Today we’d like to introduce you to Brett Fowler
Hi Brett, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up on the south side of Omaha, Nebraska. My mother had me young and supported my father through college as he became a Naval officer. My mother became an ER nurse like her mother before her. Growing up as the oldest of five, life was never void of events. We were not rich in money but were VERY rich in family. The dinner table at the Fowlers was an intellectual octagon. If you could not hold your position you got worked, My parents expected excellence in all aspects of life focusing in faith, academics, sports.
My father once told me how he knew I was going to be an entrepreneur. It had snowed about 12 inches and I enlisted a group of local boys for clearing the driveways. He drove up the street as they were working, He asked what I was doing, and I responded “getting to work” his response “your not shoveling anything though”. I responded that I was the one who was getting the clients.
When I was 8 my father purchased a computer. My father had no idea the flood gate he opened. I wanted to know everything I could about it and how it worked. I picked it apart and put it back together. Learned how to code and eventually how to make the code work for me.
I attended an excellent private school. On paper I was one of the worst students in my class. It frustrated my parents to the point that they were no longer going to pay for me to go to the school. But I loved that school. I was not going to give up the education I was getting without a fight.
My response was “I will find a way to pay for it … I don’t know how but I will”
Mother: Brett you can’t …
Brett: Watch me … (A term that would become a constant in my life)
I went to the principal and asked if I could work as a side job as a grounds worker. This was a very humbling act as most of my class mates had trust funds and I was just trying to make tuition .. in high school.
I played 3 sports and was active in speech, debate and chess. To pay for tuition I worked 30 hours a week for the majority of my high school time. I found the best job in the world for a high schooler. A movie rental store. I could go to school, go to practice, work until midnight and go and do it all the next day. It was exhausting as a kid but worth it in the end. It sounds odd but when I made the last payment my senior year I later would consider this one of my greatest achievements.
My school was one of the first high schools in America to have campus wide wifi (1999). Giving a hacker kid a laptop and a completely unsecure network was a bad idea. I spent the majority of my days owning the school network. I was never a good student, most people would think “well just change your grade if you own the network”. There was as catch though, I had a graduating class of 32 and my teachers knew me well. If all of a sudden I got switched from a D+ to an A they would know and my cover would be blown.
Shockingly, I got a scholarship to college … yes … the kid with a 2.3 gpa got a scholarship to the University of Nebraska. To do what? Start a fraternity back up. I mean who really gets a scholarship to “rebirth” a fraternity. It was an excellent time. But 9/11hit me hard and as a member of a family that has fought in every major American war I needed go to serve.
I enlisted as an intelligence analyst and was stationed in Hawaii, where during my first year I got into trouble for hacking into a classified data base. I also had just married my wife of now 20 years. I was fairly sure that I was going to get kicked out of the Air Force. However, a certain unnamed organization thought that it would be better to put my “hacking” skills to use for the government. During that year I identified one of the most deepest intrusions into the Department of Defense networks by the Peoples Republic of China (TITAN RAIN) and was asked to provide a full brief to the Secretary of Defense. After this I was never allowed to have a “normal” job in the Air Force.
Soon I got a very interesting set of orders to go work in special operations to break into terrorist computers/cell phones and facilitate the exploitation of their networks. I went to many places around the world but my wife thought I was going on “training missions”. Which I am fairly positive she knew was a lie.
During this time I got VERY good at tracking people via a myriad of tactics. But was asked by a certain Colonel one day if I could use one of my tactics to track and find a group of American hostages that had been held captive in the jungles of Colombia for 5 years. I told him “give me enough time and I can hack into anything with a chip board … we will find them”. It took a while but my team and I were able to find and extract them from their FARC captors with the support of my special operations friends. If I ever needed any form of thanks it was five Americans would breath the sweet smell of freedom in their country again.
After a career of doing things with a keyboard that most people would think is not possible and will likely never hear about. I went into defense contracting. Years later I would be hiring a lot people exactly like that young man ,,, but we will get to that later
I was hired to be the head of the cyber portfolio for a company called Scitor. Mostly specializing in space systems. I might be good at hacking into computers, but I am much better at finding money in contracting. I was working my way quickly up the ladder and making them a large sum of money.
After getting promoted several times I felt as if I was outgrowing where I was at and wanted a new challenge. I considered starting up a defense contracting firm and it had shown that I could be very profitable at it. But I was going to have an uphill battle. The barrier to doing business successfully in defense contracting is VERY high and I knew that.
One night over drinks I told a long time friend my plan to start STAG. He said “Brett, be reasonable” in a thick Romanian accent. “That kind of stuff is for Admirals and Generals, understanding our place in life is important”. I then asked “Why not me?”. He did not reply.
The next day I happened to walk by my military coin rack and in the middle was one from my special operations days. Around the edge of the coin is the moto of our unit.
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Two days later I filed for the company
Strategic Technologies Analytics Group (STAG) was founded on September 11th 2018. I did not plan the date but I have found that the universe has an interesting way of providing hints on our task and purpose in life. I had determined that we would focus primarily on cyber operations, intelligence and capability development. To those three points we have been very successful.
The Team: STAG has been in the black every year since its inception and that is a testament to the leadership team. I am uncompromising in that we only hire the highest of quality of members which makes recruitment difficult. I think there are days my Director of Human Resources wants to kill me because we continue to grow but I won’t compromise on the quality of our people. I build our teams based on the “Fox Hole” mentality. Which means teams of elite professionals want to work with people of the same because when the bullets start to fly you want to know that you can trust in the skills of the person next to you. I take it as a personal mission to make sure they have that support. I probably interview more people than most CEOs.
I have always been good at building teams. It is an amazing amalgamation of human talent that is a delicate blend of art and science which (if done right) looks like a fine cooking recipe. You can’t have a little too much of one thing or it goes out of balance.
At STAG we follow the “Hire fast, fire faster” philosophy. This might sound harsh but it is the reverse. As a leader I owe it to our employees to make sure they have every resource possible to execute their mission. One of those missions as a CEO is when a cancer is identified you remove it and do it quickly. Thankfully, we have rarely had to do that because we are so meticulous with our hiring process.
Who We Hire: Over 80% of STAG are veterans. A statistic we are proud of as we know how important it is to take care of those who have given so much to America. Our primary work force revolves around cyber analysts and operators who have TOP SECRET clearances. Which is like asking someone to fill out a team with unicorns. Its not easy.
I was on a panel at UTSA, a young man asked what is the biggest thing I look for in a STAG?
I responded, “Do you know the term “think outside the box?” … he nodded. “The people we hire at STAG don’t even like the “idea” of a box because it would shackle them. Life long learners who are problem solvers.”
Work/Life Balance: When I was in the military we worked many long hours. Thankfully I have a saint of a wife who stood it but when I left active duty I could tell that it took its toll on her. I never wanted that for my people. Early in STAGs inception one of our employees had a death in the family and had to go support. He told me “But you need me here” I said “I hope you stay at STAG for a very long time. But there may come a day when we part ways. If that day comes. I hope your family will still be there … they are more important. We will cover here … take care of the family.” Leadership of this nature will make an employee run through a wall for you because they know you care. Which in turn adds to higher productivity and everyone wins.
STAG’s Future: STAG has invested heavily in Artificial Intelligence and its association with large data analytics. Most recently it has been applied to the defense of U.S. critical infrastructure to include the national power grid. STAG is committed to the security of the United States and deterring our adversaries from having effects on any part of our critical infrastructure.
Personal: Brett “Spoof” Fowler currently lives in San Antonio, TX with his two daughters and his wife of 20 years. His wife Jennifer is a senior accountant and his daughters enjoy riding in local rodeos and participating on their school dance teams. Brett is a 21 year Air Force veteran as a cyber warfare specialist. During this time he had two combat deployments and has over a thousand mission hours on keyboard. His hobbies include wood work, trap shooting, golf and is an avid Nebraska Cornhusker fan.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not a smooth road by a long shot. Right after STAG landed our first contract the pandemic hit and we had to come up with a Concept of Operations for the majority of our people to be working from home. The majority of STAG members work in classified facilities so we had to get VERY creative with our staffing. Due to the success of our strategy STAG actually doubled in size during the pandemic. This is mostly because I told our leadership team “These things are going to happen, we need to find a way to win”. I wanted to panic but from military experience I knew that if I showed how anxious I actually was about everything it would flow down. I remained firm and told everyone “Everything is going to be okay, we will find a way”. And we did. One of the hardest things about leadership is remaining clam when the storm rises because everyone is looking to you for direction. If your compass is all over the place your people will follow.
Being a baby CEO at the time was difficult because I felt like I was building the plane as I was flying it. Over the years I have mentored several new CEOs. Watching them mature over the years I have found that they really come into their own when they realize “No one is coming for you”. When they realize this it galvanizes them to know they are responsible for everyone. At the end of the day being a CEO is a lonely job because you can’t talk to anyone because they will never understand, I’ve watched lots of companies fall apart early because the CEO blamed their people when the reality of it is that the burden to keep the company moving forward is your and yours alone. Delegation is important but even if you build the best company structure and delegate the right way. If the company falls apart, it will be your name in that article.
We’ve been impressed with Strategic Technology Analytics Group (STAG), but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Strategic Technologies Analytics Group (STAG) was founded on September 11th 2018. I did not plan the date but I have found that the universe has an interesting way of providing hints on our task and purpose in life. I had determined that we would focus primarily on cyber operations, intelligence and capability development. To those three points we have been very successful.
We employ some of the best hackers & network analysts in the world.
We are known for being very quite and moving in and out of a computer network without the entity knowing about it. This allows STAG to build custom security solutions with an offensive mentality.
Brand wise, I am most proud of the caliber of the people that we employ. When someone is walking through the Pentagon and they see that STAG symbol on their lapel. They know that individual is at the tip of the spear. We also are very protective of the brand. One time a certain admiral asked if he could get one of our STAG lapel pins. I apologized and told him that I can only give this pin to those who are part of STAG.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
STAG members are active inside the critical infrastructure defense program. We collaborate with seniors in the electronic power and petroleum industries to ensure that their networks are secure from exterior threats.
For those that want to be part of STAG they can apply on our website (stag-tech.com)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stag-tech.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StrategicTechnologiesAnalyticsGroup
