Today on the Career Conversation Podcast, we are joined by Bre Johnson, the Regional Sales Leader for Cisco. Cisco, a tech giant in cybersecurity, networking, cloud, and collaboration, is where Bre has carved out her remarkable career path, one pivot at a time.

From her active high school years in Colorado, balancing sports, social life, and restaurant jobs, Bre learned early on the art of rolling with the punches. Her initial plans in applied kinesiology at CU Boulder shifted gears dramatically towards a double major in Sociology and Cultural Anthropology after an inspiring encounter with the world of social sciences.

Adversity struck in college with the sudden passing of her mother. This brought Bre back home to Fort Collins, where she continued her education at Colorado State University. Here, she thrived academically and personally, despite the unexpected turns, from leading an honor society to conducting impactful research on Hurricane Katrina, to studying abroad in Sydney.

The real world presented its own challenges, with Bre facing the 2008 recession head-on, transforming obstacles into opportunities. Networking and perseverance led her from serving tables post-graduation to breaking into the corporate world. She quickly rose through the ranks in tech sales, from Lexmark to the high-stakes environment of medical sales, and back into tech with Cisco, where she's now a leader in the public sector.

Bre’s story is a testament to the power of pivoting, networking, and embracing change. She's become an integral part of her community, mentoring the next generation of tech enthusiasts, and serving on boards that merge education, technology, and business.

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Currently serving as Commander of the 367th Recruiting Squadron in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Lt. Col. Somann is responsible for managing the recruiting activities of ten flights and 82 personnel, spanning a vast 450,000 square mile area over eight states in the western United States. The squadron's mission is to inspire, engage, and recruit future airmen to deliver airpower for America.

Lt. Col Somann boasts an impressive career in the Air Force, having held diverse leadership roles in Air Force Acquisitions, instruction, and recruitment. He has contributed his expertise as a staff officer at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, and as an instructor and recruiter at both the U.S. Air Force Academy and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Notably, he has overseen the operations of a team of approximately 600 personnel as the Director of Operations for the Air Force Research Laboratory's most substantial division, responsible for Human Factors research and development.

With a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology and a Doctorate of Philosophy in electrical engineering from Purdue University, specializing in biomedical research, Lt. Col. Somann possesses an unmatched level of engineering expertise. In his previous role as the Deputy , Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the U.S. Air Force Academy, he oversaw the education of 1,400 students annually.

Crystal McCoy currently serves as the spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Denver Field Division. She is a retired police officer where she spent the final years of her sworn career as the Senior Public Information Officer for the Aurora Colorado Police Department.

Her career in law enforcement began as a dispatcher in Florida before she moved to Colorado in 2001. In Colorado, she worked as a contracted dispatcher with the General Services Administration, then Captain for the armed security force under the Department of Homeland Security.

In 2005, she became a police officer for the Glendale Colorado Police Department where she served as an officer, detective, and sergeant as well as being the Terrorism Liaison Officer for the Colorado Information Analysis Center. In 2013, she continued her law enforcement career with the Aurora Colorado Police Department where she served on patrol, in the Burglary Impact Group, on the Trauma Response Team, as a Task Force Officer on the Joint Terrorism Task Force with the FBI Denver Field Division, and spent her final years before retirement in 2021 as the Senior Public Information Officer under two different chief administrations.

In addition to service in law enforcement she was a founding board member for two non-profit organizations dedicated to fallen officers and their survivors: Colorado Fallen Hero Foundation and Brotherhood for the Fallen. She received several awards and commendations in her law enforcement career. She is most proud of awards she received from the Colorado Avalanche for being the top non-profit organization multiple years in a row, the Core 4 Spirit of Community Service from the City of Aurora, and a 2019 Heartland Regional Emmy Award winning producer.

Crystal earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at Central Christian College of Kansas, was born in Indiana, and now raises two young daughters with her husband in the Denver metro area

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