Ben Johnson

About Ben Johnson

My motto:\"Culture Sets the Floor, Leadership Sets the Bar\"Entrepreneur, technologist, and devoted husband and father driven by passion, capacity, and humility.National Security- Served in mission-critical roles at NSA, CIA, and DoD. Technical advisor to the US FISA Court and Department of Justice, with extensive classified court testimony experience.Cybersecurity & Technology Entrepreneurship- Co-founded Carbon Black and Obsidian Security, two game-changing cybersecurity companies that protect organizations at scale. As a multi-time CTO, I\'ve built technical foundations bridging national security expertise with commercial innovation- Founding Lecturer on \"Entrepreneurship in Technology\" at the University of Chicago, with multiple leadership contributions to community nonprofits focused on cybersecurity and youth development.Investing & Advising- Active angel investor and advisor to early-stage technology companies- Board director at Rapta.ai - Investor in Laguna Beach and Scottsdale restaurants.Sports Ownership- Minority ownership in Cagliari Calcio (Italian Serie A)- Minority ownership in Leeds United (English Premier League)Beyond Tech- 36th generation disciple at Chicago Shaolin Temple—dual black sashes in Kung Fu and Qi Gong- Varsity soccer player (U Chicago,\'01 league champions) and assistant coach (\'02)- Passionate supporter of Cagliari Calcio, Leeds United, USMNT, USWNT, Los Angeles Football Club, Orange County Soccer Club, Chicago Fire, Angel City, and international football- Referee and Coach across US Soccer and AYSOAvid Reader- Favorite professional development books: Essentialism, Unreasonable Hospitality, Extreme Ownership, Team of Teams, Turn the Ship Around- Favorite pleasure reading books: Lord of the Rings, Endurance, Shoe Dog, Rocket Men, Gates of Fire

Experience

1. Minority Owner - English Premier League Football

   Leeds United

   Jul 2025 — Present

Education

• University of Chicago

  B.S., Computer Science (minor in economics)

• The Johns Hopkins University

  Master's degree, Computer Science

Skills

• Information Security Management
• Distributed Systems
• Vulnerability Assessment
• Operating Systems
• Unix
• Information Security
• Visual Studio
• Penetration Testing
• Computer Forensics
• Sql
• Linux
• System Architecture
• Incident Response
• Postgresql
• Malware Analysis
• Internet Protocol Suite (Tcp/Ip)
• Windows
• Concurrency
• Security
• Enterprise Software
• Reverse Engineering
• C
• Programming
• Network Security
• Concurrent Programming
• Messaging Technologies
• Information Operations
• C++
• Tcp/Ip
• Software Development
• Python
• Trading Systems
• Im
• Java
• System Administration
• Network Programming
• Threads
• Software Engineering
• Networking
• Cloud Computing