Ben received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wyoming. Immediately after, he was employed by the Naval Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) for the past 10 years. During his tenure at the NNL, he received a Masters of Science in Computer Science from the University of Idaho. He has experience designing and building Rockwell Automation PLC and HMI systems, BACnet Building Automation systems, and open source systems with Linux and Node Red. After he transitioned from control systems into IT as part of the IT Leadership Development Program, he has experience managing Cisco and Palo Alto Network Technologies and working with VMware Virtualization Infrastructure. Ben’s professional achievements during his tenure with the NNL include drafting, architecting, and implementing the Operational Technology (OT) Technical Strategy for the US Naval Reactor Program. This Strategy is implemented and used currently across the United States within the Naval Nuclear Laboratory.