Where Are They Now? Juan Bocanegra
11/6/2020 9:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving, My GW: Celebrating our Stories
Hall of Fame swimmer has special appreciation for GW
Juan Bocanegra was born in Guatemala, took up swimming while living in North Carolina and blossomed into an Olympic-caliber competitor as a South Florida resident. There was a stint in Costa Rica. These days, he calls Dubai home.
To be sure, Bocanegra's story features scenes spanning the globe, but many of the most important chapters took place at GW.
Beyond his decorated career representing the Buff and Blue, he met his wife Kristen on deck at Smith Center Pool, earned two degrees from the university and celebrated the birth of his daughter at GW Hospital.
All those special memories and many more came flooding back last November on a campus visit for Bocanegra's Hall of Fame induction. He was excited to play Foggy Bottom tour guide for 5-year-old Maya.
"Coming back to D.C. was a dream," said Bocanegra, who represented Guatemala at the 1996 Atlanta Games before collecting six individual Atlantic 10 gold medals from 1997-2000. "My daughter's old enough now that I can say 'Hey, this is where I used to live, this is where Mommy used to live, this is the hospital you were born in, this is the pool we used to swim in.' To be able to share it all with her was just absolutely incredible."
A leader in the field of cybersecurity, Bocanegra now serves as Director of Consulting Solutions at Blackberry for a region spanning the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. Though he's relocated far from GW, he maintains a deep appreciation for his time there and the wide-ranging ways that the experience has shaped his life.
"It really is absolutely everything to me from family to sports to schooling and work," Bocanegra said. "Honestly, if I could do it over again, I would do it exactly the same way."
Back in the summer of 1996, Bocanegra was just shy of his 18th birthday when he swam the 100-meter freestyle on the world stage in Atlanta. A few weeks later, he was in Foggy Bottom, eager to find his fit with the Colonials under head coach Mark Hagen.
He made an instant connection with classmates Tim Champney, Nick Hopman and Dave Simonetti, forming a group that brought out the best in each other in and out of the pool. The arrival of his childhood friend Alvaro Fortuny the next year only added to the competitiveness during training.
"In my opinion, it was a dream team," said Bocanegra, who was named A-10 Most Outstanding Performer in 1998 after winning gold in the 200 IM and 400 IM and silver in the 200 fly to help the Colonials to a runner-up finish. "It was a great set of people, fast, everyone really hungry to improve. From that perspective, it was everything that I ever wanted in a team."
By the time he graduated in 2000, Bocanegra owned four individual program records and three relay marks. He remains well represented in the all-time record book, holding Top-10 times in the 50 free, 100 fly, 200 fly and 400 IM even amid the program's recent rise on the conference and national scene.
"Seeing the times continue to get pushed down the list, I'm honored to have been a part of that program," Bocanegra said. "It's kind of mind-boggling to see how fast some of the swims are now. You try to put yourself back to when you were swimming, and it's like 'Oh my god, how can these guys be that fast?'"
A Psychology major as an undergrad, Bocanegra soon discovered his professional passion. He picked up a Software Engineering degree from Universidad Cenfotec during his time in Costa Rica before returning to D.C. in 2002 to pursue a master's in Computer Science through the School of Engineering and Applied Science and work as a research assistant under visiting professor Sead Muftic.
Along the way, he reconnected with the former Kristen Janeczek, a talented sprinter who was ranked No. 2 in program history in the 100 free when her collegiate career finished. The former Colonials were married in a 2008 ceremony not far from campus and welcomed Maya at GW Hospital in 2014 to cement their unique connection to their university.
"To think of all that happened right there within maybe a 10-block radius, it's just mind-blowing," Bocanegra said.
In cybersecurity, Bocanegra is on the cutting edge of a constantly evolving field. New threats present themselves daily, so there's always work to be done to stay one step ahead of hackers.
After an enjoyable run as a penetration tester whose job is to hack into a company's own network and report on how the vulnerabilities might be patched, Bocanegra moved into teaching. He trained hundreds of NSA agents, rising to become leader of Intel's global training operation.
In 2016, Bocanegra took on a new adventure, heading to the United Arab Emirates to shepherd the launch of an elite cyber academy designed to beef up the Middle Eastern nation's cyber defenses. After 2 ½ years of design and planning, the one-year program launched to immediate results with graduates showing their skills at international hacking competitions.
"The cyber academy was awesome," Bocanegra said. "It was a blank sheet of paper, and the requirements were just 'We want the best defenders for our country. Build that.'"
For the past two years, Bocanegra has been at Blackberry as part of the tech company's consulting arm. He works with an array of clients over an expansive 50-plus country region.
He's still based in Dubai, enjoying the fast-growing city's unique worldliness and endless sunshine, but he was happy to have a good reason to make the trip to D.C. with Kristen and Maya last fall.
When GW head coach Brian Thomas called with the news of his Hall of Fame election, Bocanegra first wondered if it was a joke, but he quickly moved to humbled at the prospect of taking his place among the Buff and Blue's all-time greats.
The ceremony was a night to remember: Bocanegra's parents came up from Miami, he enjoyed chatting with his tablemate GW President Thomas J. LeBlanc and he pushed through jet lag to deliver a speech that came from the heart.
"I'm just thankful," Bocanegra said. "It might sound a little cheesy, but I can't even begin to describe how much I feel I owe GW."
To be sure, Bocanegra's story features scenes spanning the globe, but many of the most important chapters took place at GW.
Beyond his decorated career representing the Buff and Blue, he met his wife Kristen on deck at Smith Center Pool, earned two degrees from the university and celebrated the birth of his daughter at GW Hospital.
All those special memories and many more came flooding back last November on a campus visit for Bocanegra's Hall of Fame induction. He was excited to play Foggy Bottom tour guide for 5-year-old Maya.
"Coming back to D.C. was a dream," said Bocanegra, who represented Guatemala at the 1996 Atlanta Games before collecting six individual Atlantic 10 gold medals from 1997-2000. "My daughter's old enough now that I can say 'Hey, this is where I used to live, this is where Mommy used to live, this is the hospital you were born in, this is the pool we used to swim in.' To be able to share it all with her was just absolutely incredible."
A leader in the field of cybersecurity, Bocanegra now serves as Director of Consulting Solutions at Blackberry for a region spanning the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. Though he's relocated far from GW, he maintains a deep appreciation for his time there and the wide-ranging ways that the experience has shaped his life.
"It really is absolutely everything to me from family to sports to schooling and work," Bocanegra said. "Honestly, if I could do it over again, I would do it exactly the same way."
Back in the summer of 1996, Bocanegra was just shy of his 18th birthday when he swam the 100-meter freestyle on the world stage in Atlanta. A few weeks later, he was in Foggy Bottom, eager to find his fit with the Colonials under head coach Mark Hagen.
He made an instant connection with classmates Tim Champney, Nick Hopman and Dave Simonetti, forming a group that brought out the best in each other in and out of the pool. The arrival of his childhood friend Alvaro Fortuny the next year only added to the competitiveness during training.
"In my opinion, it was a dream team," said Bocanegra, who was named A-10 Most Outstanding Performer in 1998 after winning gold in the 200 IM and 400 IM and silver in the 200 fly to help the Colonials to a runner-up finish. "It was a great set of people, fast, everyone really hungry to improve. From that perspective, it was everything that I ever wanted in a team."
By the time he graduated in 2000, Bocanegra owned four individual program records and three relay marks. He remains well represented in the all-time record book, holding Top-10 times in the 50 free, 100 fly, 200 fly and 400 IM even amid the program's recent rise on the conference and national scene.
"Seeing the times continue to get pushed down the list, I'm honored to have been a part of that program," Bocanegra said. "It's kind of mind-boggling to see how fast some of the swims are now. You try to put yourself back to when you were swimming, and it's like 'Oh my god, how can these guys be that fast?'"
A Psychology major as an undergrad, Bocanegra soon discovered his professional passion. He picked up a Software Engineering degree from Universidad Cenfotec during his time in Costa Rica before returning to D.C. in 2002 to pursue a master's in Computer Science through the School of Engineering and Applied Science and work as a research assistant under visiting professor Sead Muftic.
Along the way, he reconnected with the former Kristen Janeczek, a talented sprinter who was ranked No. 2 in program history in the 100 free when her collegiate career finished. The former Colonials were married in a 2008 ceremony not far from campus and welcomed Maya at GW Hospital in 2014 to cement their unique connection to their university.
"To think of all that happened right there within maybe a 10-block radius, it's just mind-blowing," Bocanegra said.
In cybersecurity, Bocanegra is on the cutting edge of a constantly evolving field. New threats present themselves daily, so there's always work to be done to stay one step ahead of hackers.
After an enjoyable run as a penetration tester whose job is to hack into a company's own network and report on how the vulnerabilities might be patched, Bocanegra moved into teaching. He trained hundreds of NSA agents, rising to become leader of Intel's global training operation.
In 2016, Bocanegra took on a new adventure, heading to the United Arab Emirates to shepherd the launch of an elite cyber academy designed to beef up the Middle Eastern nation's cyber defenses. After 2 ½ years of design and planning, the one-year program launched to immediate results with graduates showing their skills at international hacking competitions.
"The cyber academy was awesome," Bocanegra said. "It was a blank sheet of paper, and the requirements were just 'We want the best defenders for our country. Build that.'"
For the past two years, Bocanegra has been at Blackberry as part of the tech company's consulting arm. He works with an array of clients over an expansive 50-plus country region.
He's still based in Dubai, enjoying the fast-growing city's unique worldliness and endless sunshine, but he was happy to have a good reason to make the trip to D.C. with Kristen and Maya last fall.
When GW head coach Brian Thomas called with the news of his Hall of Fame election, Bocanegra first wondered if it was a joke, but he quickly moved to humbled at the prospect of taking his place among the Buff and Blue's all-time greats.
The ceremony was a night to remember: Bocanegra's parents came up from Miami, he enjoyed chatting with his tablemate GW President Thomas J. LeBlanc and he pushed through jet lag to deliver a speech that came from the heart.
"I'm just thankful," Bocanegra said. "It might sound a little cheesy, but I can't even begin to describe how much I feel I owe GW."