A free education and the chance to  fly planes attracted Andy “Drummer”  Meldrum to the U.S. Navy for a 17-  year career. Working with the Navy’s  latest aircraft sparked his interest in  technology, which he uses today as  Wells Fargo Home Mortgage’s vice  president of information protection  program and technology infrastructure.  In addition to managing technology  initiatives for the mortgage  division’s 32,000 employees, he also  serves as a charter advisory board  member for Iowa State University’s  Cyber-Innovation Institute.

Where are you from?

I grew up in Beloit,Wis.

Why did you enlist in the U.S. Navy?

Being the youngest of eight children,  I saw that it was pretty much the only  way that I could go to college. I went to  the University of Wisconsin – Madison  on an ROTC scholarship.

What did you study?

My intentions were to fly aircraft in  the military, so going into college, I  wanted to get a technical background  and understanding of systems. Math  seemed like as good a route as any  at the time.

Did you become a pilot like you had hoped?

After I graduated, I went on to train at the Navy’s flight school in Pensacola, Fla. I chose helicopters as my focus after  that and went on to a training squadron for six months before joining a squadron for three years.

Where did your nickname “Drummer” come from?

It’s my call sign.When you’re flying,  you don’t call people by their first name  or their name at all. They assign you a  name. I don’t know how to drum.

Do people still call you that today?

Absolutely. I sign all my e-mails with  it. It’s just something I’ve gotten used  to using.

What was the most challenging thing you did in the Navy?

Test pilot school. Only 50 of about 20,000 applicants are selected, and it’s an intense 11-month program. You would get an aircraft operating manual on Friday and be told to expect a test on it on Monday and your first flight on Tuesday. And you’ve never seen this aircraft before.

How did you get into information technology?

There are a few ways.When I was doing my graduate thesis, I wrote a mathematical formula and encoded that into a module. That was really my first programming introduction. And when I got into test flights, you had to understand the technology of the aircraft. Also, the Navy sent me to defense systems management school, which is six months of training on how to manage very large projects. I did that and brought that training back to manage weapons systems. And after about a year, I was asked to apply those same principles to IT management.

Why did you leave the Navy?

I got a job offer I couldn’t refuse as  the chief information officer of United  Press International. After about a year, I  stepped down to start my own business,  iDefense, a private informationsecurity  intelligence firm.We used the techniques from intelligence organizations to spy on hackers, collect that information and sell that to industry and intelligence organizations. It worked really well and was a fun startup experience.

What were the downsides of the business?

After three years, I was exhausted. My wife was six months pregnant at the time, and I decided that I couldn’t work the long hours anymore. I was able to sell some stock to investors and take some  time off to be with my family. Later that year was 9/11. We were living near  Washington, D.C., and I asked my connections in the intelligence  organizations how concerned should I be. Two of the people I talked to said they were moving their families out of town. My wife is from Des Moines, so we decided to move here to be near her family.

After living on both coasts, what is your impression of Iowa?

In D.C., if you weren’t working 12 hours a day, you weren’t working. That was the philosophy. Tack on an hour and a half commute each way, and that makes for a long day. Living five minutes from work here seems like a luxury.

Do you still fly?

I go out flying with friends occasionally  and I probably scare them a little bit. The adrenaline rush for me isn’t the same. It’s one thing if you’re flying 170  miles per hour just above tree level  with night-vision goggles. That’s fun.  Going at 1,000 feet at 90 miles per  hour: where’s the thrill? That time of  my life is behind me.