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Jose D SotoIT Infrastructure and Cybersecurity Leader

Infrastructure, Cloud, Cybersecurity, and IT Modernization

I run infrastructure and cybersecurity for the systems behind the District of Columbia's finances. Year one: $2.8 million out of the budget and critical audit findings down more than 40 percent.

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U.S. Army Signal Corps Veteran insignia
01

About

Portrait of Jose D Soto

I started in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, where the network had to work because soldiers were depending on it. Since then I have run IT as a business function: seven years as IT Manager for a two-state beverage distributor, Director of IT for a 29 office law firm, and CTO and co-founder of a managed services firm that grew to 30+ clients and was sold.

Today I lead infrastructure operations and operational security for the DC Office of the Chief Financial Officer, with a roughly $10 million budget, 33 direct reports, and about 1,800 users under NIST 800-53 and IRS Publication 1075.

What I am known for is getting the basics right, talking plainly with finance, and building teams that can run the place without me in the room.

What I bring

Five lenses, one operating discipline

  • Engineering

    Hands-on network, infrastructure, and automation work, the kind that keeps systems quietly running.

  • Business

    Running IT as a business function in private-sector director and manager roles, tied to outcomes and budget.

  • IT Leadership

    Leading security teams, setting strategy, and making the vendor decisions that shape day-to-day operations.

  • Public Service

    Information security and compliance leadership inside government, built to withstand federal audit.

  • Teaching

    Mentoring engineers and teaching in the community, turning hard technical material into something usable.

02

Experience

  1. Government10/2025 to Present

    IT Manager, Infrastructure Services Group

    Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Government of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC

    • Run infrastructure operations and operational security for about 1,800 users across cloud, colocation, and on premise data centers, with a roughly $10 million budget and 33 direct reports.
    • Cut $1.5 million in operating expenses and $1.3 million in capital expenditure in the first year while adding capacity.
    • Reduced critical audit findings by more than 40 percent through ITGC evidence and root cause remediation.
    • Leading the zero trust roadmap, an IRS Publication 1075 aligned Azure tenant build, and a BGP multihomed network design across primary and colocation data centers.
  2. Private Sector04/2024 to 10/2025

    Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder

    ADVNTBLANKET Corporation, Miami, FL

    • Co-founded an IT services firm and directed infrastructure, security, and service operations for 30+ client accounts in legal, medical, sports, entertainment, and electrical infrastructure, through to the sale of the company in 2025.
    • Standardized delivery on HaloITSM, HaloPSA, and HaloCRM and ran client risk assessments in Onspring GRC.
  3. Private Sector09/2022 to 06/2024

    Director of Information Technology

    The LaBovick Law Group, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

    • Ran IT and security for a 29 office firm across Florida and Massachusetts.
    • Moved the firm to cloud first infrastructure and cut unplanned downtime roughly in half.
    • Trained 120 staff on the firm's platforms and on cybersecurity awareness.
  4. Private Sector06/2015 to 09/2022

    IT Manager

    J.J. Taylor Distributing, Inc., Jupiter, FL

    • Owned a $5 million annual IT budget with the CIO and CFO for 24/7 distribution operations in two states.
    • Deployed an Arista spine and leaf data center fabric, ran the security stack end to end (CrowdStrike, Microsoft Sentinel, LogRhythm SIEM, Rubrik), and wrote and tested the disaster recovery plan.
  5. Military04/2010 to 12/2014

    Nodal Network Systems Operator-Maintainer (25N), Signal Corps

    U.S. Army, III Corps, Fort Cavazos, TX

    • Deployed and maintained encrypted tactical communications (WIN-T, satellite, microwave radio, VoIP).
    • Led the setup, operation, and tear-down of mobile communications nodes.
    • Trained junior soldiers on secure network deployment.
03

Skills

Network and Infrastructure

  • BGP and OSPF
  • Arista spine and leaf
  • Cisco Catalyst, ISE, and Umbrella
  • Palo Alto
  • Aruba
  • SD-WAN
  • Dark fiber design
  • VMware vSphere
  • Hyper-V
  • Nutanix
  • Proxmox
  • Docker

Security and Compliance

  • Zero trust
  • NIST SP 800-53
  • IRS Publication 1075
  • SOC 2 readiness
  • ITGC and audit remediation
  • Vanta
  • Onspring
  • CrowdStrike
  • Microsoft Defender
  • Microsoft Sentinel
  • Splunk
  • Entra ID and conditional access
  • Cisco ISE 802.1x

Cloud and Platforms

  • Microsoft Azure
  • Microsoft 365
  • AWS
  • GCP
  • Oracle OCI
  • Intune
  • NinjaOne RMM
  • HaloITSM
  • HaloPSA
  • HaloCRM
  • Rubrik
  • Cohesity NetBackup

Automation and Development

  • PowerShell
  • SQL
  • .NET
  • Node.js
  • OpenAI and Anthropic APIs
  • Deployment scripting
04

Leadership

How I lead

Thirty-three direct reports across systems, network, cloud, and platform operations. A roughly $10 million budget built with the CFO's office. Audit-ready programs under NIST 800-53 and IRS Publication 1075. Vendor contracts, evaluations, and proofs of concept briefed to executives. Engineers mentored into leaders.

  • Team leadership

    Hiring, developing, and leading security and IT staff.

  • GRC & compliance programs

    Programs built to pass federal audit, not just satisfy a checklist.

  • Vendor & budget strategy

    Evaluating and selecting enterprise platforms with multi-year cost and contract awareness.

  • IT modernization

    Moving organizations off legacy approaches toward governed, scalable infrastructure.

  • Executive communication

    Translating technical risk into business terms for senior leadership.

05

Teaching & Community

Why I teach

Teaching is how I make the work last. The systems I build will eventually get replaced. The people I help get sharper stick around and go on to build the next thing. Whether it's a new hire, a junior engineer, or a room of executives, I care about turning hard technical material into something they can actually use. I also publish practitioner guides on NIST 800-53, RMF, FedRAMP, and NIST 800-171.

Teach

Security, GRC & automation

Network and infrastructure security, compliance and GRC, PowerShell and IT automation, and security for leadership. Delivered as internal training and on-the-job knowledge sharing, plus talks at legal conferences and mastermind groups.

Mentor

Developing the next bench

Working one-on-one with junior engineers and analysts, through code reviews, design conversations, and career coaching, to grow them into stronger, more independent practitioners.

Community

Veterans into IT & security

Mentoring transitioning service members as they move from military careers into IT and security roles, translating their experience into language hiring managers understand and helping them find their first technical footing.

06

Guides

Risk Management Frameworks for Government IT

A practitioner's guide to NIST 800-53 and IRS Publication 1075.

Read guide

Using the FedRAMP Marketplace

How to find, read, and vet cloud services on the FedRAMP Marketplace.

Read guide

NIST 800-53 Rev 5 Compliance Checklist

A working checklist for taking a system to Rev 5 compliance.

Read guide

NIST 800-53 vs. NIST 800-171

How the two frameworks differ, how they connect, and which one applies to you.

Read guide
07

Contact

Get in touch

If you want to talk security, compliance, IT modernization, or mentoring, I'm easy to reach. The fastest way is email, but pick whichever channel works for you.

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