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Full Profile

Rudy Martinez

Defense Technology Architect · Founder · Author · Doctoral Candidate

30 years building and leading technology organizations — from Navy cryptographic communications to directing IT at a $2.8B defense AI company. I've managed $6M budgets, led CMMC certification programs protecting $50M+ in DoD contracts, and launched enterprise platforms that generated immediate revenue at global scale.

Currently: Co-Founder of Vaelance (backup & disaster recovery consulting for Texas businesses and defense contractors) and author of The AI Mindset.

Motto: “Ethics fuels innovation; the future demands both.”

Career — 30 Years

Co-Founder · CIO · CTO · CAIOVaelance
2024 – Present·San Antonio, TX
  • ·Backup and disaster recovery consulting for Texas businesses and defense contractors.
  • ·On-site BDR installation, ransomware recovery, and CMMC-aligned architecture.
  • ·SDVOSB — Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business.
Head of Cybersecurity & ITUndisclosed Defense Venture
Jun 2025 – Dec 2025·Silicon Valley, CA
  • ·Stealth-stage autonomous systems startup in the defense manufacturing sector.
  • ·Achieved CMMC Level 1 certification in under 3 months.
  • ·Built full security stack: GCP Assured Controls, Qualys, Splunk, CrowdStrike.
Director of IT · Acting VP of ITShield AI
May 2023 – May 2025·San Diego, CA (remote)
  • ·Senior Technology Leader reporting to executive leadership at a $2.8B defense AI company.
  • ·Directed enterprise-wide CMMC Level 2 certification protecting $50M+ in DoD contracts.
  • ·Led SCIF provisioning and accreditation across Washington D.C. and Frisco, TX facilities.
  • ·Built 6-engineer DevSecOps team; reduced critical vulnerabilities reaching production by 70%, eliminating ~$300K in annual remediation costs.
  • ·Directed development of drone telemetry application that was productized and licensed to external defense companies — creating a new revenue stream.
  • ·Deployed Proxmox as VMware alternative; architected Azure and GCC High cloud environments aligned to FedRAMP and ITAR.
  • ·$6M IT budget. 15% cost reduction within first year.
Director of Corporate ITAPCT Inc.
Dec 2021 – Apr 2023·Austin, TX
  • ·Full IT ownership across 8 distributed manufacturing facilities. $3M IT budget.
  • ·Led CMMC Level 2 audit preparation — first major defense compliance program in my career.
  • ·Deployed edge computing, IoT building automation, and converged access control systems.
  • ·Reduced security incidents by 40% through enhanced monitoring and threat detection.
Senior Manager, Information SystemsVisa Inc.
Jun 2015 – Dec 2021·Austin, TX·Three roles across 6.5 years
  • ·Senior Systems Engineer (2015–2018): Technical lead for 20+ HR/Learning SaaS applications. Migrated ~40 apps to Azure SSO. Led Taleo Enterprise implementation (300GB+ PII).
  • ·IT Manager, Learning Applications (2018–2021): 7-person team. March 2020: launched enterprise LMS with 30,000+ courses during COVID remote work transition. Visa University architecture.
  • ·Senior IT Manager (May–Dec 2021): DevOps manager for CI/CD across 30 applications. Portfolio lead for 30 SaaS apps under ISO 27001 / SOC 2. Led Visa University launch — ~$5M first-year revenue. Earned Corporate IT Challenge Coin for mentorship.
  • ·M&A Integrations Lead: Synchronized HR systems for 2,000+ employees across 5 acquisitions on 60-day cycles.
Manager, Application ManagementDell Inc.
2004 – 2014·Austin, TX
  • ·10 years. Enterprise incident management and cloud application governance for a 150,000-employee organization across 180 countries.
  • ·Incident Commander for Dell.com platform outage. Briefed CEO Michael Dell during a manufacturing plant outage.
  • ·1,000+ desktop deployments. ITIL frameworks reducing mean time to resolution across critical systems.
Information Systems Technician (IT1 / E-6)U.S. Navy
1994 – 2004·Various · Last duty: PSD Pensacola, FL
  • ·10 years. Petty Officer 1st Class (IT1, E-6) at discharge. Honorable discharge.
  • ·Defense Messaging System administration, cryptographic communications, PKI certificate administration.
  • ·Managed 12 servers, led a 6-person team. Radioman 'A' School, IT-782 DMS Administrator, SCO-Unix certification.
  • ·Enlisted San Antonio, TX (1994). Post-service: transitioned to Dell in Austin.

Education

Strayer University

MS, Information Assurance (Cybersecurity)

2019 – 2022

GPA 4.0

St. Edward's University

BA, Computer Systems Management

Accelerated completion leveraging Post-9/11 GI Bill and prior learning assessment.

2011 – 2013

GPA 3.8

Credentials & Status

Military ServiceU.S. Navy IT1 (E-6), 10 years, Honorable Discharge
Business StatusSDVOSB — Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business
Published AuthorThe AI Mindset (2024) — co-authored with 30+ global contributors

Published Work

The AI Mindset

Co-authored with 30+ global contributors. Translates complex socio-technical questions about AI into actionable frameworks for leaders, builders, and ethicists. Case studies span defense, public sector, and decentralized systems.

  • · AI governance playbooks for enterprise and defense
  • · Ethical alignment in accelerated innovation cycles
  • · Tactical frameworks for AI culture and creative collaboration
Get the Book →

Get in Touch

Advisory · Consulting · Speaking · Collaboration

Open to fractional CTO work, CMMC advisory, keynote speaking, academic collaboration, and strategic technology partnerships.

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