SNDWander

26+ years of progressive IT leadership

David J. Baldwin

Executive IT Leader Infrastructure Architect Healthcare Technology Strategist

I build stable, scalable, secure technology environments—and the teams and operating models that make them last.

My work connects executive strategy with operational reality, especially through growth, acquisition, modernization, outages, and ambiguity. I remain close enough to the technology to challenge assumptions and guide consequential architecture decisions.

Explore selected impact View career journey Connect on LinkedIn

Public résumé PDF pending editorial approval.

Portrait of David J. Baldwin

Executive profile

Strategy grounded in how systems really work.

I turn complex technology environments into stable, scalable, business-aligned platforms. I build the teams, operating models, architecture, and governance needed to make that stability last.

My career began in Solaris, Linux, databases, and enterprise systems. That technical foundation grew into responsibility for service delivery, infrastructure, security, analytics, governance, teams, and enterprise technology strategy.

Healthcare sharpened the purpose behind the architecture. Reliability affects clinicians and patients; security and compliance shape trust; resource constraints demand practical judgment. I am an architect at heart, strongest when technology, people, process, risk, and business purpose must be understood as one system.

The work I value most creates clarity during change and leaves an organization more capable than I found it.

Selected impact

Evidence from the work.

Six examples show how architecture, leadership, and operating discipline translate into organizational outcomes.

Acquisition and organizational change

Continuity through acquisition

DAP Health's acquisition of Borrego Health required technical continuity while people, processes, and organizational structures were changing.

Role
Maintained infrastructure, security, and support operations while guiding transition work, process redesign, integration, and team mentoring.
What changed
Created stability in current operations while helping build the longer-term operating model for the combined organization.
Effect
Clinical and business technology remained supported through the transition; the work contributed to David's promotion to Associate CIO.
  • Integration
  • Operations
  • Security
  • Change leadership

Infrastructure and patient-care continuity

Resilient clinic connectivity

An aging WAN experienced outages nearly every week, creating avoidable disruption for distributed clinics.

Role
Led a fully redundant SD-WAN replacement and established a federal broadband-funding strategy through USAC programs.
What changed
Clinics gained backup connectivity capable of carrying operations when a primary circuit failed.
Effect
The architecture reduced operational disruption while credits and rebates materially lowered network expense.

Approximately 65% reduction in WAN costs

  • SD-WAN
  • Resilience
  • Vendor strategy
  • Healthcare operations

Organizational growth

IT built to scale

Rapid growth increased the scale, complexity, and expectations placed on technology.

Role
Expanded the IT organization and matured infrastructure, security, analytics, governance, and service delivery.
What changed
IT grew from a small team into a broader organizational capability with clearer functions and leadership depth.
Effect
Technology capacity and operating discipline evolved alongside a substantially larger healthcare organization.

~400 to ~1,600 employees · ~$50M to ~$300M organizational scale · ~4 to ~25 IT staff during CIO tenure

  • Operating models
  • Team building
  • Governance
  • Service delivery

Strategic IT transformation

From break/fix to business capability

A primarily reactive technology function needed the maturity and credibility to support organizational decisions.

Role
Built business partnerships and expanded the function across security, analytics, architecture, governance, and process improvement.
What changed
Technology planning became more connected to operational priorities, risk, service quality, and long-term organizational needs.
Effect
IT developed into a broader strategic capability while preserving the practical discipline required to run daily operations.
  • Strategy
  • Business partnership
  • Governance
  • Process improvement

Data and analytics

Analytics embedded in operations

Leaders and teams needed dependable reporting across clinical, operational, and financial questions.

Role
Developed analytics capability through data warehouse work, Tableau Server, dashboards, ad hoc analysis, and hands-on SQL.
What changed
Reporting evolved into a more structured organizational capability serving multiple decision-making contexts.
Effect
Teams gained more practical access to the information needed to understand operations and act.

Hundreds of SQL reports and queries written

  • SQL
  • Data warehousing
  • Tableau
  • Decision support

Early-stage healthcare technology

A healthcare platform from first principles

A new EMR and revenue-cycle platform needs an infrastructure and security foundation that can evolve with the product.

Role
Co-defines SaaS architecture and leads infrastructure strategy across Linux, virtualization, open source, secure access, resilience, and development environments.
What changed
Product development is being supported by explicit architectural, security, recovery, and operating-model decisions from the outset.
Effect
Infrastructure choices remain connected to scalability, engineering workflows, operational readiness, and long-term business objectives.
  • SaaS architecture
  • Linux
  • Zero trust
  • Resilience

Career journey

Technical depth, expanding responsibility.

Role progression is grouped where exact internal dates are not supplied. TXLLabs is a concurrent role alongside DAP Health.

  1. March 2026–Present

    TXLLabs

    Concurrent role

    Strategic technology leader and primary architect of the infrastructure, security, and operational foundation for an early-stage healthcare technology platform.

    Roles and selected scope

    Role progression

    • Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer

    Selected scope

    • Co-defining platform architecture and the SaaS operating model
    • Establishing Linux, virtualization, open-source, and secure development foundations
    • Designing zero-trust-aligned remote access, backup, recovery, and resilience strategies
    • Partnering with product leadership while contributing directly to environment buildout

  2. February 2012–Present

    DAP Health / Borrego Health

    Executive and operational leadership across infrastructure, security, support, analytics, acquisition integration, and long-term strategy in a multi-site healthcare environment.

    Roles and selected scope

    Role progression

    • IT Director
    • Chief Information Officer
    • Director of IT Infrastructure, Operations and Security
    • Vice President of Information Technology
    • Associate Chief Information Officer

    Selected scope

    • Maintained technology continuity through acquisition and integration
    • Led infrastructure operations, information security, technical support, and process redesign
    • Developed analytics, governance, cybersecurity, and service-delivery capabilities
    • Mentored teams through growth, restructuring, and organizational change

  3. May 2005–February 2012

    Viejas Enterprises

    Built service-management discipline, documentation, reporting, automation, and change control while remaining a Linux and UNIX technical specialist.

    Roles and selected scope

    Role progression

    • IT Manager
    • Systems Engineer

    Selected scope

    • Created a 200+ page departmental knowledge base
    • Redesigned help-desk management and ticketing
    • Contributed as IT project manager to a $15 million systems-replacement initiative
    • Implemented OpenNMS and supported disaster recovery

  4. November 2003–May 2005

    The Eastridge Group

    Managed enterprise timekeeping infrastructure and introduced open-source solutions in a nationwide staffing environment.

    Roles and selected scope

    Role progression

    • Systems Engineer

    Selected scope

    • Managed a Kronos iSeries environment supporting more than 5,000 temporary employees nationwide
    • Introduced open-source solutions

  5. May 2001–November 2003

    Network Insight LLC

    Foundational enterprise engineering work spanning Solaris systems and Microsoft SQL Server administration.

    Roles and selected scope

    Role progression

    • Systems Engineer

    Selected scope

    • Senior Solaris system engineering
    • Microsoft SQL Server database administration

Leadership approach

Build the conditions for good work.

Leadership is the practical work of understanding a system, creating clarity, and helping people succeed without relying on heroics.

Understand the system

Technology rarely fails in isolation. I first look at how platforms, people, workflows, incentives, dependencies, and risks interact—then decide where intervention will have the most durable effect.

Create clarity

Ambiguity becomes manageable when priorities, ownership, standards, decision paths, and expectations are explicit. Clarity lets teams move with confidence without waiting for constant executive intervention.

Build durable teams

Strong operations should not depend on individual heroics. I invest in people, documentation, repeatable processes, leadership capacity, and operating models that keep working when circumstances change.

Connect technology to purpose

Architecture earns its value through outcomes. I evaluate technology by what it enables for the business and for the employees, patients, clinicians, and customers who depend on it.

Lead calmly through change

Outages, acquisitions, restructuring, and growth narrow attention. Calm leadership creates room to establish facts, protect essential operations, communicate clearly, and make the next sound decision.

Remain technically credible

Executive distance should not become technical detachment. I stay fluent enough to guide architecture, ask useful questions, challenge assumptions, and understand the operational consequences of a decision.

“His ability to convey complex technological concepts … in a way that is both comprehensible and actionable.”
Rose MacIsaac, professional reference

Capabilities

Executive range without losing the architecture.

These are connected disciplines, not self-scored skills. Their value comes from using them together against a real operating need.

Executive and organizational leadership

Aligning technology decisions, operating models, and leadership teams with organizational purpose.

  • Technology strategy
  • Business partnership
  • Operating-model design
  • Change leadership
  • Acquisition integration
  • Budgeting
  • Governance
  • Vendor management
  • Team development
  • Executive communication

Infrastructure and operations

Building reliable platforms and services across distributed, operationally demanding environments.

  • Cloud and on-premises platforms
  • Virtualization
  • Network architecture
  • SD-WAN
  • Storage
  • Endpoint operations
  • Service delivery
  • Technical support
  • Business continuity
  • Disaster recovery

Security, risk and compliance

Treating security as an executive, operational, and governance responsibility—not a separate technical silo.

  • HIPAA security
  • Security risk assessments
  • Remediation planning
  • Information-security governance
  • Identity and device security
  • Endpoint hardening
  • Vendor access
  • Data-loss prevention
  • MSSP oversight
  • Audit readiness

Data, automation and applications

Making information and platforms more useful through analytics, integration, and practical automation.

  • SQL and reporting
  • Data warehousing
  • Tableau
  • Analytics programs
  • Business-process automation
  • Systems integration
  • EHR and RCM context
  • Telehealth
  • Contact-center platforms
  • AI evaluation and governance

Architecture and emerging technology

Exploring new capabilities with an architect's attention to resilience, security, and operational fit.

  • Linux
  • Open source
  • Zero-trust design
  • SaaS architecture
  • Local AI systems
  • Retrieval-augmented generation
  • Automation
  • Platform resilience
  • Infrastructure experimentation

Leadership scale: At the VP level, six direct reports and more than 40 total staff.

Learning by building

Technical fluency stays current through practice.

I use a multi-node Proxmox lab to explore architecture, infrastructure, security, automation, storage, resilience, and AI outside production environments. The goal is not novelty—it is understanding how systems behave when they are built, operated, broken, and improved.

Explore the technology lab
  • PlatformsLinux containers, virtual machines, open-source services
  • ResilienceStorage, NFS-backed services, backup, recovery, monitoring
  • Secure accessSegmented networks, reverse proxies, Cloudflare Access, UniFi
  • Applied AILocal models, Ollama, OpenWebUI, agents, RAG, GPU experimentation
  • AutomationHome automation, service operations, repeatable infrastructure patterns

Beyond work

Curiosity travels well

David overlooking a rocky alpine lake beneath a snow-lined mountain ridge

Away from work, family and time outside provide perspective. Mountain biking, hiking, backpacking, surfing, motorcycles, camping, and overlanding reward preparation, endurance, adaptability, and thoughtful risk. Cooking, astronomy, science fiction, reading, travel, technology projects, and building or repairing things keep curiosity practical. I value meaningful challenges: experiences that require learning, reveal how systems behave, and leave me better prepared for the next unfamiliar problem.

Family · Mountain biking, hiking & backpacking · Surfing, motorcycles & overlanding · Cooking, building & repairing · Astronomy, reading & science fiction · Dogs, travel & exploration

Ideal professional role

Where I Create the Most Value

I do my best work where accountability is matched by authority, leaders welcome evidence-based challenge, and technology is treated as an organizational capability rather than only a cost center.

The strongest fit is an ethical, transparent organization with complex problems worth solving: growth, acquisition, reorganization, technical debt, or the need to mature infrastructure, security, analytics, and support.

I bring the most value when I can connect executive strategy to operational reality, stabilize and modernize services, develop leadership teams, and make pragmatic decisions in resource-constrained environments.

Relevant role families include CIO, Vice President of IT, Infrastructure and Operations, or Technology; Senior Director of IT; healthcare technology executive; and technology transformation leadership.

Start a conversation

Complex problems are where the useful work begins.

For executive technology leadership, infrastructure modernization, healthcare technology, or transformation conversations, LinkedIn and email are the best ways to connect.

Connect on LinkedIn Email David

Email address: dbaldwin1gmail.com

Résumé PDF not yet available for public download.