DENNIS R. GESKER
Technology Executive - CTO / VP Engineering / Director of Engineering
Bozeman, Montana, United States
dennis@gesker.com
+1 202-798-3202
https://dennis.gesker.com

Résumé: https://dennis.gesker.com/resume_full.html
Plain text: https://dennis.gesker.com/resume.txt | JSON: https://dennis.gesker.com/resume.json

SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS
Reversed a $330,000 division loss (2018) to $3M net profit by 2021 by designing and delivering AlaTrac, a GIS-enabled field service and asset-tracking platform (Android Field Collector, AWS backend).
Eliminated 8,032 administrative man-hours in year one of an in-house payroll and HR portal, rising to 15,008 per year by 2018, with $217,000 and $432,000 direct cost reductions.
Improved project analysis throughput 450% and bid turnaround 32% by 2018 through process redesign and in-house reporting.
Research and conceptual design for a $25M FCC grant application (private medical fiber network); $14M awarded to date.
Removed ArcGIS licence dependency via open source (QGIS, GDAL, PostGIS): savings equivalent to multiple full-time administrative positions.

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
IT executive who combines business operations, systems analysis, and team leadership with deep technical judgment. Consistently translates strategy into architecture, budget, process, and delivery decisions that improve financial results and reduce organizational risk.
Supported financial reporting, budgeting, operations, and strategic diversification in competitive telecommunications and data-center contracting environments, with emphasis on cost reduction, process optimization, and avoidance of sunk costs. Applied the same discipline in biotechnology settings where HIPAA requirements and early proprietary AI/ML products demanded both rigor and speed.
Maintains operational security as a core design principle, rooted in prior work supporting US State Department, intelligence, and military information systems in TS/SCI environments, and reinforced through carrier-level telecommunications infrastructure and regulated biotechnology systems.
Technology is ultimately about people. The practical mission is to support Teams, Tech, Tools & Timing so that organizations can deliver secure, reliable, and economically sound results.
· Professional History · Résumé Full

BACKGROUND
Having 30 years of experience in the information technology field, Dennis has worked with dozens of programming languages and foundational technologies across products, operating systems, databases, and cloud systems. Experience spans small LANs, carrier-level domestic WANs, and global information systems, including OCONUS operations.
Recent work emphasizes architecture ownership, pipeline design, and delivery of modern multi-platform systems using Rust, declarative infrastructure, agentic tooling, and blockchain where they provide clear advantage, while applying operational security practices developed in TS/SCI environments.
· Foundational Technologies · Résumé Full

CORE COMPETENCIES
Leadership and Human Capital Management
Process and Change Management
Information Resource Strategy and Management
IT Performance Assessment
IT Project and Program Management
Capital Planning and Investment Control
Acquisition & Organization Integration
Cybersecurity / Information Assurance (IA)
Information and Knowledge Management
Enterprise & Software Architecture
Technology Management and Assessment
Technical Staff Training & Development

TECHNICAL SKILLS
IT Strategy · Project Management · Team Leadership · Technical Staff Development · Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) · Agile & Waterfall · Enterprise Architecture · Microsoft Dynamics · System Administration · Linux · NixOS · Windows Server · Kubernetes · Docker · Podman · Blockchain · ZCash Integration · SQL · Postgresql · MySql · MS-SQL · NoSql · MongoDb · SurrealDb · DynamoDb · AWS · Azure · Linode · Contabo · Java · Jakarta EE · Quarkus · Spring Boot · Rust · Python · REST · gRPC · GIS · GeoTools · Qgis · SVN · Maven · GIT · Ansible · Terraform · Puppet · DevOps · Cloud · HIPAA Compliant Network Design
Current focus: Rust (Dioxus) full-stack applications, declarative infrastructure (NixOS, Podman/Quadlets), agentic AI development workflows, blockchain integrations for integrity/trust, and secure multi-platform delivery (web, desktop, iOS, Android).
· Training and Certifications · Portfolio

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
CANDELA GLOBAL, LLC, BOZEMAN, MONTANA
Software Engineering and DevOps Manager: January 2022 - Present
Operating locations have included Denver, CO; Oahu, HI (Fort Shafter); Eugene, OR; and Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Contractor role focused on systems architecture, modernization, delivery pipelines, and startup support. Work has spanned microservices design, cloud migration, CI/CD, private PKI, biometric identity systems, machine-learning pipeline simplification, mobile application modernization, GIS validation, and patent preparation.
TABULARE - MULTI-PLATFORM CONTACT ASSESSMENT & SCORING PLATFORM
As architect, lead developer, and product owner, designed and advanced a full-stack multi-platform application (web, desktop, iOS, Android) from concept to MVP. Owned product vision, system architecture, data models for longitudinal contact scoring and social/network assessments, security and compliance posture, and go-to-market readiness.
Built declarative, reproducible development and deployment pipelines using Nix, Podman/Quadlets, and GitHub Actions.
Used agentic AI tooling to accelerate implementation while retaining architectural control.
Incorporated blockchain mechanisms for selected integrity and trust features.
Prepared custom Terms of Service and Privacy Policy meeting App Store and Google Play requirements, with Montana arbitration and clear liability boundaries.
Technologies: Rust (Dioxus), PostgreSQL / PostgREST, authentication and billing integrations, containerized pipelines, agentic workflows, blockchain elements.
ADDITIONAL ARCHITECTURE AND DELIVERY WORK
Systems Architecture and Modernization
Microservices using Quarkus, Rust, Kubernetes, Docker, Podman, Kafka, RabbitMQ, and PostgreSQL Cron Module
Monolith-to-microservices migration (Java/Jakarta EE to Quarkus with Apache Kafka; Spring Boot to Quarkus/Vert.x)
Cloud and cloud-native work: AWS to/from Linode migrations; greenfield backend in Azure
CI/CD
Terraform, Ansible, OpenTofu
NixOS and Debian containerization
GitHub/GitLab Actions, Jenkins
Private CA / Transport Layer Security systems
Biometric identity (DNA, facial recognition)
Machine Learning
Pipeline simplification
Migration of Python/TensorFlow routines to/from Rust
Analysis and mitigation of model overfit
DNA identity validation systems
Mobile applications
Migration of JavaScript applications to Flutter
Streamlined REST, gRPC, and GraphQL backends
Startup Support
Cloud spend mitigation and cost control
Budget preparation
CapEx and depreciation planning
GIS routine validation (ArcGIS, GeoTools, PostGIS) including ArcGIS-compliant shapefile creation
US patent preparation
This body of work demonstrates practical leadership of modern architecture, secure systems, automated delivery, and product readiness in a lean environment.
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY, BOZEMAN, MONTANA
Graduate Studies Refresher: Fall 2021 ONLY
Artificial Intelligence (AI/ML) Ph.D. Participation
Full Time Fall 2021
Participate in Ph.D. Seminar
Prerequisite Coursework
Revisit Foundational Mathematics Course Work
Logic, IT Systems, Linear Algebra, Etc.
Accepted to CS Ph.D. Program
Elected to return to industry
ALAMON, INC., KALISPELL, MONTANA
Chief Technology Officer: July 2018 - August 2021
Define and represent the firm's technological agenda
Designed and Developed Mobile Application
Enabled Division recovery
$330,000 Loss 2018 to $3M Net Profit by 2021
GIS Enabled Android System using AWS as Backend
Includes GIS Data export/import/validation
ArcGIS, Windmill, PostGIS, qGIS
Includes Material Tracking and Inventory
Real Time Reporting and Work Assignment
Microsoft Dynamics Project Accounting Integration
MS-SQL Pivot Table Reporting
Automated IML Resistograph Analysis
Bluetooth IML Resistograph Integration
Achieve organizational goals as defined in the firm's strategic plan
Ensure continuity & security of technical operations
FULLY OPERATIONAL DURING COVID CRISIS
Direct and Oversee Employees, Technology Development & Technology Support Teams
Team: 2 IT Support Staff, 3 Full Time Developers, Contractors as Required
Maintain firm's technical knowledge base
Technology Landscape and Industry Developments
Employee Base Education & Professional Development
ALAMON, INC., KALISPELL, MONTANA
Operations Manager: Information Technology: March 2012 - June 2018
Sept 2017: Elected Trustee of ESOP Board
May 2017: Elected Company Officer; Secretary & Treasurer
Achieved significant cost reduction by building in house employee Payroll and HR portal
8,032 Administrative Man Hours Saved in initial year (2014)
15,008 Administrative Man Hours Saved Per Annam by 2018
Reduced project analysis time
Project analysis
Real Time Revenue Recognition Estimates
Bid Turn Around to Customer reduced by 32% by 2018
$ 217,000 Direct Cost Reduction
Project Manager Level Costs Saved
(Cash Basis) in 2015
$ 432,000 Direct Cost Reduction
Project Manager Level Costs Saved
(Cash Basis) by 2018
Ensure IT support and communication capabilities of highly mobile workforce
37 States in FY 2017
45 States in FY 2018
Architect and Design for Enterprise Applications
Project Management and oversight of SDLC using Agile, Kanban methodologies.
Full Stack Java EE Development
SQL Modeling and Normalization
Manage software development team and IT systems and support personnel
Accelerate knowledge base and capabilities of junior developers and administrative support teams
Define and Prepare Project Objectives, Design Documents and Budgets
Prepare Specifications, (Non-Disclosure Agreements) NDAs and (Requests for Pricing) RFPs for Outsourced Development Efforts
Recruit, Hire and Train New Team Members
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE, ROME, ITALY
United States Embassy, Rome, Italy
Information Management Specialist: September 2010 - February 2012
Information Management Specialists (IMS) manage and operate worldwide information technology infrastructure, including PC local and wide area networks, telecommunications systems, telephone and UHF/VHF programs, and diplomatic pouch and mail services
Ensure proper dissemination of official classified and unclassified telegraphic traffic
Embassy lead on dissemination rule optimization for State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolset
As Technological Platform/Chassi Role Provide Support for Resident Agency Personnel At Post
SIPRNet, NIPRNet, SMART, SAVANT, VIPRE, KPS, TMAP, CHRONOS, AD content transfer, etc.
Perform system administration of classified local area network (ClassNet)
Ensure network software and hardware meet DoS baselines
Ensure compliance with Diplomatic Security (DS)
Provide operational assistance and direct training to users
Create and maintain various Information Processing Center (IPC) Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Serve, on a rotating basis, as duty officer providing 24-hour on-call availability for high precedence telegrams and integrity of post communications systems and circuits
Maintain and test emergency communications equipment including alternate route and High Frequency (HF) radios
Safeguard, account for, and properly dispose of classified equipment and material (including cryptographic) in conformance with all agency IRM and DS standards
Ensure maintenance and accuracy of information technology inventory including use of the Integrated Logistics Management System (ILMS)
ALAMON, INC., KALISPELL, MONTANA
Manager - Special Projects: September 1996 - September 2010
Developed Method of Procedure for Telecommunications (Pole) asset infrastructure and inspections based on RUS standards. Developed supporting survey collection application using GeoAge FAST (running on Microsoft ME platform) and back end file processing including record import, verification & reporting application using Java SE, Java EE and MS-SQL technologies.
Trustee and member of the company's Retirement Plan Investment Committee. Committee/team provides oversight and direction for transition of the company's pooled profit sharing plan to employee self-directed plan which is 401(k) addition ready.
Provided research and conceptual design services in support of grant application ($25M) to FCC for construction of private medical fiber optic network. $14M awarded to date in the pre-engineering stage.
Implemented MS Great Plains Dynamics 6.5 & MS SQL 2000 based accounting system. Update: Deployed subsequent upgrades. Present system is MS-Dynamics GP version 10 & MS-SQL 2008 system.
Designed and implemented TL9000-V R3.0/R3.0 (ISO 9001:2000) Quality Management System resulting in successful certification. Project included in depth process identification, review and redesign in close coordination with top management and operational departments.
Designed Developed web based Database and reporting system using Java technologies (J2SDK 1.4.2, JBoss 3.x J2EE Application Server, JSP, JDBC) which facilitated integrated reporting across several data sources; MS-SQL 2000, MS-Access, PostgreSQL. Update: Upgraded this system to MS-SQL 2008, Java JDK 6, Java EE 5 using JSF, Glassfish & JPA/Toplink. Enhanced application with Swing based client application launched via Java Web Start.

EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
Katz Graduate School of Business: Masters in Business Administration (MBA)
Curriculum Track: Finance / Valuation
Graduated: 2001
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
Katz Graduate School of Business:
Masters in Management Information Systems (MS-MIS)
Curriculum Track: Software and Database Development
Graduated: 2001
DREXEL UNIVERSITY
Formerly: Medical College of Pennsylvania & Hahnemann University (MCPHU)
Bachelors of Science (Health Science)
Curriculum Track: Health Science and Humanities
Graduated: 1996
CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL
Go, Lancers!
High School Diploma
Curriculum Track: Academic
Graduated: 1991
· Professional History · Executive Profile

CERTIFICATIONS AND TRAINING
FCC - FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Amateur Radio License
2025-May
Operator Privileges: Amateur Extra
Station Privileges: Primary
Call Sign: NA1LS
DUKE/COURSERA/REMOTE
Rust Programming Specialization
Comprehensive Rust Specialization
2025-May
Software Engineering
Platform Engineering
MLOps Engineer
Data Engineering
Embedded Engineering
Backend Development
Data Engineering with Rust
2025-May
Software Development
Data Engineering
Concurrent Rust Programming
Data Structures and Algorithms
Cloud Databases and Data Processing
SQL Optimization, Big Data
Diesel, Polars, Panda, Apache Arrow
REST, gRPC
AWS SDK, AWS Lambda, AWS EFS, AWS S3
Google Cloud
Rust for Large Language Model Operations (LLMOp)
2025-May
Infrastructure as Code , IAAC
Automation and Tooling
Hugging Face
AWS Security Hub
Identity Access Management, IAM
LLMOps
Rust Candle & BERT with ONNX
Falcon LLM, Whisper LLM
AWS BigCode, AWS BedRock
PyTorch, Rust and PyTorch, Py
Rust for DevOps
2025-May
Large Scale Applications
Linux, Git, and Docker
Rust Fundamentals
2025-May
Development of reliable and high-performance applications
Python and Rust with Linux Command Line Tools
2025-May
Py03
Command Line Application Development
Code Structure
Logging and Error Handling
TECHSTRONG
Evolution of Transactional Databases
2023-Jan
FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE
PN106 Orientation - Foreign Service Specialist
PS380 Introduction to Information Resource Management
YW279 Department of State Applied Systems -- MS-Active Directory & MS-Exchange
YW119 Overseas Operations for IRM Classified Pouch Operations COMSEC and CRYPTO
YW533 S.M.A.R.T System Admin Diplomatic Communication and Cables
YW278 Citrix Metaframe Presentation Server Admin (Earned Citrix Administrator Certificate)
YW302 FASTNet Post Operation and Maintenance
YW268 UHF/VHF Emergency and Evacuation
YW142 Basic Telephone - Nortel/Avaya Norstar Key System Programming
YW286 Simulated Operations
YW497 Nortel/Avaya Meridian 61C/11C
YW496 Nortel CallPilot
MQ911 Security Overseas Seminar
· Professional Organizations · Professional History

PATENTS
Systems and Methods for Distributed Blockchain Monitoring and Inherent Latency Compensation
Filed 25 May 2023 · Application 18/323408 · Document US-20240303665-A1
Methods, systems and computer readable media for managing (e.g., queuing, batching, submission, and logging) and monitoring distributed blockchain operations such as cryptocurrency operations and transactions by client application systems and end users of a client application system to compensate for the inherent latency in distributed blockchain systems.
Systems and Methods for Economic Price Discovery in Social Media Networks Including Games
Filed 25 May 2023 · Application 18/323409
Methods, systems and computer readable media for economic price discovery in social media networks including games are described. For example, a system and method can include assessing content, enhancing the quality of end user interaction, and overall utility of a social media network or information system by performing price discovery utilizing a user interface and price discovery mechanism among assessment controls utilized on a social media platform or application.
· Publications · Portfolio · Professional History

PUBLICATIONS
Two Must-Have Tools for Jakarta EE Developers
InfoQ.com
April 2022
Enter Jakarta EE: an Inoculation Against Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt in the Java Community
Linux Journal No. 287
June 2018
Blog: challenges and experiences with enterprise grade software systems and supporting components
WordPress
On-going
Introducing the Culture of Free and Open Source Software to the Department of State
Department of State - internally circulated strategy paper (SECRET/NOFORN)
November 2010
JSPWiki/GlassFish install - 18-part blog series
gesker.blogspot.com
March 2007
Migrating to Mozilla Thunderbird
SysAdmin Magazine - Volume 14, No. 6
June 2005
J2EE: A Shotgun Start
Byte.Com
January 2003
Alternatives for Dynamic Web Development
Linux Journal No. 83
March 2001
· Trademarks · Professional Organizations · Résumé Full

PROJECTS
TABULARE - MULTI-PLATFORM CONTACT ASSESSMENT & SCORING PLATFORM
Date: 2024 - Present
Role: Architect, Lead Developer & Product Owner (Candela Global)
Designed, built, and advanced a full-stack multi-platform application (web, desktop, iOS, Android) from concept through MVP. Owned the complete lifecycle: product vision, system architecture, data modeling, security and compliance posture, CI/CD pipelines, testing strategy, and go-to-market readiness.
Established declarative, reproducible development and deployment pipelines (Nix, Podman/Quadlets, GitHub Actions) that support consistent environments from local development through production.
Applied agentic AI tooling as an accelerator for implementation while retaining architectural control and code quality standards.
Incorporated blockchain-based mechanisms for selected integrity and trust features.
Designed longitudinal contact scoring and social/network assessment capabilities with associated data models and APIs.
Prepared custom Terms of Service and Privacy Policy aligned with App Store and Google Play requirements, emphasizing clear liability boundaries and Montana arbitration.
Technologies: Rust (Dioxus), PostgreSQL / PostgREST, authentication & billing integrations, containerized pipelines, agentic development workflows, blockchain elements, NixOS.
Outcome: Demonstrated end-to-end ownership of a modern product - strategy, architecture, secure implementation, automated delivery, and compliance readiness - as a lean technical leader.
AVEUM SYSTEMS - DNA BASED ID AND TRACKING SYSTEM
Date: Spring 2024
Supported Aveum Systems, Inc. in formulating their technological road map for developing massively scalable DNA information systems and related technologies. The work focused on identity systems that are hyper-secure, cryptographically rigorous, AI/ML-backed, and resistant to AI-based attacks.
Aveum Systems, Inc. is a Delaware Corporation operating in the US and Europe with pilot programs targeted in Africa and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
ALATRAC - MONETIZE & MARKET READY
Date: June 2021
AlaTrac is a field service scheduling, asset tracking, and assessment platform used by Alamon field teams to assign, inspect, and capture attributes of industrial and utility assets (telephone poles, energy storage units, cellular towers, and related infrastructure). The solution contributed to division recovery and was positioned for productization as a new revenue source.
Key capabilities include geolocation, role-based field rules, intelligent data routing, image and Bluetooth telemetry capture via an Android Field Collector application, and bandwidth-aware synchronization to the AWS-backed core platform. The system moved beyond MVP into beta with continued hardening for third-party access.
TRANSFORM APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE
Date: July 2019
Initiated and led the transformation of critical legacy applications from monolithic to microservices and distributed systems. Technologies included Jakarta EE, MicroProfile, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Lucene/Elasticsearch, GeoTools, and the Hadoop ecosystem (Hive, Spark, etc.), with selective use of cloud vendors.
RESTRUCTURE TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Date: March 2018
Engaged external subject-matter experts, acquired personnel aligned to green-field development needs, optimized software development processes, and restructured the technology organization so that structural changes remained within financial constraints while supporting strategic growth.
FEDERAL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES PROCESS DEVELOPMENT
Date: March 2017
Designed, implemented, graphically mapped, and trained cross-functional teams on a new process to absorb, screen, evaluate, pursue, and track both direct and subcontract opportunities generated by the U.S. Federal Business Opportunity system (FBO.gov). The process improved communication across departments.
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION PROCESSING COST REDUCTION
Date: February 2017
Reduced or avoided significant ArcGIS licensing costs by introducing open-source alternatives (QGIS, GDAL, PostGIS). Trained key users and enabled equivalent functionality for ordinary ESRI-compatible file processing, producing savings equivalent to multiple full-time administrative positions.
MARKETING EFFORT SUPPORT
Date: April 2016
Supported both direct customer contact and technical aspects of the company's marketing effort, providing a practical view of account management alongside deep technical work.
MS-ACCESS MARKETING DATABASE
Date: November 2015
Led team design and implementation of a normalized MS-Access 2013 database for customer contact tracking, bid opportunity follow-up, and revenue projection. Features included austere navigation, automated ICS calendar notifications independent of the user's email client, and low ongoing cost relative to cloud alternatives.
ENHANCED PROJECT REPORTING SITE
Date: August 2015
Built a Java EE (GlassFish, JSF/PrimeFaces, EclipseLink) reporting site that pulled project data from MS-Dynamics/MS-SQL and distributed performance, trending, and chart information to leadership and field managers without requiring additional Dynamics licenses.
FILE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Date: May 2015
Developed a Java EE site that securely distributed payroll information and allowed administrative staff to publish documents by dropping files into a shared Windows folder. The system eliminated ADP payroll service costs, postal costs, and improved document distribution speed.
· Portfolio · Résumé Full

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Jakarta EE Ambassadors
Leadership Council · jakartaee-ambassadors.io
Society of Catholic Scientists
Member (Graduate Student) · catholicscientists.org
Eclipse Foundation
Member · eclipse.org
JCP
Java Community Process
Member · Technology Specification Organization · jcp.org
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Member · eff.org
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Associate Member · ieee.org
· Publications · Professional History