1) What do you do and what is it about your job that gets you out of bed in the morning?
I am a Strategic Sales Executive for LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ Digital Identity & Platform solutions. Every day, I’m excited to develop innovative solutions to emerging fraud problems, unmask bad actors, and protect people and companies from being exploited by them.
Unfortunately, the brightest minds in the world are not all looking for the cure to cancer. Rather, many of them are searching for the newest ways to carry out fraud schemes. And fraud is only the predicate offense. The real root causes are greed and other evils, such as terrorism, drug trafficking, and human trafficking. The end result is grave damage to vulnerable people, companies, and even our country.
2) How did you get to where you are today?
I was fortunate to have a college professor for my senior capstone project whose final assignment was for us to answer this question: “What do you think will be the most important business idea or concept across the life of your generation’s careers?”
We all presented our answers to this question, and he gave us all marvelous grades. Then he said: “Great work everyone … but you’re all wrong. The most important concept will be this one: He who can change the fastest wins.”
He supported his theory with empirical evidence, noting that technology innovation was accelerating rapidly, and as a result, the most in-demand jobs 10 years from then had never even been heard of or yet conceived.
He encouraged us to stay curious and agile as we embarked on our professional lives – that when a new problem presented itself that had yet to be solved, we should raise our hands and volunteer to figure it out. This advice led me on a zig-zag path from data-driven journalism, to digital advertising, to product creation, and eventually to identity – which became the “new oil” and truly the foundation of all things new.
3) What is the most important lesson you have learned along the way?
Have a “put me in coach” attitude. Even if you doubt whether you know enough to be up to the challenge, if someone asks you to take it on and has faith in you to tackle it – borrow their faith in you until you prove your competence to yourself.