Bryan Jensen walked away from The University of Tulsa campus in 2010 with his third UTulsa degree and into a dream job as a chief technology officer at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
“For me, working at CIA was almost a fairy tale from beginning to end. I traveled to more than 70 countries, briefed the most senior government officials, and patented/invented new technologies that saved lives,” said Jensen (B.S. ’02, J.D. ’05, M.S. ’10). “I’m proud to have served my country and in some small way helped to keep America safe – even if all the stories can’t be told.”
As an undergraduate, Jensen had many interests and took a wide variety of courses. Thanks to UTulsa’s flexibility, he didn’t have to declare a major for the first two years.
“Undergrad was great!” he said. “I took so many courses that I loved: art history, sociology, theory of language, religion.” He fondly remembers sociology Professor Jean Blocker and economics Professor Steve Steib, as well as taking a class from renowned Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko.
Layering creativity and critical thinking from a strong liberal arts foundation with a law degree gave Jensen the confidence and credibility to join UTulsa’s elite Cyber Corps program and pursue a master’s degree in computer science under the guiding hand of Professor Sujeet Shenoi, who directs Cyber Corps.
“Each degree shaped my worldview and gave me career opportunities,” Jensen said. “Cyber Corps is an invaluable program that has a direct feed to U.S. government careers like CIA, National Security Agency, Department of Defense and others. It’s a remarkable program.
“I always wanted to blend my legal background with technology, and cybersecurity allows me to interpret policies and standards to shape future technology development.”
What’s even more incredible than a career pre-empting threats to national security within a storied federal agency? It seems that making the leap to the private sector is allowing Jensen to continue protecting cyberspace on a new level. He recently left the CIA for another legendary organization: Microsoft.
“I’m a senior leader at Microsoft working with various customers to architect solutions to some of the world’s hardest problems like AI, quantum and cybersecurity,” Jensen said. “I’m fairly new, but so far, I’m loving the team and learning about the great culture and products that have made Microsoft a household name.”
When he’s not helping save the country and its citizens from cyber threats, Jensen spends his personal time traveling the world, playing the drums, swimming, and working to obtain his private pilot’s license.
When he returns to Tulsa to visit family, Jensen stops by UTulsa’s campus just to reminisce. “The campus has changed a lot since 1998 when I was a freshman,” he said. “Many new additions and buildings have been constructed in the last 20-plus years. It’s great to see!”