Faces of Loudoun: Ray Vazquez

Young Talent Contributes to the Cybersecurity Industry

Vertex11 is leaving the cybersecurity industry better than they found it. Ray Vazquez, Founder and President of Vertex11, believes engaging the youth of Loudoun County in internships from an early age is one of the keys to accomplishing this goal. He knows that investing in lives produces results. Vazquez’s dedication to creating a quality product and developing a skilled and versatile workforce mirrors the mission of Loudoun County.

“We practice this idea that companies with extraordinary potential have people with extraordinary potential. How do we tap all the way down to high school and create that energy and interest into our field? If we have any chance of leaving this thing better than the way we found it, it is by getting our young people involved as early as possible in the industry,”  Vazquez said.

Vazquez’s company, Vertex11, provides world-class cybersecurity solutions to organizations on an international level. Vazquez began his own cybersecurity journey with a position at PricewaterhouseCoopers and has been familiar with consulting work since. During his time as a corporate executive with both Fannie Mae and AOL, he has personally been a consumer of consulting work and has seen the industry from both sides. This led to his realization that the industry needed to improve. He took it into his own hands to make that happen.

“Vertex11 began as a culmination of ideas on how we can ultimately make consulting better. I got into consulting close to 30 years ago, and many of the issues that plagued companies in 1994 are still relevant today,” said Vazquez. “You would think that with advanced technologies and better frameworks and governance, we would be in a better spot. But we’re not. The world is plagued with headlines every day. I wanted to improve the experience for customers, and help them believe things are better when we finish.”

Vertex11 was introduced to an opportunity to recruit high school students for internships during an event called Virginia CyberSlam. The purpose of the conference is to inform students and connect them with the field of cybersecurity. Many local cybersecurity companies attend the event in order to network with students and initiate internship opportunities. “I had no idea that we were doing this kind of thing from a cyber perspective in the county for high schoolers. I had just started doing some internship work with some college students, and I immediately knew we had to expand our internships to high schoolers,” Vazquez said. “I had high schoolers and college students working on the same assignment, and the high schoolers were giving the college kids a run for their money!”

Vazquez emphasized the ability of Loudoun County high school students to produce innovative ideas, write computer programming scripts and perform research in a lab. “We interviewed over 30 kids. I would have hired all of them if I could. Their acumen about what was going on in the world from a technical perspective just completely blew me away,” he said.

Loudoun County is a highly educated community with a college graduation rate nearly double the national average. The county prides itself on providing specialized training options for students like those found at the Academies of Loudoun, a magnet school in Leesburg that houses three school branches with a focus on STEM education: The Academy of Engineering and Technology, The Academy of Science and the Monroe Advanced Technical Academy.

Higher education facilities in the area, like Northern Virginia Community College and regional universities like George Mason University and George Washington University, among others, attract and graduate top talent. Loudoun County Public School students test higher than the national average and 97.5% of graduates go on to attend college, many staying close to home for school. Vazquez recognizes the top talent Loudoun County produces and notes how the high school interns are able to contribute to Vertex11’s vital projects.

“These interns contributed to some of our early ideas for artificial intelligence risk management, pulled together some content for some of the white papers we’ve used, and contributed to some of our explanations of methodologies and how we should think about frameworks. It’s been a successful trajectory,” he said.

Vazquez chose a location in Loudoun County for Vertex11 because of the wealth of knowledge, expertise, and capabilities. He has been a resident for close to 24 years. He emphasized that Loudoun County has been a competitive location for growing businesses from even two decades ago. He chose to settle in Loudoun County over other tech hubs like Miami, Boston, San Jose and even New York. “It’s a unique part of the country,” said Vazquez. “There is a reason so many data centers are here. Much of the strategic leadership that brought the Internet and the pipes that make the world run are within a few miles of where we are. With that came a lot of technical innovation and many smart people.”

He said Loudoun County offers access to great resources, technical capabilities, and a strong industry of companies that collaborate with Vertex11. When Vazquez moved to the area, it was at the height of the dot-com craze. As an entrepreneur with a young family at the time, he identified the high-quality public school system, the reliable infrastructure, a network of related industries like data centers and closeness to outstanding recreational opportunities in the state and the nearby states of Maryland and West Virginia as reasons for locating here.

“It was the perfect place to settle roots. There was also an influx of investments coming into the area as well. People from Chicago, Miami, and New York were funneling resources into the great hub spots in Northern Virginia and fueling the new digital transformation,” he said.

Vazquez’s dedication to creating a quality product and developing a skilled and versatile workforce is owed to his philosophy of leaving the world better than he found it.  This philosophy led to Vertex11 receiving an Inc. 5,000 designation, a list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. based on their revenue growth rate.“I don’t care how much revenue I have this year. I don’t care if I make money or not. What I care about is this: am I putting the best product out there that customers want to buy? Am I providing the best service I can provide? Am I leaving my customers and employees better than the way I found them?” he said.

“I’m not focused on winning. You make short-term decisions that have long-term impacts. Can I win a game on any given day? Yes. I can script a playbook. I can put certain players in and I can win that game. But if any of those players get injured or the opponent is multi-talented, I will lose because I only had a one-trick pony. If your only focus is winning a bunch of games and not on developing a great team altogether, it won’t result in lasting success,” Vazquez said.

The Vertex11 mission to create a quality product and develop a capable workforce makes it a competitive business that has seen immense success over the years. Vazquez takes pride in his employees and what they offer the industry.

Loudoun Economic Development is making access to emerging talent more possible, and works to connect a talented workforce with quality employers who encourage success. Vertex11 is one of the thriving businesses that makes these connections a reality and spurs the growth of the future leaders of Loudoun County.