J.W. Richards

J.W. Richards IV is the Director of IT Infrastructure and Physical and Cyber Security at Texas Reliability, Inc. (Texas RE). He’s been with Texas RE since June 2012 and has progressed from Systems Administrator to Manager, IT and Security, to his current senior leadership position as a director. Mr. Richards leads all aspects of system and datacenter design, installation, management, and security and his systems expertise includes VMware® vSphere, Nutanix® AHV, Windows® Server (2008-2019), Microsoft® Exchange 2010/2016/365, SCCM, SCOM, Veeam®, NeXpose®, Skype® for Business/Teams, 3PAR Storage and others. He currently co-chairs the Information Technology Security Group for the ERO Enterprise, which consists of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and six Regional Entities across North America (including Texas RE). He received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Texas State University, has successfully completed the University of Texas Leadership Academy Certificate Program, and has numerous certifications including CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, GIAC (Global Information Assurance Certification) Certified Incident Handler, and GIAC Certified Forensic Examiner. Mr. Richards is a veteran of the United States Army, married with two children, an avid collector of Funko Pops, caretaker of a Jeep Wrangler TJ, a very-amateur pit master, and lover of craft beers.