Project & Program Management
PMO leadership, project governance, prioritization, execution, documentation, and organizational change.
Technology · Governance · PMO · Risk · Finance
M. Bret Blackford
CPA · CMA · CISA · PMP
Technology, risk, and finance professional with more than 30 years of experience spanning IT governance and compliance, project and program management, IT audit, commodity trading risk, quantitative valuation, and software development.
My background combines accounting and finance credentials with computer science, programming, controls, and hands-on technology experience. More recently, I have applied that experience through technology consulting for nonprofit and small-business organizations, helping modernize networks, communications, security, and access-control infrastructure.
Current Work
Recent Technology Consulting
In recent years, I have provided technology consulting and hands-on implementation support for nonprofit and small-business organizations, helping modernize aging technology environments.
Projects have included network architecture and replacement, Wi-Fi modernization, migration of legacy analog telephone systems to VoIP, video-security systems, electronic access control, vendor coordination, documentation, and ongoing technical support.
These engagements have typically covered the full technology lifecycle: assessing requirements, developing a practical and cost-effective architecture, selecting equipment and services, managing implementation and migration, and supporting the resulting environment.
Network Architecture
Infrastructure Modernization
Wi-Fi
VoIP
Video Security
Access Control
Systems Integration
Vendor Coordination
Documentation
Background
Core Expertise
IT Governance & Compliance
Governance frameworks, internal controls, IT compliance, change management, and standards including SOX, HIPAA, PCI, ISO 27001, and ITIL.
Audit, Risk & Controls
IT audit, risk assessment, control evaluation, vulnerability management, disaster recovery, and remediation.
Finance & Quantitative Analysis
Commodity trading risk, derivatives valuation, financial modeling, scenario analysis, and risk reporting.
Software & Systems
C++, Java, JavaScript, UNIX, enterprise application integration, and technology architecture.
Education & Credentials
CPA, CMA, CISA, and PMP, with degrees in finance and computer science plus graduate programming study.
Expert-Witness Experience
Additional experience includes expert-witness engagements involving technology and financial matters.
Selected Work
Black-Scholes / Black 76
One of my long-running technical projects combines quantitative finance and software development: Java and JavaScript implementations of the Black-Scholes and Black 76 option valuation models.
The Java implementation is linked from Wikipedia's Black-Scholes model article under “Computer implementations.”
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