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Faculty Spotlight: Jeffrey Brown
Last Updated March 8, 2024
Adjunct Professor of Project Management Also an Avid Curler, Lavender Farmer
Long before Jeffrey Brown, PMP, became an adjunct faculty member at Villanova University, he aspired to become a doctor. But the U.S. Army took him in a different direction, one that eventually led him to teach project management.
Brown joined the Army after graduating from high school. He trained as a hospital lab tech and was assigned as a lab assistant to the Letterman Army Institute of Research. Brown said the institute was a place for the Army to put its ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) PhD people while they completed their active service.
Brown worked in a biochemistry division studying basic physiology questions related to soldiers. “We did basic research on things like training rats on a treadmill to make them marathon runners, then studied their biochemistry.”
His Path to Project Management
Once out of the Army, Brown studied biomedical engineering and engineering science in the University of Michigan’s bioengineering program, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Today, in addition to teaching the Essentials of Project Management and Essentials of Business Analysis courses in Villanova’s College of Professional Studies, Brown is a Director of Cybersecurity for GE Healthcare, where he works to protect GE’s medical devices from cyber hackers.
“Let’s say we have an ultrasound device with patient records stored in it and it is hooked up to the network. We want to make sure that only authorized users can access those records,” Brown explained. “We also protect the device against tampering, so somebody can’t get in and wreck the device or use it as a pivot point for ransomware or viruses.”
His job is all about confidentiality, availability and integrity, considered the triad for cybersecurity.
Before working at GE, Brown worked at EMC Corp., which is now part of Dell, in the Global Security Organization working with federal and internal clients to secure and manage data.
Trained initially as a biomedical engineer, Brown said he worked in academic research and built medical devices before gravitating to software development.
“When I stopped making medical devices, I went into software developing, consulting and started working as an official project manager.”
Brown said he then combined his older and newer skill sets to become a Director of Cybersecurity for GEHC.
“There is never a dull moment. You will never lack for work,” he said. “We always try to stay a step ahead of the hackers.”
Extracurricular Activities
Brown lives with his wife and daughter just outside of Madison, Wis., on 12.5 acres, where they have a small-scale lavender farm.
Brown also enjoys gardening and reading. In the summer, he golfs. During the winter months, he tucks in his beehive to keep it safe from the cold. It is the same beehive he depends on to pollinate his lavender fields.
He is also in a curling league. Curling is a team sport played on ice where two teams take turns sliding granite stones toward a target, according to the World Curling Federation.
“When we moved here 13 years ago, I had seen curling on TV and wondered what it was like and went to a ‘Learn to Curl’ day and decided it was kind of fun,” Brown said. “My instructor was Matt Hamilton, a U.S. Olympian.”
Brown’s league plays once a week in a round-robin competition. The winning team gets no trophy or cash, just bragging rights.
Value of Developing a Project Management Skill Set
Back on the professional side, Brown has, for nearly two decades, incorporated project management into his diverse portfolio, which includes teaching mid-career managers and recent graduates how to become project managers.
Project management is “the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements,” according to the Project Management Institute.
Project management as a profession is relatively new, Brown said. People used to become project managers almost accidentally, he said. Today, there are standard practices and methodologies like those he teaches at Villanova.
“There are now best practices,” Brown said. “Many organizations create their own methodologies and work off the same best practices. There are still accidental project managers, but businesses have come to see the value in having a professional project manager run a project with a specific skill set.”
According to the Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap report, “across the globe, there’s a widening gap between employers’ need for skilled project management workers and the availability of professionals to fill those roles.” The report estimated that by 2027, employers will need 87.7 million professionals working in a project management-oriented role.
As this effort advances, Villanova works to keep students informed on key outcomes and helps them prepare for the upcoming changes to the profession, Brown said.
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If you are interested in expanding your project management knowledge and skill set, the online Certificate in Applied Project Management program is designed to help beginner and experienced project managers lead projects more effectively and efficiently. The program may also help prepare you for the Project Management Professional (PMP)® or Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® certification exam offered by PMI. If you live in proximity to Villanova University and prefer to take an in-person PMP® Exam Prep course, visit the campus PMP® Exam Prep course page.
