Welcome to our new Community, we are so happy that you have joined us and we'd love to get to know you all. Please introduce yourself in this thread by telling us a little bit about yourself and your experience with Immersive Labs and Cyber Security.
I'm Kieran, the Director of Community here at Immersive Labs and I'm responsible for fostering this community, and leading our Cyber Million program which aims to help 1 Million people into cybersecurity jobs over the next decade.
Prior to this I worked with the UK NCSC to design and deliver the inaugural program of CyberFirst events, a pioneering initiative aimed at inspiring and encouraging 14 - 18 year olds to consider careers in cybersecurity. I'm a member of the UK Cyber Security Council's Qualifications Careers Working Group and carried out extensive research into the UK's Cyber Security Skills Gap as part of my MSc in Cyber Security.
I live in South West England, where you can often find me running on the trails, or running after my 7 year old son.
Hello Everyone! This is so much fun getting to know you all. My name is Courtney, and I manage our Strategic Alliances and Partner program here at Immersive Labs. I have a cybersecurity, risk management, and risk quantification background, and I love how we're working to address the people's risk side of what we do!
In my free time - and work time - I LOVE to travel. I recently had the chance to go to Australia for the first time, and it was spectacular! I also have a 14-year-old daughter who keeps me very busy - and the dog, of course!
Hi All! I am Lisa Barber and I am on the Customer Success team here at Immersive Labs based in Minnesota. I am so excited for the launch of this community. I am passionate about partnering with my customers on their journey.
I am a mom to two amazing grown daughters and a first time grandma to Stevie💕. In my spare time I try to enjoy our lakes to the fullest with friends and family.
Also, I can't forget to mention the two clowns I live with that occasionally make an appearance on video calls (Theodore the Labrador and Zoie the crazy kitty).
I'm very excited as we launch our new Community here at IL!
I'm Robbie, and I'm responsible for responding to all inbound questionnaires from our customers - RFPs, RFIs, and Risk Assessment Questionnaires, as well as managing the Customer Help Center (knowledge base and product documentation) in our platform.
This year marks my 8th year working in Cyber Security with the last wonderful year spent here at IL. I reside in Middle Tennessee (in Lynchburg, home of Jack Daniels whiskey), where we also own and operate an alpaca and llama farm (and dogs, chickens, and children, oh my...).
My name is Jon-Paul Gabriele (JP). I joined Immersive just over a year ago and am the Crisis Sim Lead.
I have a degree in Disaster Management, and my working background is in Crisis Management and Crisis Communications. I am also a Chartered PR Professional. Over the years, I have been involved in response to several significant crises, both in the private and public sectors, so I love to use those experiences when developing our crisis sim catalog content.
About me: I live in Newcastle, UK, and I'm a huge sports fan. I used to play football to a decent standard but now play more tennis and golf.
I'm really excited to be a part of this new community! I'm currently serving as a Sergeant in the Band of the Coldstream Guards but I've been spending the past year or two learning all about cyber security as I look to leave the army next June. I came across Immersive Labs after a meet up at the Waterloo Cyber Club, which I discovered through TechVets. Clem Cravens gave a fascinating introduction to Immersive Labs at the event and I've been hooked ever since. If you'd like to learn more about my journey then have a read of From Military Musician to Cybersecurity Consultant: How Immersive Labs Prepared Andy for His New Career .
Equally, I'd love to learn more about other people's experiences and any particularly good labs they've enjoyed. Also happy to help if anyone is new to Immersive Labs and wants a bit of help getting started!
Outside of Immersive Labs I'm a massive cycling fan and think libraries are amazing as I'm an avid reader of pretty much everything and anything!
Hey, Andy! Are you based near Coldstream, then, I assume? I have been lucky enough to visit nearby Kelso a few times, which is a lovely place and I have fond memories. Sadly, I never managed to pop to Coldstream itself - one day!
Hi, I'm Jesse. I'm currently a cybersecurity analyst and love the chance to learn and grow, especially within my field. I've been in the field for around 3 years now and I hope to continue to be far into the future. I tend to keep to myself online, but I love that this has been created and I think it will grow into a great resource for all Immersive Lab's customers. I look forward to seeing that process happen.
Outside of work, I still very much enjoy the chance to learn and like tackling puzzles, games, and playing guitar.
Hi and welcome Zexceed We're delighted to have you in The Human Connection. Hopefully there'll be lots of learning and growing opportunities available to you
I'm Viktor, married with kids, living near Zürich, Switzerland. Boring, right? Not so fast...
I was born, in the same year, the FTP protocol was invented. However, I did not learn about its existence for another 25 years or so... My first computer was a Commodore 64, for which I was saving every red penny I got for birthdays and similar events, as well as working in my spare time (vaction jobs). I can't even tell, why I was fascinated by computers from a very young age, but the fascination has never diminished.
Today I'm a senior engineer at Swisscom, responsible for network and security topics in a VoIP environment. My career-path was not straightforward, because my interest for computers actually prevented me from studying information technology on university level. Sounds strange? Not really - at the time I was so focussed on computers, that I completely ignored all other topics such as e.g. biology, history, french etc. that one SHOULD have learned at the time to get approved to a university. So I went into banking, from where I got into the IT department of that bank (assembling computers etc.), somehow landed at EUnet (the first pan-european internet provider), where I was confronted with lots of new stuff such as Unix and networking. Then I was thrown into a technical security role and just a few years later I was the head of IT at a small financial company.
After being diagnosed with cancer and recovering from it I decided, to work less and enjoy life more. So I'm not a manager anymore - I went back to engineering. More fun, less responsibility. And I'm having a great deal of fun solving labs on the Immersive Labs platform.
In my spare time I'm currently experimenting with GenAI (who isn't?) and trying not to fall into the "Netflix-and-Chill" trap. Often unsuccessfully. I also like to organize stuff. Parties, Events, Travel. I sometimes actually enjoy the oganization more than the actual event.
While most people usually say, they like travelling, I'm a little more specific: I like to travel in the USA. So far it's been 21 trips to the USA and I still have a huge bucket-list of things I want to see. I also actively participate in specific USA-travel-forums online and like the exchange with others on this topic.
Cheers, Viktor
Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly (taken with an iPhone :-))
Welcome Viktor, what an amazing photo of Spider Rock, love it! I am also a fan of a road trip in the USA having completed several across many states. My most recent were in Texas and then another in Arizona 🚙🇺🇸
Thank you, Pamela. You know, when nature is just so incredibly beautiful, it's not hard to take a picture. 😇
If you need ideas for some more road trips, you might want to look at my personal page at https://www.stony.com. It's in German, but I guess with modern translation engines, that should not be a big issue... 😉 My favourite trip took me across the USA from New York to Los Angeles in 2017.
Nice to meet you onkelstony & welcome to The Human Connection! Your intro made for a very interesting read - you're quite right that your story isn't boring. Looking forward to the great connections and discussions we can have with likeminded individuals in this space, and as you put it, have fun along the way 🤠
Welcome Viktor! I was also raised on the Commodore 64 and later the Amiga 500. I am actually going to introduce my 7 year old son to The Legend of Monkey Island this weekend (at his request!)
I'm Steven, your friendly neighborhood Technical Product Manager with a serious passion for all things tech (think CCIE, Networking, Security, FreeBSD, Linux, Software Development—the whole geeky shebang!). I like to think of myself as a bit of a hybrid at Swisscom, juggling a bunch of tasks that go way beyond what you'd expect from your typical PM. So yeah, you could say I like keeping things… interesting!
When I’m not busy saving the world one packet at a time, I’m embracing the chaos at home with my two incredible daughters as well my wife and our furry overlords—aka five cats. Yes, you heard that right, five. I live near Zurich, Switzerland, where I also disappear in lakes and rivers as a diving instructor. Because why not? Who says you can't go from deep diving into code to deep diving in the seas?
Oh, and did I mention I love traveling? There's nothing quite like hitting the road and exploring new cultures and countries. Just last month, I wrapped up a 3-week epic road trip that took me from Switzerland all the way through Turkey, Georgia, and up to Armenia—all by car! It was an adventure filled with incredible landscapes, rich history, and of course, some very interesting driving experiences!
Looking forward to sharing ideas, having some fun, and learning from this awesome community. And who knows? Maybe we’ll swap cat stories or scuba adventures along the way!
Catch you around!
ps: as you shared your animals, here are my beasts! :)
I'm Neil and I've been fortunate to be on the journey with Immersive Labs for over five years now! What a wonderful and amazing journey it has been and continues to be. 😄
As one of the longer tenure 'Immersers,' I've enjoyed seeing our platform and products evolve and grow to meet the needs of our customers and the wider cybersecurity industry. THIS is my passion, this is what drives me. As Global Head of our Cyber Resilience Team (often known as Professional Services in the SaaS business) me and my team are committed to supporting YOU, our customers, partners, and the Immersive Community in your human cyber capability and becoming more cyber resilient.
Outside of Immersive Land, I enjoy all-year-round mountaineering, hiking, and biking with the family, and am a keen swimmer.
Delighted to be part of the Human Connection. Please feel free to reach out and contact me if you would like any advice or guidance on building your cyber resiliency.
Community Manager
