By Eric Jay Toll
Photos by Ralph Freso
After seven years of piecing together opportunities and programs, College of Engineering and Technology Associate Dean Dr. Pam Rowland told David Richards it was time for unified leadership of Grand Canyon University‘s Cyber Center of Excellence, a hands-on training hub where students practice live-fire cybersecurity skills in a controlled environment.
CCE leadership and direction have rotated among deans and faculty since its inception, sometimes changing year to year.
“It’s the first time they’ve created this position,” said Richards, a seasoned IT security professional and teacher, now installed as the CCE executive director. (I was told) to provide unified leadership for the center. (The deans) have expectations, and I had to get started and meet those.”
Richards, who graduated from GCU in 1996 with his bachelor’s degree and in 2020 with his master’s in IT management, has been an Arizonan for more than 30 years following his parents’ move from Mississippi.
“I came out for the summer and had planned to stay for the summer and go back,” he said. “And I’ve never left.”
But just because he stayed didn’t necessarily mean he would stay, so Richards’ mother sought outside help.
“My mom said … she was praying I would fall in love,” he said. “And literally, within a month, I met my wife, Ginger. We started dating – she’s a native – so we’ve stayed here.”
With his wife and two now-adult sons, Richards enjoys traveling domestically to national parks.
“In the United States, I love going to Yellowstone,” he said. “I’ve been there three times, and it’s one spot I would like to go back to.”
Also on his bucket list is a trip to England.
“I would love to…spend some time there,” Richards said. “Both experiencing history and a soccer match.”
Richards has logged a quarter-century in the IT industry. Spending much of his time in information technology, Richards said that a heavy emphasis on security is part of the career path. His career shifted to Grand Canyon Education IT Operations, and he started dabbling in security projects.
“I really liked the culture of the IT security team,” he said. “They had the opening for the Security Operations Center manager, and I moved over to work with them full time.”
GCU has upped the game in technology and cybersecurity education in recent years.
The Information Systems Security Association, which touts more than 10,000 members in 100 countries, named the university its 2025 Organization of the Year, and the National Security Administration recognizes two of the College of Engineering and Technology’s academic programs as Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense: the bachelor of science in information technology with an emphasis in cybersecurity, and the bachelor of science in cybersecurity.
And this year, the college rolled out the Overclock Experience, which includes designated technology-student floors in Encanto residence hall, the CCE and HACKnet, the hackable network on which technology students train.
The CCE’s role was expanding, and in September 2025, Richards was appointed as the center’s first executive to bring it all together. Between the center and teaching, demand for his time ticked upward. That change did not deter him from a well-centered work-life balance.
“We’re involved in our church,” Richards said. “We go to CCV and lead a group and volunteer there. And (we) spend time with our family. My wife’s important to me, and we enjoy just about anything together. I also like reading and being outdoors, (We) watch movies, stuff like that.”
Richards and his wife have a group that meets for community Bible study, and his commitment to serving a greater good permeates his role teaching technology.
“(The CCE) promotes cybersecurity, not just on GCU’s campus and for our students, but within the community,” Richards said. “Locally, we do a good bit of … outreach work in order to represent GCU to the greater cybersecurity community.”
What GCU is accomplishing is sending “hackers with halos” into technology jobs. Teaching ethical hacking is achieved through a series of programs that allow students to play in an ethical sandbox with a real corporate network, learning to hack it. He said knowing how to break into and protect a computer is deeply tempered with Christian values.
The concept of hackers with halos is that students learn intrusion techniques to ethically and responsibly protect their systems against future attacks. At the same time, they understand that their values and personal ethics use that power only for the community’s good.
“There’s a big part of the job that’s about integrity and being ethical because we have a lot of responsibility and a lot of access to data and information,” he said. “We talk a lot, here at the CCE, about the need to do it in an ethical and controlled way.”
In Ephesians, Paul calls believers to live with integrity, honesty and moral discipline. Their conduct must reflect a high standard of values. His letter emphasizes truthfulness and ethical behavior, the very emphasis Richards instills in his students at the CCE.
Senior writer Eric Jay Toll can be reached at [email protected]
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