John Christly is a passionate IT and cybersecurity professional with decades of executive-level experience. He has served in strategic roles such as CEO, CIO, CISO, CTO, and VP, helping organizations of all sizes build resilient IT infrastructures, protect their critical assets, and grow security-related products and service offerings. Additionally, he has owned and operated a successful Florida-based managed security service provider for over 13 years.
With a background in military service and a deep understanding of industry regulations, he brings a nuanced perspective to the IT and cybersecurity landscape. His experience includes several industry regulations and standards, including, but not limited to HIPAA, HITECH, HITRUST, CCPA, CMMC, CJIS, ISO 27001, FEDRAMP, FERPA, GDPR, NIST 800-171, NIST 800-53, SOX, NY DFS, and PCI.
His dynamic career demonstrates a security-first outlook rooted in leadership roles with a proven ability to develop and direct high-performing teams. Prior to joining Blue Team Alpha, Christly was the Director of IT Security and Cleared Program Information Systems Security Manager at Summit 7 Systems. There, he aligned the company’s resources with its most critical risk priorities and helped build a security education program to help foster security consciousness across the organization.
“On behalf of everyone at Blue Team Alpha, it is my pleasure to welcome John Christly to our team,” said Joe Kingland, CEO of Blue Team Alpha. “With decades of experience in cybersecurity, a complete customer-centric, transparent approach, and a remarkable track record in leadership roles across the industry, he is perfectly positioned to enhance our service offerings. His expertise will be key in helping Blue Team Alpha achieve our mission of securing and defending America’s critical infrastructure in the cyberspace domain.”
“John Christly has built and led businesses focused on defending corporate networks, and we are very excited to have that same leadership and passion directly involved in Blue Team Alpha’s service offerings,” said Shawn Whiteside, President of Blue Team Alpha. “We are honored to have him on board and look forward to the significant impact he will have on Blue Team Alpha and the cybersecurity industry as a whole.”
“The collective experience of everyone at Blue Team Alpha fosters a collaborative environment where we all work together to tackle complex cybersecurity challenges and protect clients’ digital assets,” said Christly. “I’m looking forward to this next step in my career defending corporate networks and safeguarding critical infrastructure for our clients here at Blue Team Alpha.”
Christly’s dedication extends beyond his work, as evidenced by his numerous certifications and ongoing commitment to learning. He enjoys sharing his knowledge through teaching, speaking at events like CS2, EC-Council podcast, and BrightTalk, writing for industry publications, and publishing his own books.
Christly holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Penn Foster College and has attained the CISSP, CFE, RDRP, CGCIO, and Security+ certifications. He is also a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt.
