Derek Ross

Commander
DISC Type : D

Field CTO at TrueMark

South Jordan, Utah, United States

Overview

Derek is a Field CTO at TrueMark with over 10 years of experience leading enterprise delivery teams. He specializes in cloud-first solutions, DevOps, Generative AI, and secure automation, with a background at AWS. Colleagues describe him as a technically adept, self-starting, and outstanding technical leader.

Outside of technology, Derek is a former small business owner and U. S. Army Special Forces Medical Sergeant. This background provides him with a unique skill set and a disciplined approach to solving problems. He has a passion for high-quality equipment, identifying himself as a “gear snob. ”

Unique fact: Derek is a Green Beret combat veteran, bringing lessons on disciplined, repeatable processes from his military career into the world of DevOps.

Personality Overview

Candid & Clear

Risk-Taker

Decisive

They respond better to strong and respectful interactions.  They put a lot of effort into ensuring personal success. They prefer to move quickly, and expect the same from others.

Topics They Care About

Cloud Strategy
He writes about the real business cost of cloud outages and the importance of choosing the right AWS partner, drawing lessons from his time at Amazon.
DevOps Security
Advocates for baking security directly into the CI/CD pipeline, creating disciplined and repeatable processes to avoid complexity and pressure on engineering teams.
Applied Generative AI
He shares his practical, day-to-day applications of AI tools like ChatGPT for professional tasks like drafting contracts and personal uses like planning workouts.

Media Appearances

Derek has no verified media appearances

Work History

10-2024
Field CTO at TrueMark
9-2022 - 10-2024
Senior Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS)
10-2021 - 9-2022
Lead Solutions Engineer at Opsera
1-2020 - 10-2021
Lead Solutions Engineer at BrowserStack
2-2018 - 1-2020
Solutions Engineer at Sauce Labs

Education

2013 - 2016
Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) from Xavier University
2009 - 2013
Associate of Arts (A.A.) from American InterContinental University

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 7 Location : South Jordan, Utah, United States Job Level : Leadership Designation : Field CTO at TrueMark
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Insights For Selling To Derek

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Objectively showcase the impact that your product creates
  • Speak about competitive differentiation that your product offers
  • When negotiating terms, help them build an impression that they are the ones calling the shots

DONT's

  • Don’t take too much time in sending them information if they ask for any
  • Do not back off when challenged, respond with a confident, objective answer instead
  • Don’t focus on process and rules, give the impression of being a ‘gets it done’ person

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Derek is

  • Conviction around the impact matters the most to them, followed by a sense of achievement and ROI.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Derek

  • If they decide not to use your product, they will say no clearly.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Derek move?

  • If convinced, they can reach decisions quite fast.
  • Can Derek take some risk or not?

  • They do not shy away from taking risks, but can be quite binary about them.

You And Derek

Personality Compatibility


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