Dennis R. Gesker
Technology Executive — CTO / VP Engineering / Director of Engineering · Bozeman, Montana
dennis.gesker.com · dennis@gesker.com · +1 202-798-3202
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.
Maintains operational security as a core design principle, rooted in work supporting State Department, intelligence and military systems in TS/SCI environments. Current focus: Rust (Dioxus) full-stack applications, declarative infrastructure (NixOS, Podman/Quadlets), agentic AI workflows, blockchain for integrity and trust, and secure multi-platform delivery.
Core Competencies
IT Strategy · Project Management · Team Leadership · Technical Staff Development · Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) · Agile & Waterfall · Enterprise Architecture · Cloud Architecture · Microservices · CI/CD · DevOps · Cost Reduction · Security and Compliance (HIPAA, TS/SCI) · Organizational Change
Technologies: Rust, Java, Jakarta EE, Quarkus, Spring Boot, Python, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Kubernetes, Docker, Podman, NixOS, Linux, AWS, Azure, Terraform, Ansible, Kafka, RabbitMQ, Elasticsearch, GeoTools, QGIS, PostGIS, Git.
Professional Experience
Candela Global, LLC — Bozeman, Montana
Software Engineering and DevOps Manager | January 2022 – Present
- Architected and delivered Tabulare, a multi-platform contact assessment and scoring platform (web, desktop, iOS, Android), from concept to MVP as architect, lead developer and product owner.
- Built declarative, reproducible delivery pipelines (Nix, Podman/Quadlets, GitHub Actions), consistent from local development to production.
- Led microservices design and modernization: Java/Jakarta EE to Quarkus with Apache Kafka; Spring Boot to Quarkus/Vert.x; AWS to/from Linode migrations; greenfield Azure backend.
- Delivered private CA and TLS infrastructure, biometric identity (DNA, facial recognition), and ML pipeline simplification including TensorFlow to Rust migration; prepared two pending U.S. patents and App Store / Google Play compliance documentation.
Alamon, Inc. — Chief Technology Officer | July 2018 – August 2021
- Designed and delivered AlaTrac, reversing a $330,000 division loss (2018) to $3M net profit by 2021.
- Led legacy-to-microservices transformation: Jakarta EE, MicroProfile, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Lucene/Elasticsearch, GeoTools, Hadoop ecosystem.
- Restructured the technology department, engaging external experts and aligning hiring to greenfield delivery within financial constraints.
Alamon, Inc. — Operations Manager: Information Technology | March 2012 – June 2018
- Built the in-house payroll and HR portal: 8,032 administrative man-hours saved in year one, 15,008 per year by 2018; $217,000 and $432,000 direct cost reductions.
- Improved project analysis throughput 450% and bid turnaround 32% by 2018.
- Delivered Java EE reporting against MS-Dynamics and MS-SQL, distributing performance data without additional Dynamics licences; migrated GIS processing to QGIS, GDAL and PostGIS.
Alamon, Inc. — Manager, Special Projects | September 1996 – September 2010
- Provided research and conceptual design for a $25M FCC grant application for a private medical fiber optic network; $14M awarded to date.
- Implemented MS Great Plains Dynamics and MS SQL accounting, including subsequent upgrades.
- Designed and implemented the TL9000-V / ISO 9001:2000 quality management system through successful certification.
U.S. Department of State — U.S. Embassy, Rome, Italy
Information Management Specialist | September 2010 – February 2012
- Supported information systems in a TS/SCI environment.
- Authored an internally circulated strategy paper introducing free and open source software to the Department (November 2010).
- Received the Extra Mile Award (2011) and Certificate of Appreciation (2010–2012).
Montana State University — Bozeman, Montana · Graduate Studies Refresher, Fall 2021
Education
- University of Pittsburgh, Katz Graduate School of Business — MBA, Finance / Valuation (2001)
- University of Pittsburgh, Katz Graduate School of Business — MS Management Information Systems, Software and Database Development (2001)
- Drexel University (formerly MCPHU) — BS, Health Science (1996)
Certifications
- FCC Amateur Extra (call sign NA1LS) · Foreign Service Institute · TechStrong
- Duke / Coursera: Rust Programming Specialization, Data Engineering with Rust, Rust for LLMOps, Rust for DevOps, Rust Fundamentals
Patents
- US-20240303665-A1 (18/323408) — Distributed Blockchain Monitoring and Inherent Latency Compensation, filed 25 May 2023
- 18/323409 — Economic Price Discovery in Social Media Networks Including Games, filed 25 May 2023
Publications
- “Two Must-Have Tools for Jakarta EE Developers,” InfoQ, April 2022
- “Enter Jakarta EE: an Inoculation Against Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt,” Linux Journal No. 287, June 2018
- “Alternatives for Dynamic Web Development,” Linux Journal No. 83, March 2001