Mr. Juan Rivera was born in East Orange, NJ, grew up in New York City, in 1983 he entered the United States Marine Corps as a Military Police officer. After a decorated tour of service, he was honorable discharged in 1988.
He began his Federal Service career at Marine Corps Logistics Base (MCLB) Barstow as a Laborer. He moved up to Laundry Worker, Office Automation Clerk, and in 1992, he was selected as a Computer Specialist. He began as a Hardware Technician was soon promoted to Network Specialist.
In 2000, he was selected as an Email administrator with the US Coast Guard, where he also joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary as a Communications Officer.
After 9/11, he was solicited to be a founding member of the newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS). His responsibility was to stand up a new program at that time called Cyber Security. He engulfed himself in education and training in that newly specialized field, where he was able to successfully achieve 14 certifications. As a Computer Forensics Investigator, he was instrumental in Counter-Narco and Anti-Terrorism operations in Central and South America. He received a Presidential Unit Citation award for assisting in the communications stand up for the Coast Guard and FEMA during Hurricane Katrina. As a Computer Ethical Hacker, Mr. Rivera was responsible for network penetration tactics.
In 2011, after 10 years of contributing to the success of DHS, he returned back to the Marine Corps. He was selected as the Information Assurance manager, then promoted to GS-13, Installation IT Officer and finally succeeded in achieving GS-14, S-6 Communications Director. He retired from Federal Service after faithfully serving 38 years and currently sits on the Barstow College Foundation board.
Personally, he has achieved Black belts in Judo and Aikido, Brown belt in Jujitsu, he is a certified Combat Knife instructor and Scuba diver. Owner of two (2) Mixed Martial Arts schools and a published author of multiple books on martial arts.
He is married to Elena Reyes Rivera for over 20 years, he has a son and daughter and 4 grandchildren.
