My manager asked me to put together a walking deck.

The classic version is a PowerPoint that introduces who you are: your story, your principles, what you do outside of work, what you’ve done professionally, and where you’re headed. It does the job, but once the meeting is over it just sits in OneDrive and never gets touched again.

I wanted to do something a little different with mine. Same goal, less fluff, and a page I can actually keep adding to.

Section 01 · Hi, I'm Thor

Start with the person.#

Thor Draper Jr. Charlotte native, back in uptown two blocks from the Belk Theater. Sports junkie: Panthers, Hornets, Yankees. Married my wife in Banff on 7/11 (her birthday plus mine). Our adopted mutt Lloyd handles the household charisma.

Thor on Panthers draft day in Charlotte
Charlotte. Panthers, Hornets, and a Yankees.
Thor and his wife in Banff
Banff, 7/11.
Lloyd the dog
Lloyd. Household charisma director.
Teaching, technical work, or Microsoft community moment
Teaching cyber, the night job.
Thor on the floor of the hometown gym he owned
Gym owner. Operator, coach.
Section 02 · The Career Signal

A seller's instinct, rebuilt on technical depth.#

Senior Security Solution Engineer, MicrosoftCharlotte, NC

I loved sales enough to rebuild the technical depth around it.#

A decade of selling and leading, then six years of hands-on cloud and security work. Now I want to carry the security number.

  1. 01 · Where I startedSales, service, and entrepreneurship.

    A decade of selling, leading, military service, and running my own hometown gym.

  2. 02 · The reinventionMSP by day, cyber instructor by night.

    Sold the gym before the pandemic and rebuilt deliberately around security depth.

  3. 03 · Microsoft, fueled by curiosityA.A.S. at the door. B.P.S. while in the seat.

    CPCC Cloud and Virtualization opened Azure Networking Rapid Response. A SANS B.P.S. in Applied Cybersecurity, earned on nights and weekends, pulled me into the Security STU.

ThesisSales judgment, now backed by security depth. I can connect a customer's security risk to a business case and a deal.

Thor Draper Jr portrait
Thor Draper JrSenior Security Solution Engineer · Microsoft
Section 03 · What I Bring

I sell security the way a GBB should.#

  • I make the market with the account team.Pre-sales across U.S. healthcare payors, providers, and life sciences. I shape security opportunities with the seller and build trust with the people who own the budget and the risk.
  • I run the v-team from discovery to proof.I lead discovery, architecture reviews, workshops, and demos, then pull in specialists, engineering, and partners to get a customer to a deployment plan.
  • I build the business case.A 40-plus-person branch with a P&L, a business I owned and sold, and payroll and technology sales before Microsoft. I translate posture gaps into cost, risk, and a decision.
  • 8-figure TCVMicrosoft 365 E5 step-up
  • 7-figureIdentity governance motion
  • Mid-6-figureDefender Experts expansion
  • Microsoft 100 percent sales attainment badge for 2026100% Sales AttainmentMicrosoft - 2026
  • Microsoft Living Our Culture award badge, FY26 Q3Living Our CultureMicrosoft - FY26 Q3
  • Sales Excellence Momentum Program badge for Enterprise Sales Ready, FY26 H2Sales Excellence Momentum ProgramEnterprise Sales Ready - FY26 H2
  • Microsoft Hackathon 2025 Challenge Winner badgeHackathon Challenge WinnerMicrosoft - 2025
Section 04 · How I Built the Range

Each chapter added something I carry into the next seat.#

01 / 03 · 2010 - 2019

A decade of selling, leading, and serving.#

Carried forwardTrust at Scale Led a 40-plus Enterprise branch team

A decade in sales and service: Enterprise Branch Manager at the largest non-airport location, Paychex seller, hometown gym owner, and Army National Guard infantryman. The through-line was operating discipline: customers first, team development, growth, then profit.

  • Enterprise Branch Manager: 40-plus team at largest non-airport location
  • B2B and B2C across Enterprise, Paychex, and gym ownership
  • Four-prong approach: customers, employees, growth, profits
  • serviceArmy National GuardE-4 Specialist, 11B Infantryman
  • educationReturned to educationRe-engaged on degrees and certs

Sales taught trust. Ownership taught risk. Teaching taught clarity. Microsoft is where they compound.

Section 05 · Voices Around the Work

Credibility compounds when other people say it for you.#

Captured from Microsoft leadership, sales peers, and cross-org partners.

  • Microsoft leader
    Thor consistently operates at the next level, demonstrating strong judgment and independence in complex, ambiguous environments. He translates emerging requirements into scalable, repeatable mechanisms that drive measurable impact across teams. His cross-functional influence and ability to create clarity where none exists elevate both execution and strategy.
    Erfan SetorkSr Solution Engineer Mgmt
  • Sales security peer
    It is a privilege to work with Thor Draper as my Sr. Solution Engineer. Thor has excelled in his role as a Senior Solution Engineer specializing in security. Thor consistently demonstrates a deep understanding of complex security challenges and offers innovative solutions that deliver measurable results. His technical expertise is complemented by exceptional communication skills, allowing him to effectively translate technical concepts to stakeholders at all levels.
    Chad KrantzSr. Security Specialist
  • Cross-org technical teammate
    Your technical knowledge, easy-going personality and dependability, I know that if I reach out to for help with a customer of mine, you'll make yourself available to engage as needed. And likewise, I know that you have no hesitation in reaching out to me when you're seeking my input or opinion on a customer matter.
    Kevin UyPrincipal Cloud Solution Architect
Section 06 · The Next Seat

GBB Security, then sales leadership.#

The seat I want is Solution Sales Advisor on the Security GBB. Be the security expert for a region, coach account teams on pipeline and deal shaping, own the C-level relationships, and orchestrate the v-team and partners from discovery through pilot. I've done the technical half of that job for two years. The decade before it was the sales half.

  1. NowSenior Security SE
  2. Target seatSolution Sales Advisor, GBB Security
  3. Proof4 / 4 FY26 buckets · 22 certs · SANS B.P.S.
  4. ThenSales leadership
Open the career development plan

What I learned from Carson#

The starting point came from Carson Heady’s post on LinkedIn about what a walking deck is actually for. I kept those objectives, tightened mine into seven sections, and added recognition earned during my time as a Security Solution Engineer. A few things stuck with me:

  • A walking deck isn’t a resume. It’s a self-intro short enough to read in the time it takes someone to grab a coffee.
  • The objectives matter more than the slides — who I am, what I stand for, what I’ve done, and what I’m ready to do next.
  • The people who’ve worked with you can vouch for you in ways your own bullet points can’t.
  • A clear next seat gives the conversation somewhere to go.

I shaped those objectives around the conversation I actually want to have: who I am, the range I bring, how I built it, what others have seen, and where I want to go next. Keeping it on the web means I can update the evidence as the work changes and pull it up whenever the conversation happens.

The forks section#

The part I’m proudest of is the forks. Your career isn’t just the path you walked. It’s also the versions of you that didn’t happen, and why. Naming the paths I turned down (the Paychex ladder, the empty pandemic gym, heads-down at the MSP) makes the one I actually walked make a lot more sense.

Closing thought#

Looking back, the chapters actually line up — as long as I’m disciplined enough to carry the right lessons forward. Sales taught me trust. Ownership taught me risk. Teaching taught me how to be clear. Microsoft is where all of that finally starts to compound.

If you’re reading this and thinking about building your own version, have fun with it. Tell your story however you want. The format is yours to invent. Just keep the parts that are true, make the pattern obvious, and put it somewhere it can keep growing.