Emmett Ward III
Summary
Dynamic AI and cybersecurity leader, adept at establishing AI governance programs, cybersecurity consulting, and leading strategic initiatives that align with organizational objectives. Proven leader with strong emotional intelligence, driving compliance and risk management while fostering a culture of continuous improvement and accountability. Strong background in guiding teams, and excels in developing efficient processes, and ensuring high standard. Known for collaborative approach and commitment to excellence.
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Founder & Principal AI Consultant
PALADIN’S SHIELD
07.2022 - Current
- Established AI governance programs for clients across diverse sectors, establishing comprehensive frameworks aligned with the EU AI Act, ISO 42001, and NIST AI Risk Management Framework.
- Led 10+ end-to-end ISO 42001 readiness assessments, identifying compliance gaps and developing strategic roadmaps that reduced implementation timelines by an average of 25%.
- Designed and deployed custom AI literacy and role-based training programs for all employees and product, legal, IT, and business teams, significantly increasing internal understanding of AI risks and ethical principles.
- Developed and operationalized enterprise-wide AI policies and standards for privacy, cybersecurity, data governance, model lifecycle management, and transparent reporting, ensuring clients' proactive compliance posture.
- Assisted clients in the strategic selection and implementation of key AI governance tools, including Data Security Posture Management (DSPM), AI Security Posture Management (AISPM), and AI pipeline/model monitoring platforms, automating risk and performance oversight.
- Directed cross-functional teams in risk assessments for high-stakes AI systems, providing actionable recommendations that mitigated potential legal and reputational exposure.
Adjunct Professor of Cybersecurity & AI
DeVry University
05.2018 - Current
- Built relationships with students, mentoring on personal, professional and academic goals while providing coaching on effective study habits.
- Evaluated and revised lesson plans and course content to align student-centered learning with real-word application.
- Encouraged class discussions that focus on using AI and business analytics to drive business decisions.
- Leverage AI to provide specialized support to identify student learning needs and create actionable intervention plans to overcome learning deficiencies.
Director of Programming
Gwinnett Technical College
06.2020 - 07.2021
- Developed and executed a strategic vision for the computer science program, establishing specific and measurable outcomes aligned with the organization’s mission.
- Architected a comprehensive program roadmap from the ground up, defining key initiatives, milestones, and cross-functional dependencies.
- Spearheaded the accreditation process for the cybersecurity program, developing rigorous evaluation criteria and successfully achieving certification.
- Provided ongoing leadership and direction, mentoring and developing a high-performing team of instructors.
Senior Manager, DevSecOps & Quality Assurance
BCD Travel, LLC
11.2013 - 06.2020
- Led a diverse global team of developers, QA specialists, engineers, and application security analysts, fostering a high-performance culture focused on security, quality, and velocity.
- Architected and directed a comprehensive strategy and roadmap for a major on-premise to cloud migration, resulting in enhanced scalability, resilience, and operational efficiency.
- Developed and championed the strategic vision for software delivery, modernizing practices to accelerate product release cycles while maintaining robust quality standards.
- Spearheaded integrating security into the pipeline for securing the CICD process utilizing SAST, DAST, vulnerability scanning and secure configurations, significantly increasing on-time deployment frequency.
- Instituted a continuous risk management program across the software delivery lifecycle, proactively identifying and mitigating security vulnerabilities, deployment failures, and compliance issues to secure the pipeline.
- Drove a culture of continuous improvement, leading large-scale projects and introduced new systems, tools, and processes to evolved with best practices and compliance requirements.
- Boosted team member productivity by enhancing performance monitoring and instituting motivational approaches.
Education
Ed.D. Education Leadership - Education
Clark Atlanta University
Atlanta, GA12-2016
Computer Information Systems
Keller Graduate School of Management
Atlanta, GA02-2002
Skills
- Consulting
- Strategic Vision & Execution
- Board reporting
- Policies and procedures development
- Team leadership
- Process improvements
- Project management
- Vendor Relationship Management
- Critical Thinking
- Emotional Intelligence
- Accountability & Integrity
Certification
- Certified Generative AI Professional, Oracle
- Certified AI Foundations Associate, Oracle
- AI Governance Professional (AIGP), IAPP (forthcoming)
- Certified AI and Algorithm Auditor, BABL (forthcoming)
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), ISC2
- Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), ISACA
- Certified DevOps Engineer Professional, AWS
- Certified Security Specialty, AWS
- Certified Solutions Architect, AWS
- AWS Authorized Instructor
- Project Management Professional (PMP), PMI
Timeline
Founder & Principal AI Consultant
PALADIN’S SHIELD
07.2022 - Current
Director of Programming
Gwinnett Technical College
06.2020 - 07.2021
Adjunct Professor of Cybersecurity & AI
DeVry University
05.2018 - Current
Senior Manager, DevSecOps & Quality Assurance
BCD Travel, LLC
11.2013 - 06.2020
Ed.D. Education Leadership - Education
Clark Atlanta University
Computer Information Systems
Keller Graduate School of Management
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