Make the decision.
Understand the risk, evaluate your options, and set practical priorities before committing budget or time.
A clear recommendation and a prioritized plan.
SECURITY · TECHNOLOGY · DELIVERY
Clear direction.
Capable hands.
Work seen through.
I’m Jeff McCrady. I help you make sound technology decisions, do the hands-on work, and keep vendors moving toward the result you need.
Your independent consultant. Your direct point of contact.
25+ yearsTechnology & security experience
CISSPCertified security professional
Air Force veteranRetired Master Sergeant
Direct accessWork with the person doing the work
ONE CONSULTANT. DIFFERENT WAYS TO HELP.
Bring me the problem.
We’ll define the right role.
You may need a second opinion, someone to build a solution, or a trusted hand to manage the people delivering it. Start with the outcome, then agree on the scope.
Move the work forward.
Bring in hands-on help for a defined security, cloud, development, or automation project.
Implementation, documentation, and a planned handoff.
Keep delivery accountable.
Have someone on your side to translate requirements, coordinate providers, and review their work.
Clear ownership, visible progress, and acceptance criteria.
HOW I CAN HELP
Leadership and implementation
belong in the same conversation.
Engage me for a focused piece of work or support across a broader initiative.
Security leadership & risk
Fractional security leadership, program reviews, executive risk communication, governance, and incident readiness.
Know what matters.
Decide what comes next.
Technology & cloud delivery
Architecture reviews, identity and access improvements, cloud application deployment, and practical modernization planning.
Connect the plan
to implementation.
AI adoption & automation
Find useful workflows, develop scoped pilots, and establish controls for data access, human oversight, and deployment.
Make AI useful
and manageable.
Secure development & release
GitHub Enterprise setup, repository governance, approval gates, protected environments, and cloud delivery workflows.
Give teams a clearer
path to production.
Vendor selection & oversight
Requirements, proposal reviews, provider coordination, milestone tracking, and review of deliverables against the agreed scope.
Keep the work connected
to your objective.
A TRUSTED HAND ON YOUR SIDE
You hire the vendors.
I help connect the dots.
When several providers own different pieces, someone needs to keep sight of the whole project. I can serve as your technical point of contact, ask the difficult questions, and help you understand whether the work meets your needs.
Talk through your vendor challenge ↗Define what success looks like.
Clarify requirements, compare proposals, identify dependencies, and agree on deliverables and responsibilities.
Keep decisions and progress visible.
Coordinate providers, track milestones, flag risks, and translate technical issues into decisions you can make.
Review what you’re receiving.
Check deliverables against agreed criteria and clarify documentation, ownership, support, and remaining work.
EXPERIENCE I BRING TO YOUR PROJECT
Real responsibility.
Practical results.
Selected examples from my career in enterprise and military roles. These are prior professional achievements, not Guardian Ridge client engagements.
VENDOR & CONTRACT OVERSIGHT
$11.7M
IT services contract
Served as sole Contracting Officer’s Representative overseeing 43 contractors across five locations during Department of Defense service.
HANDS-ON AUTOMATION
200 hours
Saved annually
Designed a vulnerability-mitigation program that automated updates across 300 systems while serving as an Air Force IT project manager.
TECHNOLOGY MODERNIZATION
65%
Reduction in server footprint
Managed a $2.5M modernization effort during military service, combining infrastructure delivery with operational requirements.
Still hands-on.
My recent enterprise work includes personally deploying and administering GitHub Enterprise, establishing production delivery on Cloudflare and Azure, and building AI workflows with governance and human oversight.
Guardian Ridge is my independent consulting practice. When you engage me, you work directly with the person responsible for your scope of work.
I bring more than 25 years of technology and cybersecurity experience across military, government, and enterprise environments, including service as a Chief Information Security Officer and a retired U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant.
My work ranges from executive risk decisions and provider oversight to building development platforms, deploying applications, and automating operational workflows. I’m comfortable explaining the tradeoffs to leadership and working through the implementation with technical teams.
Guardian Ridge operates as a sole proprietorship for independent consulting and 1099 engagements. We agree on the scope, deliverables, responsibilities, and working arrangement before the engagement begins.
CISSPU.S. Air Force veteranPasadena, Maryland
WORKING TOGETHER
A clear scope. A practical way forward.
01
Understand
Talk through the outcome, current environment, constraints, and people involved.
02
Agree
Define my role, deliverables, milestones, and how completion will be assessed.
03
Execute
Do the work or coordinate delivery, with clear updates and decisions along the way.
04
Hand off
Review results, document remaining work, and agree on any ongoing support.
START WITH WHAT YOU NEED
What would you like
to get done?
Tell me where you are, what needs to change, and where you could use a hand. A brief, non-sensitive overview is enough to start.
Prefer email? themccrady@gmail.com ↗