Professional Profile

Carlton D. Houston

Senior Infrastructure & Security Leader

Strategic technology leader with 20+ years building and managing high-performing network, security, and infrastructure teams. Proven ability to lead through organizational change, scale operations for massive growth, and bridge technical execution with business objectives. Expert in translating business vision into executable technical strategy while maintaining deep technical literacy.

📍 Roswell, GA  |  📧 chouston@gmail.com  |  📞 678-787-7627

Carlton D. Houston

Experience

Security Architect & Compliance Program Lead

IBM · Software Security & Compliance · Atlanta, GA · 2022 – Present

Transitioned from operational infrastructure leadership to join IBM’s CISO organization, bringing deep infrastructure expertise to enterprise security and compliance initiatives. Rapidly developed mastery of SOC 2, PCI, and regulatory audit frameworks while maintaining strategic influence on product security architecture.

  • Leading SOC 2 Audit Program across IBM Core & Data Platform — 10 distinct products, cross-functional team of 3 security architects
  • Primary liaison to Coalfire auditors; managing complex transition from previous PWC audit framework
  • Established evidence validation processes improving compliance readiness across multiple product lines
  • Providing security architecture consulting to product teams, translating compliance requirements into actionable technical implementations

Director/Manager, Network & Security Operations & Architecture

The Weather Company – IBM (The Weather Channel, weather.com) · Atlanta, GA · 2000 – 2022

Led network and security operations for one of the world’s most-visited digital properties, managing infrastructure serving hundreds of millions of users. Built and scaled high-performing engineering teams through multiple phases of organizational change and rapid growth.

  • Directed network architecture strategy across global infrastructure supporting broadcast, digital, and B2B business units
  • Led multi-year network modernization initiatives including SD-WAN implementation and datacenter consolidation
  • Built and mentored cross-functional teams spanning network engineering, security operations, and cloud infrastructure
  • Managed vendor relationships, contract negotiations, and multi-million dollar infrastructure budgets
  • Designed and implemented disaster recovery and business continuity frameworks for mission-critical weather data services

Co-Founder & Network Infrastructure Lead

Independent Internet Service Provider · 1996 – 2000

Co-founded and built operational infrastructure for an ISP from the ground up — handling all technical aspects from infrastructure to technical support. A formative experience in what it means to build something real and own the results.

Leadership Philosophy

“The most powerful compounding strategic advantage the strongest organizations have are people who actually care about each other.”

I look for and build environments where people feel genuinely valued, where they’re trusted to do their work, and where the leadership team models the behavior they want to see. I’ve found that teams built on that foundation outperform on every metric that matters, over the long arc of time.

What I look for in an organization: transparent leadership, genuine investment in employee growth, a culture that doesn’t just survive organizational stress but strengthens through it, and work that connects to something meaningful beyond the quarterly number.

Core Skills

Leadership

  • Team Building & Development
  • Change Management
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration
  • Vendor & Contract Negotiation
  • Strategic Planning
  • Budget Management

Technical

  • Network Architecture & Design
  • BGP / OSPF / MPLS / VPNs
  • Security Operations
  • Compliance & Audit (SOC 2, PCI DSS, ISO)
  • AWS Cloud Infrastructure
  • Disaster Recovery
  • Checkpoint / Juniper SRX Firewalls
  • Capacity Planning

What I Value in a Role

  • Genuine people-first culture
  • Director-level leadership scope
  • Hybrid or on-site environment
  • Meaningful work with real impact
  • Organizations in regulated industries
  • Managers who trust their teams

Affiliations

Lion’s Club International
Leadership & community service

This profile presents my career in a public-safe format. I’m happy to provide a full traditional resume to the right opportunity. Reach out at chouston@gmail.com.

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