Former cyber operator at the Australian Signals Directorate. Twenty-five years in IT. Now helping business owners get ahead of AI instead of being run over by it.

Where I come from

I spent three years at the Australian Signals Directorate, Australia's equivalent of the NSA, working in cyber operations against state-sponsored adversaries, including China. I can't say much about the work. I can say what it drilled into me: understand a new technology before the other side does, because they will use it whether you're ready or not, and the people who wait to see how it plays out are the ones it plays out on.

Before and after that, I've been in IT since 2001. Networks, security, Microsoft 365, the systems businesses actually run on. Enough years at the keyboard to know the difference between a technology that changes things and one that just changes the invoice.

What I do now

AI is the biggest shift I've seen in my career, and it isn't arriving evenly. Some businesses will use it to serve customers faster, deal with suppliers smarter and give their staff back their day. Others will find out a competitor already did.

I run SG1 Consulting to put owners in the first group. That means bringing the same discipline I used against nation-state adversaries to a smaller problem: your business, your processes, your competitors. Work out what AI actually changes, ignore what it doesn't, and rebuild how the business works around it. Not a tool bolted on the side. A different way of solving the problem.

How I work

AI-first, not AI-added. Start from the decision or handoff, not the software.
Practical over hype. If it doesn't do real work inside a real business, I'm not interested.
Security is not optional. I spent years watching what happens when it is.

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