History – Business Practical Security Inc.

History

Michele Sperle and Brantley Briegel are veteran information security professionals who each have multiple decades of experience in the Information Security field. In the first half of the 2000s, they joined forces and built a successful security services practice within an IT services provider company in the Midwest. The security expertise and the security teams they built and managed attributed substantially to the growth and success of that organization. After several years of success, Ms. Sperle was recruited to join one of the largest state-of- the-art automated software security organizations in the world, while Brantley established an independent security consulting and services company. Their employment changes coincided with their company being acquired by a much larger IT service provider company. Upon separation from their previous company, they left the new organization with a channel of $2.4 million in projected security projects and services for the up-coming year.

Business Practical Security Inc. was established in 2005 as a security services provider in the Midwest. Through the decade of the 2010s, the organization served numerous organizations developing, implementing, and overseeing their ongoing information security programs. Since that time, Michele and Brantley have joined forces again refocusing Business Practical Security Inc’s primary objective of producing information security and business continuity literature. This resulted in Business Practical Security Publications and the Business Practical Security Collection of Books designed to benefit current and future information security professionals.

Biographies

Michele Sperle, MBA, Technology Marketing/Sales Executive & Security Director

Michele Sperle is an accomplished Business Strategist and experienced Technology Marketing & Sales Executive. Coming out of the University of Nebraska at Omaha with an MBA, she established and operated her own technology services company in her home state of Nebraska.

Upon Ms. Sperle’s technology services company being purchased by a larger IT services organization, Michele focused her attention on the Information Security industry. In doing so she established Information Security practices within two successful IT service providers in Kansas City metropolitan area.

Both Information Security practices in the Midwest were highly successful and gave rise to the acquisition of the organization for which she was employed. Within that same year, Michele was recruited to executive positions with prominent international Information Security services and product providers. Over the next serval years Ms. Sperle held executive positions:

Vice President of Technical Services
Director of Security Sales & Marketing
Vice President of Account Management
Western Hemisphere Regional Director of Marketing & Sales

After many years of service as an international corporate executive in the Information Security industry, Ms. Sperle retired from her career which required extensive travel. However, Michele continues her contributions to the field of Information Security through her publications company, Business Practical Security Inc.

The information contained within her publications represents a culmination of Michele’s and her associate’s experience and knowledge garnered through real-world application. Using this experience, Ms. Sperle and her associates create publications to benefit information security professionals and for academic uses. The mission of her organization is to:

Provide real-world information security program documentation.
Provide historical situational scenarios and information.
Provide professional recommendations, opinions, and options.
Provide insight and guidance regarding the various career paths and areas of expertise in the field.

J. Brantley Briegel,
Business Practical Security Inc., Security Architect

Brantley Briegel has worked in the field of computer technology for three decades. He is a Security Architect and has built successful security services businesses within multiple professional services organizations. He has established and implemented formal information security programs for numerous companies.

Mr. Briegel operates within Business Practical Security Inc. which he established in 2005. Up until 2015, Business Practical Security Inc.was a security services and business consulting firm operating mostly in the Midwest. Since that time, the organization is dedicated and focused on the publishing arm of the company.

Successfully implementing and maintaining information security and risk management programs in various types of industries gives Brantley a diversified and unique past work experience. Using this experience, Brantley and his associates create publications to benefit information security professionals and for academic uses.

Brantley began his technology management career at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in 1982 wearing several hats, such as computer operation supervisor, primary disaster recovery team member, communication administrator and project leader of automated console operations software. In 1992, Brantley was recruited to work in the Information & Computer Security Department at the Federal Reserve Bank’s District Headquarters. There, his responsibilities included managing access of the bank’s distributed network and mainframe environment consisting of over 2000 users. He also was the security lead, participating in major projects such as evaluating, testing, and determining platform, and database systems standards for Federal Reserve System nationwide.

In 1997, Brantley accepted a position at H&R Block, Inc. World Headquarters as the head of Information Security. H&R Block, Inc. is not only the largest tax preparation provider in the world, but it is also a major financial service corporation. In this position he led the research, planning, development, and implementation of the corporation’s initial information security program. His initiative included providing management training and the establishment of Information Security as a business department within H&R Block, Inc.

After three years of service with H&R Block, Brantley continued utilizing his expertise and experience directing the development and implementations of security programs for numerous organizations for industries such as:

financial
legal
medical
government
engineering
manufacturing
education
religion
not-for-profit
advertising
broadcasting
publishing, and more

The information contained within his publications represents a culmination of Brantley’s and his associate’s experience and knowledge garnered through real-world application. The mission of his organization is to:

Provide real-world information security program documentation.
Provide historical situational scenarios and information.
Provide professional recommendations, opinions, and options.
Provide insight and guidance regarding the various career paths and areas of expertise in the field.