Howdy! My name is Ricky Morris and next week I will be celebrating my 14th year in the Information Security field professionally. During my time studying and working in the cybersecurity field, I’ve met many unique and incredibly talented individuals, many who deserve recognition and appreciation for their accomplishments. Some of those people are no longer alive to hear this, but they will live on in my heart for the impact they made.
As I conclude my “Tribute to the Techs” series for now we find ourselves at the job that eventually started my cyber security career. We are now in Houston, Texas and the year is 2009. It is my first day of work with my now long time friend David Vigil sitting beside me. We met our trainers one of them being Chad Brinkley. He made a joke when he first walked through the doors. He said, “hey you are under dressed”. I was dressed up that day even though I was told by human resources during the interview process there was no dress code. I was probably the only human being in that office dressed that way and it was probably the last time I dressed up there!
Chad was amazing, he made learning entry level technical support fun. He was given creative freedom to train in his style and during his tenure in that role he helped develop a lot of amazing people. It was the first time I had been in such a casual work environment. During training, I learned he had only been there for a year before they moved him to a trainer role so I knew there was room for advancement and HostGator had a cyber security department. In my time under Chad’s training, he taught me how to continue to push myself. The volume of work during that era was up to how much you could do within the realm of maintaining good quality.
We became friends shortly after my training ended. We both loved football, video games and a lot of shows that were on adult swim during our younger years. We participated in fantasy football leagues which I regularly beat him at. I moved up within the technical support role making it to the top of the food chain. My final push to break into the security field is another beautiful story for another day but throughout my journey Chad was there at HostGator giving me advice when we talked in a mentor role.
In 2012, my friend from the first day of training in 2009 David Vigil referred me to an opportunity to become an Information Security Manager (ISM) remotely for an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) company Zerolag. I took the offer and started my journey working from home in November 2012.
I kept up with Chad often, typically revolving around how we were doing and football. We talked a lot about fantasy football. Chad was always amazed how good I was at it and asked for advice for his teams. In 2014, he expressed his desire to learn information security and how to use Linux. I gave him material and started answering questions and helping mentor him as time permitted through that year and into 2015. In the summer of 2015, I had a potential opening that ended up not developing but did interview Chad for the spot. Shortly after that I lost one of my security team members which opened a spot in December 2015. Still keeping up to date with Chad, I knew he was looking for additional work. I hired him in January 2016. This time I had the opportunity to train him professionally in a field that I had been working in the last 7 years up to that point. Once I got him off and running he was a massive help in areas that I needed coverage in. He picked up concepts quickly and was a great communicator. He helped me with audits, tools we built internally, organizing documentation and other security related tasks.
The last time I saw Chad was in 2018. We traveled to San Antonio to meet the new company that had acquired Zerolag at the end of 2017. My security team met up to have burgers before we met the new ownership. It was a really stressful time for me personally. I was in the process of moving as I had just purchased my first house. Chad had a Peanut Butter and Jelly Burger called Elvis Presley. We definitely took pictures together but I cannot find them. However, I do have a picture I took of the nasty burger he ate. With his hand!
That year the company went through a series of budget cuts which included Chad’s position. That was the last time we worked together. In total, I spent over 5 years working with Chad through three different organizations. The last time I talked to Chad was Summer 2021 about football, stocks and how we were doing personally. Going through these messages, the last thing I told him was “I love you” and honestly, I am happy it was how we ended off.
In November of 2021, Chad’s life was cut short at the age of 41. I want those reading this to know that he was a hard worker, a fast learner, an amazing teacher, a great documentor, a proud cook and just an overall fun person to be around. I’ll never forget the Christmas work parties, the positive comments he made about me while I was moving up, the times we spent on my trips out to Houston and honestly if I could tell anyone reading this right now…. take pictures with those that you care for because I regret not taking many with him.
If I could tell him anything it would be thank you for teaching me how to be resilient, for believing in me, for reaching out to me and keeping up to date even years after we were no longer linked up through work.
This series has been tough on me emotionally because every single person on this list died so young and tragically. They offered so much to so many different people and I just wish I could hug each one. I hope that I can someday make the impact that these initial three tributes had in my life in someone else’s.
If you are reading this post and are a friend, co-worker, a LinkedIn connection or found this on another website, I love you! I guarantee someone else does too even if they don’t tell you consistently.
