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When he’s not defending �鶹ԭ��’s network from international cyberattacks – yes, it happens, and more often than you might think – you’ll likely find Chris Rollins serving with the , or playing with his two little girls, or riding his motorcycle.

He’s a North Carolina native who prides himself on being a force for good – both online and in person. He’s also skilled at fixing cars and driving trucks.

Get to know �鶹ԭ��’s in-house cybersecurity expert. 

His dad was a drill sergeant.

But don’t assume that means Rollins grew up running laps before dawn or spit-shining his shoes. “My dad was really more like a coach. He wanted to instill good morals and ethics in us.”

He joined the National Guard to follow in his father’s and brother’s footsteps ⎯ and to work on trucks.

Rollins comes from a long line of servicemen, so joining the military was in his blood. “I thought I wanted to work on Humvees. My dad was a mechanic, and there’s just something about shutting the hood, cranking it up, and being able to say, ‘Oh, it works now.’ That’s what I thought I wanted to do.” He chose the National Guard because it would give him the chance to serve his home state, though since he enlisted in 2015, he has been deployed to both Afghanistan and Kuwait. “I’ve lived in North Carolina my whole life. I don’t think there’s a better place to be. That’s why I chose the National Guard, because yes, it’s service to the country, but it’s also service to my state.”

North Carolina National Guard Staff Sergeant Chris Rollins began his career working on radios before moving into IT and then cybersecurity.

But he ended up working on radios.

When it came time to enlist, however, the unit closest to his home in Gastonia was looking for a radio technician. He got the job, and spent the next several years learning about antennas, radio waves, and encryption. “Radio school encompassed a lot of general IT. The battalion I was with had a lot of officers who did office-type work. I  started helping them, and here I am.” 

He wasn’t seeking a career in cybersecurity.

Yes, Rollins is on the front lines of �鶹ԭ��’s cybersecurity, but what he really likes is setting up and maintaining networks. “I really like the physical aspect of it, pulling cables and plugging things in and setting up switches. Things in networking make sense.” To gain networking experience, Rollins took a job with the National Guard as a cyber network auditor. In that position, he helped to assess the cybersecurity of municipal government organizations across the state. “I wasn’t planning to get into cyber. I wanted to engineer things. I wanted to build things and fix them when they break.”

At �鶹ԭ��, he gets the best of both worlds.

Rollins came to work at �鶹ԭ�� in Jan. 2024 as the College’s cyber and network security specialist. That ampersand means that in addition to cybersecurity, he gets to do what he always wanted to do: oversee a network. “I get to make changes, and influence what changes are made. I get to own this network. It’s my baby.”

Chris Rollins with his wife, Raychel, and daughters, Paisley and Lydia.

His real babies are named Paisley, Lydia, and Crypto.

At �鶹ԭ��, Rollins is known as the cyber and network security specialist. In the National Guard, he’s known as staff sergeant. But at home, he’s just dad. Rollins is married to Raychel, and together they have two girls, Paisley and Lydia. The family just adopted a Golden Retriever named Crypto. What’s with all the Y’s in the names? He and Raychel have continued a y-dropping tradition started by Raychel’s parents.

Had he stayed in cybersecurity for the National Guard, he would have had to learn to think like a hacker.

Rollins was working full time as a cyber network auditor for the National Guard, and he could have moved up, but doing so would have meant completing penetration testing. “That meant I would have been in a hacker role. Organizations hire penetration testers to hack into their networks, to find the holes. I didn’t want to do that. It feels like blurry lines, even if it is for the greater good. I wanted to stay on the right side of things,” he said.

Instead, he became a truck driver.

Rollins’ current contract with the National Guard ends in 2027. Per his contract, he trains with his unit one weekend a month. When he left his cybersecurity job to work for �鶹ԭ��, he had the chance to pursue a new specialty. “I made a huge 180 and went to truck driving school, but I’ve moved up a little, and now I make sure that convoys are safe, and I write reports, and other things besides just drive.” Even when he’s not serving, you’re likely to find him driving. He is an avid motorcyclist, and he and Raychel just took the kids to Florida in their fifth-wheel trailer.

Rollins’ first step in defending �鶹ԭ�� from a cyberattack: organization.

In IT, Rollins explained, it’s very easy for things to get “messy.” Wiring can be done haphazardly. An especially busy technician might share a password or network access “just this once.” A security issue might go undocumented, leaving an organization vulnerable to future attack. The best way to combat messiness, Rollins said, is to be tidy. This is where his military background comes in handy. “In the military, everything is documented — how you walk, how you exercise. Everything is documented for you. I try to do the same here, to keep everything neat, clean, and well documented.”

The one thing he wants you to know about cybersecurity: Stop clicking on things.

Public educational institutions such as �鶹ԭ�� are considered critical government infrastructure, and as such, they’re constantly getting attacked. Employees can help keep the College safe by reporting suspicious emails and activity. “Never be afraid to report something,” Rollins said. “If you get a suspicious email, report it. I’m not a scary man behind the computer. You’re not going to get in trouble.”