Hello! I'm Kristen!

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I am first and foremost a technologist and neophiliac with broad industry experience including healthcare, e-commerce, FinTech, and education, with a background in consulting, development, and architecture. While Microsoft is, for me, the "mothership," I thrive in connecting with driven individuals who are equally enthusiastic about continuous learning, collaboration, and improvement —platform and technology-agnostic.

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I get ridiculously excited about all things technical, which is lucky because, to me, almost everything is technical. I love finding the "why" in the work and processes that tend to get lost in the "doing."

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All that I do is based in the firm belief that the growth of my team members is the best measurement of my success. I take pride in each of the individuals with whom I have worked, and nothing makes me happier than believing that I have played a part in their journey onward and upward.

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I excel at finding my team members' "special purposes" and creating opportunities to explore those talents in the course of their working days. I enjoy "motivating the motivated;" finding ways to make boring tasks interesting and fun; and [in my personal time] setting unrealistic expectations for my son's future partners.

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Being in a position of management is no reason for an ego or resting on the laurels of past achievements. I believe that if you are not constantly improving yourself, staying informed on new capabilities, connecting with new talent, practicing active listening, and passing on your knowledge —while encouraging questions to gain fresh perspectives, you will become irrelevant in short order. And let's face it: no one wants to be irrelevant (or at least no one with whom I want to be associated).

I feel fortunate to have had my career start before there was such a concept of specialization, and the fact that you were somewhat committing to being a "career student" was a requirement of the job. I believe that mindset is even more imperative today, in a time when there is still so much to learn, do, and try.

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I love regulations, standards, security, architecture, etc. (seriously!) —mostly because they are wonderful for persuading business interests to invest in best practices. And guess who just became an Individual Participant with the PCI Security Standards Council?!?!

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I am currently super passionate about [finally] taking my CISSP exam, information governance, cybersecurity, process improvements, and upcoming developments tied to Executive Order 14028 —and PCI DSS v4.0. I am also working on a "heart project" that I will hopefully be able to launch in the very near future!