Jose Garcia-Romano
Riverside,CA
Summary
Senior IT Project and Program Manager experienced in delivering enterprise cybersecurity, AI security, Zero Trust, and identity programs within highly regulated semiconductor environments. Managed a diverse portfolio of intellectual property protection projects while implementing a comprehensive cybersecurity AI security program. Focused on fostering collaboration across engineering, IT, security, and business leadership to drive effective decision-making and ensure high-quality technical solutions.
Overview
3
3
Certification
28
28
years of professional experience
Work History
IT Project Manager, Senior
Qualcomm, Incorporated
San Diego, CA
01.2019 - Current
- Established enterprise AI security program and manage the enterprise AI security program — protecting AI products, enabling safe and compliant AI use, and defending against AI-driven threats — with an executive sponsor, a governance forum, a program management office, and a technical core team.
- Manage a multi-project enterprise IP protection portfolio spanning hardware and software engineering environments, sequenced against quarterly PI objectives and multi-year FY26–FY27 OKRs.
- Launched and govern newer workstreams for lab endpoint modernization, network security expansion, DevCompute hardening, firewall rule remediation, and GitHub SaaS migration impacting approximately 1,743 organizations.
- Led concurrent projects addressing problems the industry is still defining: agent identity and lifecycle governance, prompt injection and model gateway capability, an MCP hub and registry, and shadow AI discovery across endpoints and cloud.
- Escalated cross-organization blockers with evidence and named owners — including vendor legal delays, platform-team capacity constraints, and resourcing gaps — to prevent schedule slips.
- Led Zero Trust Program, managed enterprise Zero Trust delivery covering passwordless authentication (FIDO2), user and device certificate deployment, and conditional access readiness, coordinating a cross-functional team spanning identity, endpoint, network, and business units.
PMO Senior Manager, Prof. Services and Cloud
AbacusNext
San Diego, CA
06.2016 - 11.2019
- Developed and executed strategic plans to drive business growth and improve client satisfaction metrics.
- Led cross-functional teams to implement process improvements, enhancing operational efficiency across departments.
- Mentored junior managers, fostering leadership skills and promoting best practices in project management.
- Analyzed market trends and competitor strategies to inform decision-making and align organizational objectives.
Education
Master of Science - Project Management
Keller Graduate School of Management
San Diego, CA06-2014
MBA - Finance
Keller Gra Duate School of Management
San Diego06-2015
Bachelor of Science - IT Management
American Military University
Charles Town, WV05-2006
Skills
- Cybersecurity management
- AI Security Governance
- Zero Trust Implementation
- Zero Trust & Identity
- IP Protection Programs
- Cloud Security Management
- Risk management
- Risk compliance alignment
- Security Metrics Reporting
- Executive & SteerCo Reporting
- Executive dashboards
- Vendor & Stakeholder Management
- Stakeholder engagement
- Agile delivery
- Scrum framework
- PI planning
- Business analysis
- Requirements analysis
- Project scheduling
- Microsoft Project
- Power BI reporting
- Entra ID
- Splunk-based reporting
- Engineering partnership
- PMP certification
- IT infrastructure management
Affiliations
- Secretary, Employee & Career Development Committee — LatinQ Employee Network
- Board Member — QVets Employee Network
- Member — Disabled American Veterans
- Member — Veterans of Foreign Wars
Certification
Project Management Professional (PMP), SAFe Scrum Master (SSM), Fortinet Network Security Administrator
Personal Information
Title: Senior IT Project & Program Manager — Cybersecurity, AI Security & Zero Trust
LEADERSHIP & COMMUNITY
Secretary, Employee & Career Development Committee — LatinQ Employee Network, Board Member — QVets Employee Network, Member — Disabled American Veterans, Member — Veterans of Foreign Wars
Timeline
IT Project Manager, Senior
Qualcomm, Incorporated
01.2019 - Current
PMO Senior Manager, Prof. Services and Cloud
AbacusNext
06.2016 - 11.2019
Master of Science - Project Management
Keller Graduate School of Management
MBA - Finance
Keller Gra Duate School of Management
Bachelor of Science - IT Management
American Military University