Episode Information Show Notes In this captivating episode of Career Downloads, Manuel Martinez sits down with Alan Cunningham, a technology leader with a rich and varied background. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Alan shares his remarkable journey from working at age 12 to becoming the CIO for the State of Nevada. Alan walks us through his early fascination with electronics, building sound-to-light units for his DJing career despite being colorblind. His path took him through the British Army where he worked as a signaller, which sparked his journey into technology. After moving to the US in 1995, Alan quickly established himself in the tech world, running a computer store by his second day. Throughout his career, he’s worked as an IT technician, software expert, consultant, ISO for Washoe County School District, and ultimately CIO for the State of Nevada. What stands out in this conversation is Alan’s unwavering commitment to honesty and integrity, which has guided his career decisions even when they led to challenging transitions. He offers practical wisdom for those entering the tech field, emphasizing the importance of building a solid foundation of knowledge through help desk positions or working at small computer stores where problem-solving skills are constantly tested. Alan also shares valuable insights about critical thinking, continuous learning, and the reality behind trending technologies like AI and cloud computing. His straightforward assessment of these tools cuts through marketing hype to reveal their true utility. Whether you’re just starting your career or looking to advance to leadership positions, this episode provides a wealth of practical advice and inspiration from someone who’s navigated the ever-changing technology landscape for four decades. Listen to the full episode to learn how Alan’s commitment to quality work and straightforward communication has shaped his successful career in technology. #CareerDownloads #TechLeadership #CyberSecurity #CIOAdvice Transcription Manuel: Welcome everyone, my name is Manuel Martinez and this is another episode of Career Downloads. For each episode, I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest to learn more about their career and their experiences, to really uncover any actionable advice that you can use as you’re managing your own career. So for today’s episode, I have with me Alan Cunningham. So we’ve crossed paths a couple of times, most recently at a couple of networking events. But when I first met him, he was actually the CIO for the state of Nevada on public sector. Kind of speaking to a couple of contacts that we have in common, they mentioned they had a very interesting story, interesting background, looking at his profile. So me and him have chatted prior to this and I feel like there’s gonna be a lot of good information and a lot of good stories just for people to kind of understand, you know, again, and just find areas that they can find, that you can find that would be beneficial in your own career and help you improve and progress as you manage that. So with that, I will bring on Alan Cunningham. Alan: Good afternoon, how are you? Manuel: Doing very well, thank you for taking the time to come and speak and really just share your experiences. Alan: Yeah, thanks for the invite. It’s always good to try and give back to the community in whichever way we can. Manuel: Definitely. If you could just start by just giving us a brief summary of kind of what your current position is and just some of the roles and responsibilities that you’re in charge of today. Alan: At the moment, I’m working with Cyroot.io You had Asal Gibson on your last show, who is the CEO. I actually worked with her at the contract position at Clark County School District about a year and a half ago. We both got along really well. So when my contract finished with the county, Asal asked if I’d become the CIO.
