Open to opportunities

RJ Best

@rjbest

Message

I lead digital transformation, cybersecurity, and IT operations for defense and intelligence contractors.

United States

Message

What I'm looking for

I'm looking to lead technology transformation, cybersecurity, and compliant IT operations for mission-focused defense or intelligence organizations, applying financial discipline, crisis leadership, and federal contracting experience to complex growth and modernization challenges.

At Illuminate Technologies, I lead technology strategy for an $8.5M intelligence community contractor, stabilizing a failing $8M program within 60 days and securing two recompete wins. I also saved $167K through invoice analysis and labor certification while improving federal contract margins by 15%.

Previously, I managed global IT operations at Illuminate Operations and scaled technology at MAG Aerospace from 130 to 1,300 employees through growth and six acquisitions. I've built IT organizations, unified subsidiary environments, led CMMC and DFARS compliance, and managed multi-million-dollar budgets supporting defense operations.

I bring 15+ years of Fire/EMS leadership and board-level financial responsibility to crisis management, business continuity, and organizational change. I'm focused on practical, compliant technology strategies that protect classified operations, reduce costs, and enable growth.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Chief Technology Officer

Current

Illuminate Technologies LLC

Apr 2024 - Present (2 years 5 months)

Leading technology strategy for an $8.5M intelligence community contractor. Stabilized a failing $8M IC program within 60 days, saved $167K through invoice analysis, and negotiated federal contract pricing achieving 15% margin improvement.

CMMC NIST 800 171 DFARS FOCI Mitigation Contract Negotiation Divestiture technology strategy

Current

President

Current

Dale City Volunteer Fire Department Inc.

Jun 2010 - Present (16 years 3 months)

Established and manage corporate operations, strategy, and financial performance. Manage a $3.7M annual budget with full P&L responsibility and fiduciary oversight, and lead financial strategy presenting monthly to an 11-member board.

Budget Management P&L Financial Strategy Power BI Board Governance Fire and EMS

Director, Information Technology

Illuminate Operations Inc.

Apr 2020 - Apr 2024 (4 years)

Managed IT operations for a 300+ person global defense contractor across 5 sites in 3 countries. Consolidated 4 subsidiary IT environments into a unified platform, negotiated CMMC implementation from $570K to $180K, and maintained 99.9% uptime through COVID-19.

IT Operations CMMC Power BI Financial Modeling vendor negotiation Remote Workforce Management Azure

Founder & Principal Consultant

Squad47 Inc.

Sep 2019 - Apr 2020 (7 months)

Specialized consultancy focused on CMMC readiness for the defense industrial base. Advised defense contractors on achieving CMMC 2.0 Level 2 compliance and led complex M365 GCC High migrations for sensitive environments.

CMMC Microsoft 365 GCC Compliance Frameworks Assessment Tools Consulting

Director, Cybersecurity/IT

MAGAerospace Inc.

Apr 2014 - Sep 2019 (5 years 5 months)

Scaled technology operations from 130 to 1,300 employees through organic growth and 6 acquisitions. Managed a $2.3M IT budget, led technology due diligence for acquisitions, and established an enterprise cybersecurity program achieving UK MOD Cyber Essentials Plus certification.

Cybersecurity IT Management M&A due diligence DFARS SOC Operations Budget Management

Director, Information Technology

Fluet, Huber, +Hoang PLLC

Feb 2012 - Apr 2014 (2 years 2 months)

Established and managed IT operations for a government contracts law firm. Built complete IT infrastructure from ground zero supporting ITAR export compliance operations and managed technology requirements for complex federal contract dispute resolutions.

IT Infrastructure ITAR Compliance Federal Contracts IT Operations