Dr. West is a career technologist and business leader with over 40 years in the information technology field with an emphasis on Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing and Innovation.
He is currently the Founder / CEO of West Wing Advisory Services, LLC. He retired in May 2018 as the Senior Advisor and Senior Accountable Official for Risk Management at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This included spearheading the Cybersecurity Executive Order. Prior positions in the private sector have included being President of MicroTech, President of Mason Harriman Group and Executive Vice President of SE Solutions Inc. (acquired by Steampunk in 2019).
He has 28 years of government service to include being Chief Information Officer (CIO) at six different government organizations – Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), Department of Commerce (DOC), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during hurricane Katrina and the National Weather Service (NWS). He also was briefly the Acting Deputy CIO at (DHS) prior to his retirement. His government service also included time in the U.S. Air Force where he was selected as the top individual for his career field by winning the Weather Observer of the Year Award from among 2,000+ competitors.
He is the past President of two of the largest government IT associations in the United States: American Council for Technology (ACT) and the Association for Federal Information Resources Management (AFFIRM). He was presented the AFFIRM President’s Award in Public Sector for 2017- 2018. He has represented the United States Government Information Technology community at four different world-wide gatherings of NATO countries.
Dr. West completed his Executive Doctorate degree in Business from Georgia State University with a focus on Cloud Computing in 2014. He was appointed in 2017 by Georgia State University, Department of Computer Information Systems to be their Executive-In-Residence. Dr. West delivered the Commencement Speech to the Executive DBA graduates at Georgia State University for the Spring 2024 graduates. He has published in IEEE IT Professional, European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS) and the International Journal of Information Management where his research focused on Cloud Computing and Innovation.
Dr. West received an Honorary Doctorate degree in Business from his alma mater Northern Michigan University in 2015 where he also delivered the Commencement Speech for the Spring 2015 graduates. He currently serves as the Program Chairman for the Government Business Executive Forum (GBEF). Dr. West completed the CEO Academy / Wharton Program in 2023.
