Professional learning remained part of Keith Brautigam’s career as his responsibilities grew. He earned his Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification through self-study and has held it since 2019. He pursued that qualification while working in demanding leadership roles and completed an MBA and a Graduate Certificate in Strategic Leadership.
Together, these qualifications reflect learning across information security, business, and leadership. They also sit within a career that began in systems administration and expanded into identity and access management, cybersecurity leadership, and enterprise IT oversight. His experience clearly illustrates ongoing education throughout his career, including self-study.
Keith Brautigam’s Self-Study Path to the CISSP
An Independently Pursued Qualification
Self-study is the central detail of Keith’s CISSP story. He earned the certification through independent study while already carrying leadership responsibilities. He added the qualification to his professional background in 2019.
That fact gives the story its focus without requiring a detailed account of exam preparation. His experience shows that formal professional development remained part of his career after he had moved beyond entry-level technical work. Leadership responsibilities and further learning occupied the same period of his professional life.
Learning Alongside Leadership Responsibilities
Keith also completed an MBA and a Graduate Certificate in Strategic Leadership. These qualifications broaden the context of his CISSP achievement because his education extended across several areas relevant to his work.
His career required him to work with technology, organizational priorities, and teams. The three qualifications reflect those different areas. The CISSP sits alongside his information security experience, while the MBA and leadership certificate add business and leadership education to his background.
A Technical Foundation Before Certification
Early Work in Medical Research
Keith’s exposure to information security began well before he earned the CISSP. As an IT Systems Administrator in a fully digital lung imaging research lab, he managed secure systems used in clinical and research environments. The lab supported the search for cures for diseases such as emphysema.
HIPAA was taking effect during that period, so IT, compliance, and data security were connected from the start of his career. His work placed technical operations within a research setting where protecting information was already part of his responsibilities.
This background gives the certification a clear place in his career. It followed practical experience with secure systems and the relationship between technology and compliance. His professional education developed alongside a career already grounded in those concerns.
Expanding Into Identity and Access Management
After four years in the lab, Keith moved into research administration. He joined a team that modernized internal processes and moved them online, gaining exposure to Agile SCRUM software development practices and newer web technologies.
He later joined a central IT identity and access management team. That progression expanded his experience from supporting research systems to modernizing processes and managing digital access. By the time he reached senior leadership, he had worked across several connected areas of IT.
Three Areas of Professional Development
Keith’s qualifications can be understood through three distinct parts of his professional background:
- Information security: His CISSP certification is supported by experience in secure systems, identity and access management, and cybersecurity leadership.
- Business education: His MBA adds a business qualification to a career that grew to include oversight of organizational technology services.
- Leadership education: His Graduate Certificate in Strategic Leadership sits alongside his progression into roles with broader responsibility for people and services.
These areas align with the range of positions he held. His advancement included roles as Manager, Director, Chief Information Security Officer, Deputy CIO, and Interim Chief Information Officer at a large public research university.
The qualifications are one part of that history. His responsibilities and project experience provide the practical context for that continued learning.
A Career That Required a Broader View
As Chief Information Security Officer, Keith led an information security program supporting more than 200,000 students, faculty, and staff. The program also protected more than $1 billion in annual research expenditures. This work expanded the security responsibilities he began in his early career to a much larger organization.
As Deputy CIO, he led the reorganization of a 600-person central IT department, aligning services with key stakeholders and improving the span of control. He was appointed Interim CIO in 2023 and took responsibility for the university’s IT enterprise.
These roles show why his education cannot be viewed solely through a technical lens. His career included security, service delivery, organizational structure, and leadership. Earning the CISSP through self-study belongs within that wider record of professional development.
Continued Learning as Part of Leadership
Keith’s approach is grounded in the details available: he earned the CISSP through self-study, has held it since 2019, and completed additional business and leadership education while working in demanding roles.
His experience links ongoing learning to an expanding career. The systems administrator who first encountered security and compliance in medical research later led information security programs and enterprise technology services.
The CISSP, MBA, and Graduate Certificate in Strategic Leadership mark different aspects of that development. Together with his work history, they show a leader continuing his education as the scope of his responsibilities grew.