Christopher Mercer Email and Phone Number

Plan, develop, and conduct full semester college undergraduate courses in cloud technology (via AWS Academy course material), preparing students for AWS Certifications, as well as information technology (Security Management Practices), which help to prepare students for the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification exam. Utilize appropriate computer technology to enhance student learning process. Develop policies and procedures for delivering course content and ensuring students are actively engaged throughout the course. Facilitate online and in-class discussions about applicable topics, both academically and around real-world situations. Prepare, administer, and grade weekly assignments and final examinations. Use live demonstrations to enhance understanding of course material in real-world applications.

Work with AWS customers to convey cloud computing security, compliance, identity, and risk management best practices, as well as other teams within AWS to drive workload adoption. Develop technical content, such as white papers and reference architectures that can be used by AWS customers to assist them in deploying secure and compliant cloud-based solutions. Provide mentorship across AWS sales and solutions architecture teams regarding security and compliance to build skills in the field. Represent AWS at trade events by delivering presentations and workshops.

Provide security architecture review and recommendations to Vistra Energy (formerly Energy Future Holdings) and subordinate companies TXU Energy and Luminant Power. Design and test security systems within the network. Review current security measures and recommend enhancements. Conduct tests against and monitor health of current security tools. Develop project timelines for security system upgrades. Ensure security systems and recommendations adhere to corporate policies and standards. Emphasis on cloud architecture (including infrastructure-as-code), especially during migrations from on-premises to cloud environments.

Provide penetration testing services to Vistra Energy (formerly Energy Future Holdings) and subordinate companies TXU Energy and Luminant Power. The primary objective of the penetration tester is to deliver and enhance various security services provided to internal clients. The services include technical security assessments of applications and infrastructure, security design reviews as well as risk assessments. Perform application and infrastructure penetration tests, as well as physical security review and social engineering tests. Review and define requirements for information security solutions. Perform security reviews of application designs, source code and deployments as required, covering all types of applications (web application, web services, mobile applications, thick client applications, SaaS). Participate in Security Assessments of networks, systems and applications. Work on improvements for provided security services, including the continuous enhancement of existing methodology material and supporting assets.

Provide cyber security services to Energy Future Holdings and subordinate companies TXU Energy and Luminant Power. Analyzes and reviews escalated security event cases until closure. This includes investigating and recommending appropriate corrective actions for data security incidents. Utilizes SIEM and other tools to assist in network investigations. Works with MSSPs to investigate network incidents and events. Performs post mortem analysis on logs, traffic flows, and other activities to identify malicious activity. Researches, develops, and stays current on testing tools, techniques, and process improvements in support of security event detection and incident response. Communicates and interacts directly with other staff to ensure individual and group performance. Maintains understanding of company, department, and applicable energy regulations, policies and procedures. Acts as administrator or security support on multiple platforms, operating systems, software, communications, and with multiple network protocols. Provides executive reports and metrics for the team to senior management (director/VP level).

Provide high quality service support to managed service customers. Work to log and remediate information technology security incidents based on standard service measures. Provide technical support to customers across HP's managed service portfolio. Respond to device alerts through an in-house proactive alerting system. Support customers via phone and email. Liaise with vendors to support various customer devices and environments. Attend regular training to retain and advance information technology knowledge and skills across HP's portfolio of products.

Provides professional laptop/desktop support and customer service to military and civilian customers. Work involves troubleshooting and repairing hardware problems. Installs, troubleshoots, configures and repairs software issues for Windows OS and Microsoft Office 2007. Troubleshoots and resolves network connectivity issues at the desktop level. Performs custom TCP/IP configurations of desktops as required. Ensures and implements physical and technical separations for different classifications of networks and data. Properly provisions user accounts in accordance with principle of least privilege and business standards, policies, procedures, and guidelines. Assist with reviewing and modifying these documents as appropriate.

Plans, designs, implements, and maintains an entire infrastructure of servers on multiple networks serving over 4,000 customers to include all of the following services: Domain Controllers, Microsoft Exchange Servers, File Shares, VOIP and Telephony Systems, Antivirus and Update Services, Information Assurance Servers/Software, Adobe Connect/Breeze Systems, and Army Battle Command Systems. Clients included customers from all branches of the Armed Forces, including civilians, using UNIX, Linux, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Provisions user and administrative accounts in accordance with current standards, policies, procedures, and guidelines. Assist with reviewing and modifying these documents as appropriate. Train both users and administrators in the importance of information classification, information assurance, threats, vulnerabilities, and safeguards. Design, implement, and test business continuity plans (BCPs) and disaster recovery (DR) protocols.