
Jared Chambliss
What is your name and position at BGS?
Jared Chambliss; Regional Director, Cyber &Technology Solutions
How long have you worked at BGS?
It will be 2 years on August 31, 2022.
What is your professional background?
I have an undergraduate degree in General Studies with a Computer Science concentration and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, with a concentration in Architecture, Networking, and Game Design.
After finishing college, I moved to Aiken, SC to work as a cyber security analyst for the NNSA MOX Project. I spent 7 years at MOX learning system administration for Windows and Linux environments and implementing NIST controls to meet policy compliance across a broad range of Information Technology and Operational Technology Systems. By the time I left MOX I managed a team of security administrators/analysts and helpdesk personnel responsible for all cyber security appliance and system implementation and management along with a majority of the project’s Microsoft application infrastructure.
In 2015 I was offered an opportunity to build an Operational Technology cyber security program from the ground up at the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management’s Salt Waste Processing Facility as part of the engineering department. I took on the role of Information System Security Officer working for Parsons and created a completely implemented and accredited OT cyber security program in time to meet the Critical Decision 4 stage gate of the project lifecycle. In a period of about 5 years, I went from a single subject matter expert in the engineering department to Principal Cyber Security Engineer for Parsons SWPF leading a team of 10-15 people between the engineering and business cyber security environments and serving as reachback into other government projects via Parsons Corporate.
In 2020 I joined BGS to provide support to the newly formed NNSA Savannah River Plutonium Production Facility (SRPPF) Project in Aiken, SC. Since then, I have served as the Plutonium Modernization Program Chief Information Officer for that project, developing programmatic and project centric documents such as integration plans and charters, serving as a liaison to site service providers for cyber concerns, and managing multiple projects from a technical perspective (including the design and implementation of a new classified network) for the Plutonium Modernization Program Office of the Chief Information Officer.
What hobbies do you enjoy?
In my spare time I love playing with my two children (both roughhousing on the floor and playing video games), smoking meats in my backyard, making music with my friends and at church on Sunday mornings, watching movies with my wife, and collecting firearms.
Describe the work you do and how you think it makes a positive impact.
Most of my day involves using my technical knowledge to develop strategies to solve the hard problems of the day/week/month at the client site. The secret sauce in the middle of that is my reliance on relationships with people that enable the conversations that get the hard problems solved. I tell people all the time, “Tech is Easy, People are Hard.”
The missions I have been involved in have been vital to our nation, whether it be a non-proliferation mission, a cleanup mission, or a deterrent mission. I am able to see my direct technical contribution effect change, increase efficiency, and ultimately drive projects to successful completion.
Even more important, however, is the impact I have on the people around me. All the things we do and build are temporary and will one day be gone. The impact you have on a person in your circle has the potential to last beyond your lifetime and many generations into the future.
What has been your proudest life and/or career moment?
I have a tie for my proudest life moment. First: being able to baptize my daughter when she decided that her faith was her own faith, and that Jesus Christ was the most important thing to her.
Second, and somewhat more self-serving: having my kindergarten teacher tell me she is proud of me over 30 years after I last stepped foot in her classroom.
What do you enjoy about working for BGS?
Hands down, the people I work with every day. Even through being hired in the middle of COVID and not meeting most of my BGS co-workers face to face for almost a year and a half, the people and relationships I have built with my BGS and onsite/client colleagues will last the rest of my life. They have taught me and all made me into a better person, professional, father, and husband in some way.