Summary
Infrastructure and security engineer with more than 10 years of government contracting experience on classified networks, secure datacenter operations, and cloud infrastructure. Site Lead for a 12-administrator datacenter team; contributed to dozens of successful Authorization to Operate (ATO) efforts and led two complete packages. Hands-on with RMF/STIG compliance, Nutanix and VMware virtualization, AWS, and automation, and now building security tooling of my own.
- Dozens of ATO efforts across DoD programs, including two complete packages led end to end at SMX and the secure campus wireless ATO delivered with NSA integrators.
- Led a 12-administrator datacenter team as Site Lead and Product Owner; migrated 100+ VMs from VMware to Nutanix HCI with under four hours of downtime.
- Cut costs where security allowed it: $100K+ per year through microsegmentation, and an AWS Outpost bill from $1,400 to $300 a month.
Experience
Independent consultant · Co-founder and sole member
YATC LLC (Yet Another Tech Company) · Remote · Dec 2023 – Present- Co-founded a managed service provider part-time alongside the SMX role in December 2023; now its sole member
- Design, operate and harden a self-hosted platform on a Rocky Linux VPS: GitLab CE with CI runners, OpenBao secrets with AppRole delivery, an nginx edge proxy with automated TLS renewal, Tailscale-only administration, and containers run read-only, non-root, with all capabilities dropped
- Build security tooling with written requirements, decision logs and automated tests: netstig (network STIG evidence), Spotter (a macOS terminal with bounded AI assistance), the STIG Checklist Editor, and an OpenBao desktop client
Senior System Administrator / Site Lead
SMX · Ridgecrest, CA · Oct 2023 – May 2025- Led two complete ATO packages from control selection through authorization
- Led a 12-administrator datacenter team and drove PI planning as Product Owner, aligning technical work with operational priorities
- Migrated 100+ VMs from VMware to Nutanix HCI with less than four hours of downtime
- Engineered microsegmentation that reduced annual costs by $100K+ while meeting infrastructure security requirements
- Defined platform ownership and service expectations through a PaaS Shared Responsibility Model and service catalog
- Deployed AWS Outpost and used CloudWatch to cut its monthly cost from $1,400 to $300
- Implemented STIG hardening and remediated Nessus findings to support secure operations and authorization requirements
Senior Systems Administrator
Life Cycle Engineering · Ridgecrest, CA · Sep 2022 – Oct 2023- Primary technical point of contact for three ATO efforts
- Administered Rubrik protection for 50 TB of data, sustaining a 99% backup success rate
- Deployed SolarWinds NPM monitoring across 1,000 network devices
- Hardened 200+ servers and 1,000+ network devices against DoD STIG requirements
System Administrator
Trowbridge & Trowbridge · Ridgecrest, CA · Oct 2018 – Sep 2022- Delivered the secure campus wireless ATO in collaboration with NSA integrators
- Developed a DoD secure Wi-Fi solution supporting classified SIPRNet operations
- Migrated ~150 VMs from VMware VxRail to Nutanix HCI
- Reduced critical vulnerabilities by approximately 80% through Tenable ACAS management across approximately 100 assets
Network Administrator
Epsilon, Inc. · Ridgecrest, CA · Nov 2016 – Oct 2018- Managed full-lifecycle network infrastructure across multi-vendor environments
- Completed hardware and software upgrades with minimal downtime; led the first on-time hardware refresh in 18 months
Information Technology Specialist
IntellecTechs, Inc. · Bridgeport, CA · Apr 2016 – Nov 2016- Replaced hardware, performed backup restorations, and resolved ~50 Remedy service desk tickets weekly on a cleared site
Network Administrator / Engineer
Kurtis Company · San Francisco, CA · Oct 2014 – Apr 2016- Conducted A/V and network site surveys, created network diagrams, and supervised installations of routers, switches, wireless APs and IP cameras
Earlier: IT support technician (The Gamer's Network, 2009–2011) and freelance web developer / IT consultant (2009–2010), Modesto, CA.
Independent projects
- netstig — Python CLI that pulls network device configs, diffs them against baselines, and emits STIG Viewer .ckl checklists for ATO packages.
- Spotter — Native macOS terminal with an AI assistant whose level you set; secrets stay in the Keychain and every risky command asks first. 1,700+ tests.
- STIG Checklist Editor — Go + Wails desktop editor for DoD STIG checklists with CKL and CKLB export.
- Self-hosted platform — GitLab CE, OpenBao, hardened containers and an nginx edge proxy on a Rocky Linux VPS; runs this site.
Built with AI assistance under written requirements, decision logs and automated tests. How I work with AI.
Skills
- Security & Compliance
- STIG hardening, RMF, ATO packages, Nessus, Tenable ACAS, eMASS, OpenRMF, SCAP, IDS, Kiwi Syslog, microsegmentation (Nutanix Flow)
- Systems & Cloud Platforms
- AWS (Outpost, VPC, EC2, S3, Security Groups, CloudWatch, Systems Manager), Nutanix HCI and Prism, VMware vSphere/vCenter/ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, Windows Server, Red Hat, Oracle Linux, Ubuntu, CentOS
- Networking
- Cisco IOS, Aruba (AirWave, ClearPass), Juniper, Brocade (Layer 3, Fibre Channel), F5 BIG-IP, TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, VPC
- Automation & Tooling
- PowerShell, Python, Ansible, Tanium, Docker, GitLab CI, Go and Swift for independent projects
- Operations
- SolarWinds NPM, ServiceNow, Remedy, CloudWatch, Rubrik backup (50 TB+), Active Directory and Group Policy
- Leadership
- Site Lead for a 12-administrator team, Product Owner for PI planning, Agile delivery, vendor and project coordination, PaaS shared-responsibility model and service catalog
Education
Bachelor of Science, Cloud Computing (AWS track)
Western Governors University (online) · In progress, part-time
Computer Science coursework toward an Associate degree
Modesto Junior College, Modesto, CA · 2007 – 2009
Certifications
- Nutanix Certified Professional – Multicloud Infrastructure 6 (issued Mar 2025)
- CompTIA CySA+ ce (valid through Nov 2027)
- CompTIA Security+ ce (valid through Nov 2027)
- LPI Linux Essentials (issued Feb 2022)
- Microsoft Technology Associate: Networking Fundamentals (issued Oct 2016)
Previously held and exam history
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (held 2023 – Aug 2026, expired; renewal planned)
- ISC2 CCSP exam passed Oct 2023; certification not held (endorsement window lapsed)
Planned
AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate and AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate; exams planned, not yet scheduled.