RULE4 - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Contributor
- Founding Member of BSidesBoulder
- Vice President of Application Security
- VP, Application Security Principal Engineer
Aaron Ott is Vice President of Application Security at Rule4. Before joining Rule4, he spent seven years at a nationally recognized professional services firm, where he focused on application security, infrastructure security, and DevOps. His experience also includes roles at B2B media companies UBM Canon and VideoBloom, where he built scalable application platforms for front-end content and user management.
With origins in the application development world, Aaron has experienced the realities that often lead to shortcuts, and he found a passion in advocating for secure coding practices. He specializes in application security, including penetration testing, securing IoT devices and APIs, and Secure Software Development Lifecycle (SSDLC) design and implementation.
Aaron is also an active opensource contributor, user, and advocate. He previously curated the Boulder Drupal meetup and has contributed code to the Drupal core code base, as well as numerous opensource modules. He is a member of DEF CON Group 720 (dc720) and is a founding member of BSides Boulder, a non-traditional tech event created by information security community members.
When he steps back from his keyboard, Aaron likes to ski, solve puzzles, and hunt down new craft beers. He loves spending time with his wife and daughters, and they enjoy hosting friends and family for wine tasting, pool, darts, and UFC fight nights.
Aaron is a founding member of BSidesBoulder, a non-profit organization building a new community-driven information technology event in Boulder.
Job Titles:
- Member of Rule4 's Client Services Team
- TECHNICAL EDITOR
Becky Farr is an integral member of Rule4's Client Services Team. Her career in journalism, law, and now tech has encompassed writing and editing in a variety of contexts, beginning at newspaper copy desks and extending into more than a decade as a nonprofit attorney, where clear communication and writing were key to success.
At Rule4, Becky helps produce concise, consistent deliverables and marketing content, and her fundamental goal as an editor is to ensure that documents are readable and digestible for anyone, regardless of their technical background. She also leverages her law experience to help manage sales proposals and contracts. In that capacity, Becky supports the Rule4 team in focusing on client happiness from the beginning of the relationship, and she continues to advocate for quality and client satisfaction in other processes along the trail. Becky also continues to pursue professional development opportunities in legal areas relevant to Rule4's clients.
Outside of work, Becky loves spending time with her young son, getting outside as much as possible, doing yoga, and sampling craft beers. She remains committed to serving nonprofits and serves on the board of a local food pantry.
Beth McElroy is a Senior Technical Editor at Rule4. A longtime technical writer, editor, and project manager, Beth has nearly 30 years of experience delivering top-quality content. She compiles, writes, and edits material for IT security and compliance assessments, security policies, incident reports, and other client deliverables, as well as for sales, marketing, and internal documentation.
As an important player in Rule4's quality-assurance process, Beth makes sure all Rule4 documents are grammatically correct and conform to our house style or a client-specific style. She also ensures content is presented in a manner appropriate to the audience's level of technical understanding and in a digestible, accessible form suited to modern readers.
Beth's career in tech came about unexpectedly. While attending graduate school for journalism she took a part-time job at a tech startup back when most people had never heard of email or the Internet. She completed her journalism degree, but decided that building websites and helping companies connect to the Internet would be a more rewarding path than newspaper reporting. After roles in web development and project management, Beth settled into the role of technical writer and editor, marrying her passion for words with the fast-paced, dynamic challenges of cybersecurity.
Outside of work, Beth enjoys hiking, skiing, traveling, reading, and eating New Mexican food.
Blake's passion for helping people and his love of a good challenge made cybersecurity a natural next step for him after working in a variety of software-related roles. At Rule4, he helps clients build and maintain secure IT environments.
Beyond helping people through his work, Blake has spent time volunteering with Best Buddies, an organization that offers one-on-one friendship and leadership development programs for individuals with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
Blake (aka gnome bard Zilwin Pebblefoot) is an avid tabletop roleplaying game fan, and he's part of a weekly group that plays Dungeons & Dragons 5E. He's also passionate about travel, and he considers his 12-day adventure to Tokyo with some long-time friends the trip of a lifetime. If time travel were possible, he'd want to go explore Ancient Egypt.
At home, Blake enjoys watching the San Antonio Spurs and Pittsburgh Steelers, and he heads outside to cycle or hike with his pups, Milo and Otis.
Job Titles:
- EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
- OFFICE MANAGER
As a former high school social studies teacher, Caleb Corell is passionate about education, and he believes that every day is the perfect time to learn something new. He has also worked with kids as a climbing coach and in child care, and he ultimately would love to return to teaching in some capacity. For now, he's enjoying empowering his fellow foxes with his can-do, level-headed attitude and hard work.
Outside of work, Caleb loves to be, well, outside. His passion for teaching applies here too, translating into a desire to get people outdoors and help them interact with nature in new ways. He's done that as a former president of his college's Outdoor Adventure Club and most recently as a volunteer with Boulder Climbing Community, a climbing steward for the northern Front Range. He's also a fan of big-mountain adventures, fly-fishing, and slashing powder on his snowboard or splitboard.
Job Titles:
- Co - CEO
- Co - CEO / PRINCIPAL ENGINEER
- Co - Founder and Co - CEO
- CO - FOUNDER CO - CEO
- Member of the Sister Carmen Community Center Board of Directors
Dan Mackin is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Rule4. He is an award-winning entrepreneur and leader, including the Colorado Technology Association's prestigious CEO of the Year award. His past roles include COO of an IT infrastructure, security, and opensource consulting services provider, and Senior Vice President of Professional Services for a nationwide datacenter operator.
Dan is well-known in the industry for applying opensource and cybersecurity at enterprise scale. He specializes in client engagements involving large-scale Linux server environments and compliance efforts with standards such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and 800-171/CMMC. Dan is particularly passionate about cloud security and takes a cloud-agnostic approach, securing environments in AWS, Azure, and GCP. He is also a co-author of the "Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook," currently in its fifth edition, and he curates the Boulder Linux Users Group (BLUG) meetup.
As a passionate backcountry skier and advocate for the Colorado wilderness, Dan has championed and consulted on multiple projects for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, donating his time to dig into their systems and help secure the technology used to provide real-time avalanche forecasts and advisories for resorts, mountain roads and highways, and backcountry recreation enthusiasts. This partnership is saving lives and increasing access to the amazing Colorado high country. He also volunteers at and serves on the board of directors executive committee for Sister Carmen Community Center, one of several local safety net organizations partnering to distribute over a million pounds of food and assist more than 10,000 individuals in the community each year.
Away from the office, Dan likes to sink his teeth into new creative pursuits, whether it's welding, woodworking, or applying Linux and other opensource technologies to automation, monitoring, and metrics collection projects. He enjoys cheering for the Colorado Buffaloes and Dallas Cowboys, and loves adventuring in Colorado with his wife and dog.
Dan is a member of the Sister Carmen Community Center Board of Directors.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President of Operations
- Member of the Colorado Technology Association Young Professionals Board
- SVP, OPERATIONS
- SVP, Operations Senior Engineer
Drew Port is Senior Vice President of Operations at Rule4. Drew provides oversight and leadership to ensure that Rule4's processes are running smoothly and efficiently and are optimized to serve our clients and our team. He previously worked in the IT side of the oil and gas industry, focused on supply chain and enterprise asset management. In this role he explored augmented reality solutions, automation, mobile solutions, data architecture, configuration and custom dashboards, and application testing.
Cybersecurity blends two of Drew's main passions - people and technology - and he enjoys the fast-paced, often high-pressure problem solving and communication demanded by his work with clients. He's an active member of several community organizations, including the Colorado Technology Association Young Professionals Board.
When he's not immersing himself in tech, Drew loves anything and everything that gets him outside and into the mountains. He's led by a spirit of adventure and is an accomplished outdoorsman and photographer - many of the photos on this site are from Drew's expeditions into the wild.
Drew Port
Drew is a member of the Colorado Technology Association Young Professionals Board.
Job Titles:
- CCO
- CO - FOUNDER
- Co - Founder and Chief Client Officer
Haley Berry is Co-Founder and Chief Client Officer at Rule4. She came into the tech industry with more than a decade of experience in book publishing, where her work included writing, editing, project management, art direction, marketing, and print production and purchasing. Prior to Rule4, she spent her first years in tech as a senior technical writer at an infrastructure, security, and opensource consulting services provider, helping create and manage contracts and client deliverables.
At Rule4, Haley focuses on building and improving processes that support project outcomes and the client experience. Much of Rule4's rigorous quality assurance program for deliverables is grounded in her editorial and design experience. She also facilitates Rule4's marketing and PR initiatives, client outreach, and contracting.
Haley spearheaded Rule4's successful B Corp certification process as a startup, and continues to lead ongoing commitments to that community.
Outside the office, Haley loves to read, cook, hike, play pickleball, go to yoga, spend time with friends and family, and take road trips.
Haley is active in B Local Colorado, a local chapter of the worldwide Certified B Corporation community.
Before diving into his education and career in technology, Jake served in the U.S. Marine Corps, including two tours in Iraq, and has volunteered for Warrior's Keep, a veteran's charity. He's inspired by people who keep going against all odds, such as Ernest Shackleton and Louis Zamperini.
Before joining the Rule4 den, Jake worked in IT support roles that involved incident response, system administration, hardware and account provisioning, device configuration, technical documentation, and security analysis. He was hooked on cybersecurity when he competed in the National Cyber League, and he shifted his career accordingly. His technical background paired with his analytical nature and penchant for problem solving serve him well in an industry where voracious learners thrive.
An avid reader and writer, Jake hopes to someday be a published author. He loves to cozy up with a good book or tinker with a new Raspberry Pi project, but he's equally passionate about the outdoors, especially camping and hiking. He also enjoys attending music festivals and counts Bonnaroo and Electric Forest among his favorites.
Job Titles:
- Chief Technology Officer at SWCA
- Information Technology Executive
Linda is an information technology executive with experience in strategic planning, cybersecurity, IT governance, risk management, DR/BCP, and network operations.
Job Titles:
- Engineer
- ENGINEER / Associate of Applied Science in Cybersecurity ( Front Range Community College ) FEMA NIMS ICS
Mateo Chavez was always on a path toward working with technology, and having his personal data breached was a great motivator to pursue a career in cybersecurity as a way to help make the online world a safer place for everyone.
Mateo originally joined Rule4 as a summer intern, helping out with internal projects such as overhauling the company's evidence storage process, refining forensics lab operations, and reconfiguring servers. In his current role, he's focused on helping clients keep their data and systems private and secure.
Mateo lived in five states before the age of 8, but he eventually landed in Colorado and considers it his home state. Outside of work he likes to repair and disassemble computers and other electronics, as well as play open-world games. He also enjoys getting out and exploring new places. When he can, he attends events at his former high school, Prospect Ridge Academy, to show his support and reconnect with his mentors.
Job Titles:
- Programmer / Analyst at Boeing
- SVP, PMO
Monica Kash began her career as a programmer/analyst at Boeing and has since amassed nearly four decades of experience, primarily as a project manager and business analyst in the technology, supply chain, and life sciences industries. Her expertise has been built in fast-paced, tech-heavy environments, and she's skilled at leading projects where technology. security, and business needs intersect. She runs Rule4's PMO with a friendly, practical approach, and she believes that clearly defining a problem gets you halfway to the solution.
Monica has a heart for animals and has fostered 50+ dogs, the majority for Lightshine Canine, a non-profit organization rescuing stray and unwanted dogs from American Indian reservations in South Dakota. She also spent nearly a decade serving on her local Open Space and Trails Advisory Board, helping the Town of Erie balance growth with preservation and recreation during a major population boom.
When she's not rescuing dogs or herding (project) cats, you can find Monica in the pool, where she leads classes as a certified water fitness instructor. She also loves hiking, snowshoeing, and road trips, and she often devours podcasts during those activities. Monica comes from a large, tight-knit family, and they love to meet up in new places (Rome!) or back at the farm in Iowa, which has been family-owned for more than a century.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- CO - FOUNDER
- CTO
- PRINCIPAL ENGINEER
- Strategic Advisor
Paul Nelson is Co-Founder and CTO of Rule4. In the decade prior to joining Rule4, Paul served as Chief Architect for a leading cybersecurity, infrastructure, and opensource consulting firm, and then as Vice President of Architecture for a nationwide datacenter operator. In those roles, he provided architectural, operational, and strategic leadership for clients.
Paul is a respected advisor and thought leader, and he regularly gives presentations in educational and industry settings on technologies that have the potential to change the competitive landscape, such as machine learning. His areas of expertise include automation tooling, complex problem and system analysis, operational and performance issue remediation, process implementation, and overall information security thought leadership. The common thread is enabling data-driven decision making to help businesses grow, compete effectively, and evolve as technology becomes increasingly more ingrained in all layers of business.
Paul also has significant experience providing incident response and governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) guidance, with an emphasis on Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) compliance frameworks.
In his free time, Paul loves to fly-fish, cook, bike, and try fun new outdoor activities with his wife and their two children.
Paul is a respected strategic advisor and thought leader.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Strategic Marketing Leader at Barry - Wehmiller
Sean is a dynamic consultant and leader with experience in manufacturing and finance.
Job Titles:
- Co - CEO
- Co - CEO / PRINCIPAL ENGINEER
- Co - Founder and Co - CEO
- CO - FOUNDER CO - CEO
Trent R. Hein is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Rule4. Trent is recognized as one of the world's leading experts in infrastructure cybersecurity and automation. Prior to Rule4, he co-founded and served as CTO of XOR Inc. (now part of FICO) for more than a decade before co-founding and serving as Co-CEO of AppliedTrust (now part of Flexential).
A technology entrepreneur and winner of the CTA Colorado Entrepreneurial Excellence award, Trent has built an impressive track record of successful bootstrapped startups and has lifted other entrepreneurs and engineers along the way. Bedrock to all his ventures is helping clients maximize their IT investment in the areas of security, performance, and availability, and he champions practical cybersecurity and automation: "Don't automate what you don't understand."
Trent writes and speaks about topics across the entire range of tech and entrepreneurship. He is a co-author of the "Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook," currently in its fifth edition, which has been translated into at least 16 languages and is recognized around the world as the bible of Unix system administration. Trent also leads the DevOps Boulder meetup, now well over 1,000 members.
Trent is a University of Colorado Boulder Boettcher Scholar and a recipient of the Kalpana Chawla Outstanding Recent Alumni Award, one of the university's most prestigious honors. He was also awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the USENIX Association for his work with the University of California, Berkeley's Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG).
Outside of his tech pursuits, Trent loves hiking, skiing, fly-fishing, camping, bluegrass, dogs, and the Oxford comma. He is currently a board member for the Harvest of Hope Pantry and has served on the board of directors of the Humane Society of Boulder Valley.
Trent previously served on the board of directors for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley, and is a current board member for Harvest of Hope Pantry.
Job Titles:
- Founding Member and Treasurer for BSides Boulder
- Member of DEF CON Group
- Vice President of OT Security
- VP, OT Security Senior Engineer
Tyler Bell is Vice President of OT Security at Rule4. He has spent nearly a decade working for cybersecurity firms in Colorado and has held multiple senior management roles in application security, penetration testing, and IoT/IIoT.
Tyler has a well-rounded depth of skills and experience. This includes leading compliance assessments, building and leading penetration testing programs, leading large-scale perimeter security engagements, driving client adoption of DevOps and automation, and developing strategies for secure architecture, secure software development lifecycle (SSDLC), CI/CD, and application logging and monitoring within client environments. He has also built expertise in architecting, deploying, and managing cloud-based environments, and in IoT and industrial control system security. Tyler is adept at building project and program methodologies that create consistency around expectations, communication methods, testing methods, and reporting.
Tyler is a member of DEF CON Group 720 (dc720) and is a founding member and treasurer for BSides Boulder, a non-traditional tech event created by information security community members. He is also an outspoken data privacy advocate and a member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Away from his desk, Tyler likes to get outside to go hiking or play tennis, and he enjoys listening to live music with friends at venues across the Front Range.
Tyler is a founding member and treasurer for BSides Boulder, a non-traditional tech event created by information security community members.