Cybersecurity • Leadership • Life

Jimi Sanchez

Cybersecurity Leader. Builder. Adventurer. Comedian. Christian.

I work at the intersection of cybersecurity, cloud architecture, product strategy, and mission-critical technology. But my career is only part of my story. I'm passionate about faith, service, adventure, personal growth, family, and making the most of the life I've been given.

Explore My Work My Story

What I Do

Building secure systems that matter.

My career has focused on solving complex problems where cybersecurity, cloud technology, architecture, product strategy, and organizational leadership come together.

Cybersecurity Leadership

Cybersecurity strategy, risk management, federal compliance, identity and access management, zero trust, and securing mission-critical platforms.

Product Leadership

Leading platform strategy, product roadmaps, PI Planning, cross-functional teams, and translating business and mission needs into solutions teams can actually deliver.

Cloud Architecture

Designing and securing cloud-native environments, modernizing legacy systems, implementing DevSecOps practices, and building resilient platforms at scale.

Experience & Impact

More than titles and certifications.

I care most about the things I've helped teams accomplish and the problems we've been able to solve together.

Mission

Cybersecurity Leadership

Leading cybersecurity and product strategy for platforms supporting NASA Earth science, balancing mission delivery, risk, compliance, and the realities of operating complex technology at scale.

Modernize

Cloud Transformation

Helping teams modernize legacy environments, adopt secure cloud-native architectures, and build platforms designed for resilience, automation, and long-term sustainability.

Secure

Security at Scale

Turning federal cybersecurity requirements and RMF controls into practical engineering decisions that protect systems without losing sight of the mission.

My Transformation

I decided to start living.

My weight-loss journey changed much more than my body. It changed the way I looked at time, fear, comfort, and all the things I kept telling myself I would do someday.

Losing the weight became a turning point. I started saying yes more. I became intentional about experiencing life instead of watching it pass by. I began checking things off my bucket list, traveling, taking chances, trying things that scared me, and creating memories instead of excuses.

The goal was never simply to lose weight. It was to build a life I didn't want to sit on the sidelines of.

MY STORY IN THE NEWS

A Transformation Worth Sharing

My journey of losing nearly 300 pounds and choosing to live life differently has been featured by local news outlets.

STARNEWS Wilmington man loses 300 pounds, transforms his life Read My Story → WWAY NEWS How One Resident Bounced Back After Bariatric Surgery Watch & Read →

The Bucket List

Things I stopped saving for someday.

Some were lifelong dreams. Some terrified me. Some were ridiculous. Every one of them reminded me that life is meant to be experienced.

✓ Completed

Skydiving

Faced my fear of heights and jumped anyway.

✓ Completed

Paddleboarding

Found a new way to slow down and enjoy the water.

✓ Completed

Zipline

Took the leap and learned that fear gets a lot smaller once you move through it.

✓ Completed

5K Race

Proved to myself I could finish what I started.

✓ Completed

Rock Climbing

Kept climbing when my body wanted to quit.

Still to Come

The List Isn't Finished

There’s still more life to live, more fears to face, more places to go, and more stories waiting to be written.

Faith

The foundation underneath everything else.

My faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of my life. It shapes how I understand purpose, relationships, leadership, service, forgiveness, and the responsibility I have to the people around me.

I don't believe faith is something that belongs only inside a church on Sunday morning. I want it reflected in the way I treat people, the way I lead, how I serve, how I respond when life gets difficult, and what I choose to do with the life God has given me.

I'm still growing, still learning, and still becoming the person God is calling me to be. That's part of the journey too.

Service

Faith is something I want to put into action.

Serving others keeps me grounded and reminds me that our time, abilities, and resources aren't meant to be used only for ourselves. I try to show up where I can be useful, whether that's through my church or organizations serving people in my community.

Food & Homelessness Outreach

Volunteering with organizations serving people experiencing homelessness and food insecurity, including preparing and serving meals and helping meet basic needs with dignity and compassion.

Supporting Families

Giving my time to community organizations that provide essential resources to families and children, including volunteering with the Diaper Bank of North Carolina.

Church & Community

Serving through church outreach and community initiatives because I believe following Jesus should be visible in how we love, encourage, and serve the people around us.

Recognition

Publications, awards & credentials.

NASA Recognition

2023

Flight Directorate Peer Award

Executional Excellence

2019

Women's Ally of the Year

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

2018

Women's Ally of the Year

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Publications

2024

Utilizing Machine Learning for Signal Classification and Noise Reduction in Amateur Radio

View Publication →

2016

A Review of Star Schema Benchmark

View Publication →

2016

A Review of Pair-wise Testing

View Publication →

Certifications

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)

ISC2

Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)

ISC2

Certified SAFe® Product Owner / Product Manager

Scaled Agile, Inc.

Certified Scrum Master

Scaled Agile, Inc.

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional

Amazon Web Services

AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate

Amazon Web Services

Beyond the Office

There is more to life than work.

Technology is a huge part of my life, but it's far from the only part.

🎤

Comedy

I perform stand-up comedy and enjoy finding humor in pretty much everything.

🌎

Adventure

Travel, new experiences, bucket-list goals, and occasionally doing things that seemed like a questionable idea at first.

📻

Amateur Radio

A longtime interest in technology, radio, communication, and the wonderfully nerdy side of life.

📚

Always Learning

Technology, theology, leadership, research, culture, and anything else that makes me ask one more question.