As some of you know, I’ve been “growing” my LinkedIn network (https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottholstad/) this year, both in terms of quantity & quality. I’ve been doing this with the goal of having a high-quality network for consulting purposes at some point in the future. I first blogged about this on May 14 (https://hankrules2011.com/2018/05/14/linkedin-and-my-recent-adventures-there-part-i/) & May 15 (https://hankrules2011.com/2018/05/15/linkedin-and-my-recent-adventures-there-part-ii/). It’s interesting to compare my statistics then with what they are now. However, those two blogs told the story of my LI “experiment” to seriously grow my network, again, both in terms of quantity & quality. When I published those blogs, I had grown my network from a little over 400 in January to over 3,300. My network is now over 13,800 people, nearly half of whom are senior execs. And I’ve posted some of the more “notable” new connections online a couple of times. Well, here I go again. It’s been crazy & I’m about to post a list of seriously “notable” LI connections that I’ve gotten just over the past three weeks. Take the time to go through this list. Some of them are just mind blowing. And I don’t post these to brag. Every day I’m amazed & it seems so surreal & I just want to share my amazement at the type of people who join my network. Frankly, I have no idea why some of these people would want me in their network or would want to be in mine. Sometimes it’s just a little shocking. And by the way, I’ve had a small IT company for several years now, which I haven’t been able to do much with due to my extremely bad health. But a few months ago, I had the website redesigned to reflect current capabilities, as our focus has changed this year. If you want to visit it, you can find it at https://wiremedesigns.com. As to the list of incredible connections, here goes:

Some New/Recent “Notable” LinkedIn Connections – 10/27/18

 

1. Sr VP Creative Advertising, Universal Pictures
2. COO, Universal Music Group Nashville
3. Head of Social Marketing, Billboard
4. VP Mission Assurance, Space & Airborne Systems, Raytheon
5. Marketing Director, Rolling Stone
6. Sr VP, The Aerospace Corporation
7. Director Operations, Harris Corporation
8. Sr Director Security & Risk, Oracle
9. CIO Digital Growth, KraftHeinz
10. CTO/CIO, AAA
11. Corporate Director Engineering, Northrop Grumman
12. Sr VP Command, Control & Intelligence, CACI International Inc
13. Director Automation & Cloud Security, Nike
14. Founder/Chairman/CEO, Napster
15. CIO SP Networking, Cisco
16. VP Global HR Service, VMware
17. Sr VP Live Media & Strategic Partnership, Rolling Stone
18. CEO, ATLAS Space Operations, Inc
19. Director Advanced Programs, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems
20. CTO, WebMD
21. Principal Director, The Aerospace Corporation
22. Brigadier General, Kosovo Military
23. Deputy Director Advanced Space Capabilities Directorate, Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office
24. Deputy Commander, US Third Fleet. 60,000 sailors, 120 ships, 4 aircraft carriers
25. Director Advanced Technology Program, Lockheed Martin
26. VP Global Crisis Management & Business Continuity, NBCUniversal
27. VP PMO, Commercial Aviation Sector, L3 Technologies
28. CSO, Fidelity Investments
29. VP Data & Advanced Analytics, Bitdefender
30. Deputy Director France International Nuclear Agency
31. International Relations Expert, Islamic Republic of Iran
32. G3 (Lieutenant General) & Desk Officer, Multinational Future Development, German Army HQ
33. Director Government Missions, SpaceX
34. Assistant Federal Security Director, Department of Homeland Security
35. CTO, Microsoft Azure
36. CFO, Thales Defense & Security
37. Director Security, Indianapolis Colts
38. Corporate VP Communications, Microsoft
39. VP Thales eSecurity Federal, Thales Defense & Security
40. Corporate VP Cybersecurity Solution, Microsoft
41. CEO, Rackspace
42. Ambassador of Georgia to Washington
43. Assistant CIO, US Navy
44. Director for Iraq, National Security Council, The White House
45. CFO Technology, NBCUniversal
46. VP Security, JetBlue Airways
47. Director Rule of Law, Executive Office of the Secretary General, United Nations
48. Deputy Director Public Affairs, USAF
49. VP Public Policy, Verizon
50. Global Head Information Security, AIG
51. Director, Department of Peace Operations, Government of Romania
52. Nuclear Safety & Security Director, Jordan Nuclear Regulatory Commission
53. Commander, Pacific Air Forces
54. Deputy Federal Security Director, US Department of Homeland Security
55. Director of Department for Radiation Applications, Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority
56. CTO, Leidos
57. Deputy Director, Office of Counterintelligence, Department of the Treasury
58. Special Operations Team Leader, US Secret Service
59. Sr VP Mobility Solutions, Blackberry
60. Chief of Intelligence, Department of Defense
61. CIO, Quicken Loans
62. Chief of Staff/Assistant Director, INTERPOL
63. VP/CAE, Symantec
64. Sr Director Engineering, Harris Corporation
65. VP Strategy & Solutions, CACI International
66. Radiochemist, Chernobyl Ukraine
67. Director of Intelligence, NATO
68. Sr VP Engineering, The Aerospace Corporation
69. Federal CTO, Symantec
70. VP Engineering, Qualcomm
71. CTO, IBM Cloud Platform
72. Director Software Engineering, Fidelity Investments
73. VP Engineering & Global Product Development, Northrup Grumman
74. Director of Weather, USAF
75. Exec VP Engineering, Parsons Corporation
76. Director of Cyber Strategy, Architecture & Solutions, Freddie Mac
77. Exec Director Cybersecurity, Morgan Stanley
78. VP, Freddie Mac
79. Sr Director Cybersecurity, PepsiCo
80. Director Operations, Amazon
81. Sr VP, Booz Allen Hamilton
82. Director Future Concepts, Test & Analysis, USSTRATCOM
83. VP, Head of Technology Risk Management, Capital One
84. Sr VP Mobile B2B, Samsung
85. Exec Director Cyber Threat Management, EY
86. CSS, Panda Security
87. CISO, Major League Baseball
88. President, The Ohio State University
89. Federal CIO, US Office of Management & Budget
90. Head of Online Threats, Bitdefender
91. CISO, Equifax
92. Sr VP Enterprise Incident Manager, Wells Fargo & Co
93. CISO, Penn State University
94. Global CPISO, GE Aviation
95. Head of Cybersecurity Threat Detection & Response Center, The Home Depot
96. Sr VP Global Information Security, Citigroup
97. Head Private Sector Development & Outreach Department, Office of the President of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
98. CISO, Deluxe
99. CHRO, McAfee
100. Sr VP Operational Excellence, CACI International
101. Global Head of Threat Intelligence, Deutsche Bank
102. Sr Director Mission Support Solutions, BAE Systems
103. Director Technology, CBS Interactive
104. Sr Director US Army Programs, Honeywell Aerospace
105. CISO, Raytheon Space & Airborne Systems
106. CISO, Intercontinental Hotels Group
107. CISO, eBay
108. Director Research & Engineering, Office of the Secretary of Defense
109. Global Director Industrial & IoT Security, Unisys
110. Sr VP Consulting, Mandiant
111. Sr Director Information Security, Parsons Corp
112. Sr VP In-Theater Marketing, Twentieth Century Fox
113. CPO, US Senate
114. Sr VP Intelligence & Defense Programs, Parsons Corp
115. CISO, Avaya
116. CFO, Lyft
117. CLO, Department of Veterans Affairs
118. Associate Producer, 60 Minutes
119. CPSO, Harris Corp
120. Director Global Security, Kimberly-Clark
121. CSO, SAIC
122. Sr Director Global Product Security Engineering, Intel
123. CRO, Brown University
124. Deputy Director, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
125. CPO, US Department of Health & Human Services
126. CISO, Yale University
127. Sr VP, Mastercard
128. VP Business Development, Parsons Corp
129. Director IoT & AI, Microsoft
130. Justice of the Supreme Court, South Carolina
131. Chief of Staff, US Delegation to NATO
132. CIO Enterprise Technology, NBCUniversal
133. CTO, Motorola
134. Director Media & Digital Communication, Cartier
135. VP Marketing & Product, SOG Knives & Tools
136. Sr VP, CACI International
137. VP Business Development, CACI International
138. CTO Data, IBM Analytics
139. Director Analytics & Data Services, Dunkin Brands
140. VP Financial, Benchmade Knife Co.
141. Chief of Staff Worldwide Safety & Regulatory, Pfizer
142. VP Capture, CACI International
143. VP HR, Cartier
144. Deputy Assistant Director – CIRG, FBI
145. Director Global Security, Pfizer
146. CTO, US Department of Homeland Security
147. Director Technology Finance, Target
148. Sr VP Logistics & Digital Commerce & Ecosystems, Target
149. CIO, Better Business Bureau
150. Presidente/CEO, Beretta
151. CISO, Barrick Gold Corp
152. Sr VP Operations, Dick’s Sporting Goods
153. CISO, Petco
154. CISO, University of Georgia
155. Director National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois
156. Division VP, Applebee’s
157. CFO, Panera Bread
158. CISO, University of Wisconsin
159. CIO, University of Texas
160. Director Business Intelligence & Analytics, Macy’s
161. Director Computer & Network Security, Columbia University
162. CISO, The Ohio State University
163. VP Information & Security, Citi
164. VP Information Risk Lead, JPMorgan Chase
165. CISO, Valvoline
166. VP Business Development & Strategy, Leidos
167. VP Consumer Solutions, Bitdefender
168. VP Business Development, Lockheed Martin
169. CIO/CHCO, US Capital Police
170. Director Information Security – Risk, Governance & Awareness, Fannie Mae
171. VP Marketing &Product SOG Knives & Tools
172. Exec VP Global Marketing, Twentieth Century Fox
173. Director Information Security Architecture & Engineering, Harvard University
174. VP Operations & R&D, Beretta
175. Sr VP WW Sales End-User Computing, VMware
176. Sr Advisor to DHS from NORAD
177. Sr Director Cyber Threat Intelligence & Detection, Target
178. Associate Deputy Director Community HUMINT, CIA
179. Director Systems Engineering – Infrastructure & Cloud Service Delivery, Macy’s
180. Director NA Sales, Benchmade Knife Co.
181. CTO, Pfizer
182. Sr Cybersecurity Analyst, Supreme Court of the United States
183. Assistant Secretary of the Army – Manpower & Reserve Affairs
184. Assistant Secretary of Defense – Asia & Pacific Security Affairs
185. VP Specialized Intelligence Services, CACI International
186. CTO, ICANN
187. CDS, Department of Defense
188. Director Global Cybersecurity Architecture & Operations, Abbot
189. CPO, CBS Corp
190. Sr VP Engineering Enterprise Networking Business, Cisco
191. VP Public Cloud Security, Salesforce
192. Sr VP Agile Management, CA Technologies
193. CTO Analytics, Cisco
194. CISO, Deloitte Consulting
195. Network & Security Operations Manager, Pittsburgh Steelers
196. VP Global Operations, Land’s End
197. CMO, Books-A-Million
198. Director Missile Defense Programs, Teledyne Brown Engineering
199. VP Homeland & National Defense, CACI International
200. CTO Software, Cisco
201. CISO, Aetna
202. VP Advanced Programs & Technology, Northrup Grumman
203. Sr VP Strategic Business Development & Acquisition, Teldyne Brown Engineering
204. CEA & Director Strategic Transformation & Operation, Proctor & Gamble
205. Director IT Shared Services, Fossil Group
206. Director Communications, Audi
207. Global CTO, Proctor & Gamble
208. Director Service Operations, Audi
209. VP Sales, Seiko
210. President/CEO, Crocs
211. Director IT, Development & Enterprise Systems Architecture, Crocs
212. Sr Director Global Sourcing & Manufacturing, Converse
213. Director Department of Justice Cybercrime Lab
214. Director Operations, CBS Corp
215. Sr VP, Christie’s Watch Department
216. Director Digital Analytics & Site Optimization, Eddie Bauer
217. Sr Global Brand Director, Converse
218. Director Retail Experience, Gucci
219. VP, Head of Retail, Strategy & Operations, Gucci
220. Sr VP Global Media & Digital Marketing, Twentieth Century Fox
221. VP Menswear, Home & Business Outfitters, Land’s End
222. Director Global Ecommerce Technical Operations, Crocs
223. CISO, Bed, Bath & Beyond
224. CSO, The Home Depot
225. Sr VP Engineering, Oracle
226. Divisional VP, Eddie Bauer
227. Chief of Staff, Survivability Assurance Office, USAF
228. Director of Nuclear Operations, HQ Air Mobility Command, USAF
229. Sr Director Communications, Converse
230. Co-Founder, Ubuntu
231. VP Marketing, Cumulus Media
232. VP Business Development, Booz Allen
233. Global CRO, Bloomberg Media
234. Sr Director Information Security, Sony
235. CISO, Raymond James Financial Inc
236. President/CEO, TVPPA
237. CEO/President, Engility Corp
238. VP Retail, Cartier
239. Sr Director Global Market Access Policy, Johnson & Johnson
240. VP Space & Missile Systems, Engility Corp
241. Deputy CIO, UC Berkeley
242. Regional Counterintelligence Director, NASA
243. VP Engineering, Sophos
244. Sr Director Brand Protection, Nike
245. VP Strategy, Twentieth Century Fox
246. Director Corporate Communications, The Aerospace Corp
247. CISO, UNICEF
248. Director IT, USAA
249. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Military Personnel Policy
250. VP Global Brand Marketing, Fossil Group
251. Secretary of the Air Force
252. Head of Network Infrastructure, NASA
253. Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, US Department of State
254. President Worldwide Home Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox
255. IBM CTO Open Technology
256. VP Aviation, Strategic Plans & Programs, Sierra Nevada Corp
257. Managing Director Application Security, Deloitte
258. VP Integrated Tactical Solutions, Sierra Nevada Corp
259. VP National Services, CACI International
260. Director Engineering, Sierra Nevada Corp
261. Sr VP Legal & Business Affairs, Twentieth Century Fox
262. VP Finance, Twentieth Century Fox
263. Sr Director Global Sales & Marketing, Missile & Weapons System, Boeing
264. Director AI, Booz Allen
265. Deputy Director Cyberspace Operations Centre, NATO
266. VP ISA Systems, L3 Technologies
267. CTO, L3 Communications Systems
268. CIO/CTO, Deloitte
269. Sr Director Engineering, L3 Technologies
270. VP Corporate Quality, Sierra Nevada Corp
271. Exec VP Business Operations, Comcast
272. VP Strategy, L3 Technologies
273. CIO, USAF
274. Director Big Data Platform Development, GlaxoSmithKline
275. VP & Chief Engineer Missile & Weapons System, Boeing
276. CTO, L3 Technologies
277. CTO Americas, NetApp
278. President, Microsoft
279. CEO Battelle
280. President Broadband Communications Sector, L3 Technologies
281. Director Global Partner Marketing, Cisco
282. Global VP, Thales Security
283. Sr Director Logistics & Operations, Samsung
284. VP Customer Delivery, TVA
285. Sr Director Security Engineering, Symantec
286. VP Security Research, Trend Micro
287. Director Systems Analysis & Concepts, NASA
288. Director Innovation & Strategic Partnerships, Visa
289. VP AI Enterprise Solutions, Wells Fargo
290. CTVO, MIT Lincoln Lab
291. Deputy Director High Performance Computing Innovation Center, Lawrence Livermore National Lab
292. CSO, Visa
293. Director Operations, Warner Brothers
294. Director Engineering, Western Digital
295. Sr Director Analytic Business Partners, Western Digital
296. VP Mission & Launch Operations, Space Exploration Tech
297. VP Combatant Command, General Dynamics Information Technology
298. VP Operations – International Division, Engility Corp
299. VP Cyber Risk Officer, Citi
300. Global Head of Storage & Engineering Systems, Citi
301. VP IT Security Operations & Strategy, Charter Communications
302. CIO, Raytheon Intelligence & Information Services
303. CISO, Delta Dental
304. Sr Director Advanced Analytics & Machine Learning, Nike
305. Director Materials Science Department, The Aerospace Corp
306. Director Growth – Creative Cloud, Adobe
307. VP Infrastructure Operations, Visa
308. CIO, Parsons Corp
309. VP Sales NA Home Entertainment & Sound, Sony
310. CIO IT, Yamaha Motor Corp
311. Director Cybersecurity Intelligence & Response Team, Dell
312. Assistant Secretary General, United Nations
313. Deputy Director Center for Effective Public Management, The Brookings Institution
314. CFO, The Brookings Institution
315. Sr VP Engineering, Malwarebytes
316. COO, SAP
317. President, SAP National Security Service
318. Ambassador of Poland to United Nations
319. VP NA Sales, Bitdefender
320. VP Digitization, Customer Experience, Shared Services & Future Skills, Deutsche Telecom
321. Sr VP Defense & Security Group, Engility Corp
322. Executive Director, European Union Agency for Network & Information Security
323. VP Growth Business Operations, Engility Corp
324. Sr VP Intelligence Solutions, Engility Corp
325. Special Assistant to the President for Tech, Telecom & Cyber Policy, The White House
326. Assistant Secretary General, NATO
327. VP Finance, Knot’s Berry Farm
328. VP Sales, Twentieth Century Fox
329. Assistant Secretary General Central Support Service, United Nations
330. CTO National Security Group, Microsoft Federal
331. Director Consumer Experience, Carhartt
332. Sr VP/Chief Architect, Intuit
333. Director Cybersecurity, Carhartt
334. COO, Wells Fargo
335. Cyber Security Coordinator, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel
336. VP Field Sales, Toshiba
337. Deputy Assistant Secretary, US Department of State
338. CIO, University of Georgia
339. VP Operations, Fanatics
340. General Counsel, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
341. CSO, HP
342. Director Strategy, Cisco
343. VP Engineering, Sierra Nevada Corp
344. Sr Director Electronics Solutions, Honeywell
345. Director Project Engineering, Thales
346. Head of Global Business Development, Xerox
347. VP Engineering, Google
348. Director Counterintelligence, Harris Corp
349. Exec Director Global Operations & Investigations, Caterpillar Inc
350. Inspector General, US Naval Research Lab
351. COO, SEC (Securities & Exchange Commission)
352. COO, AFOSI
353. VP Engineering, McAfee
354. Director End User Services, Levi Strauss & Co
355. Exec Director, US Marine Corp Forces Command
356. Deputy CTO, US Department of the Treasury
357. CPO, IRS
358. Deputy Under Secretary, US Army

 

Here are some interesting stats on my network.

LinkedIn Connections: 13,834

 

Senior Execs:  6,631

C-Level Execs:  2,224

Writer/Editor:  535

Project/Program Manager:  493

Network Engineer:  354

Developer/Software Engineer:  421

Engineer:  885

IT:  935

Security Professionals:  1,807

Federal & International Government: 2,077

 

I had been tracking HR/Recruiters, but I stopped. I also had been tracking corporate communications/marketing professionals, but I stopped that too. I wish I hadn’t. I wish I had tracked researchers/scientists, because I have a huge number of them in my network, but I don’t have the time to go back to the beginning & count them all up, so that’s that.

 

Here is a list of the companies & organizations that are most represented in my network, in order of the highest number of connections on down. I won’t post the totals for each because that would take too much time, & I have other things to attend to right now. But here it is:

 

1. US military/DoD
2. Microsoft
3. Cisco
4. C Spire
5. Dell
6. Malwarebytes
7. TVA
8. United Nations
9. Amazon Web Services
10. Raytheon
11. Oracle
12. Booz Allen Hamilton
13. Northrop Grumman
14. Palo Alto Networks
15. Lockheed Martin
16. Leidos
17. Samsung
18. Seagate
19. IBM
20. Intel
21. Citi
22. Harris Corp
23. Boeing
24. Google
25. CACI International
26. European Commission
27. Western Digital
28. NATO
29. General Dynamics
30. Oak Ridge National Laboratory
31. Parsons Corp
32. Ticketmaster
33. Visa
34. Twentieth Century Fox
35. BAE Systems
36. JP Morgan
37. Bitdefender
38. Trend Micro
39. Amazon
40. NBCUniversal
41. Adobe
42. Symantec
43. The Aerospace Corp
44. Engility
45. McAfee
46. Lawrence Livermore National Lab
47. Sophos
48. Sierra Nevada Corp
49. RAND
50. Sony
51. L3 Technologies
52. Deloitte
53. VMware
54. SAIC
55. The Brookings Institution

 

What a list, huh? Heavy on defense contractors, heavy on IT. But also finance, film, think tanks, research labs, etc. A couple of more tidbits: I have very senior connections with nearly 20 international militaries. I also have many hundreds of nuclear connections, including many – some very senior – at over 40 countries. If that didn’t put me on the CIA & NSA’s radar, I don’t know what will! LOL! Actually, I have many very senior connections at virtually all of the intelligence agencies, including DIA, DISA, DTRA, FBI, CIA, NSA & more. And actually, I think I’ll list all of the nuclear countries where I have connections. It’s a bizarre & interesting list. In addition to international agencies, here are the countries in no particular order:

 

1. United States
2. Sweden
3. Nigeria
4. Belgium
5. Egypt
6. Italy
7. Pakistan
8. Tanzania
9. Bosnia Herzegovina
10. Saudi Arabia
11. Canada
12. Chile
13. Argentina
14. France
15. Jordan
16. UAE
17. Ukraine
18. England
19. Romania
20. Serbia
21. Bulgaria
22. Zimbabwe
23. Turkey
24. China
25. Slovenia
26. South Africa
27. Montenegro
28. Tunisia
29. Spain
30. Palestine
31. Hungary
32. Syria
33. Malaysia
34. Sri Lanka
35. South Korea
36. Bangladesh
37. Norway
38. Dubai
39. India
40. Armenia
41. Slovak Republic

 

Wow! Geez. What a list. A few of those countries make me a little nervous. Oh, I don’t know … Pakistan? India? China? Ukraine? Maybe a few others. And I have hundreds of US connections. I’m not a nuclear expert, so I’ve been reading and researching books and articles on nuclear engineering, nuclear power, “limited” nuclear warfare, and more.

Oh! I also forgot to mention something else that’s pretty cool. I now have very senior connections with most of the four major team sports professional teams, including several owners, as well as a number of players! In fact, I’ve been working on some projects with some players & coaches! I have senior connections with 29 NFL teams, 24 NHL teams, 25 MLB teams & 29 NBA teams.

Okay, I could keep going on & boring you to tears, but I truly do have other things to do, so I’ll stop now. One final thing. A few weeks ago, LinkedIn sent me an email that said due to my posting regular quality content & to my excellent network, they advised me to change my “Connect” button on my profile & in search results to “Follow.” Typically, the only people who have Follow as an option are usually very high profile people, like the CEO of Google, CEO of Microsoft, CEO of GE, Director of the MIT Media Lab, etc. So it’s kind of an honor to be placed in that class of people. And I went ahead & made the change & people have been slowly but surely following me, as well as still sending me connection requests. So that’s cool. And unreal. There’s a whole lot more I could share, but I’m stopping now. Have a good weekend, everyone!