMO team, guiding the activities of the Corporate Security group as it implemented sweeping changes to the organization. Generated significant documentation for planning, implementation, senior executive briefs, and internal discovery exercises.

Cybersecurity Technical PM

Successfully worked with both embedded defensive engineers and offensive testers to ensure the product was free of unmitigated security vulnerabilities.

Served as the cybersecurity lead for an embedded hardware component being developed by a major auto manufacturer. This organization was architecting a new way to track fleet vehicles and security was a high priority.

CISO Consulting

Completed 3 robust, targeted security assessments including a CISv8 Group 3 analysis.

Served as a contract CISO for a higher education institution. Performed multiple security analysis on critical systems and processes with reports generated for senior leadership. Reports included thorough risk analyses and roadmapping for remediation.

Technical Product Owner

Successfully parsed through several weeks of discovery to align on a business appropriate solution that fit the resourcing profile prescribed by senior leadership.

Served as the technical product lead in charge of discovery, solutioning, resource planning, and business alignment for the SCFN platform. Coordinated the efforts of technical, design, and subject matter experts to create a platform that was secure, scalable, and highly user friendly for content creators and viewers alike.

Technical Project Manager

Successfully ran discovery sessions to properly scope, plan, and resource a platform buildout that met all critical business needs. To date the platform is in general use.

Worked closely with product leaders to properly scope and solution a platform that would streamline and automate critical functions within the network of care facilities. Due to the nature of the subject security was of paramount, so through the course of developing the solution architecture and implementation plan a forward leaning security posture was maintained through the entire engagement.
2011 - 2013

Master's Degree in Business Management

Florida International University - Miami, FL

2004 - 2005

Professional Development Course in Small Unit Leadership

Marine Corps University - San Diego, CA

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