open to director roles

open to director-level roles

Infrastructure AI can trust.

IT infrastructure director: twenty years of VMware and storage, now private AI.

Get in touch Request the résumé

vcf architect 9.x / 20+ years / houston, tx

Private AI request

3 steps / 1 branch

100%

running

Run model locally

on-prem gpu

Log to audit trail

vsan esa

Ask a partner

waiting on a yes

4 min

true

else

last runs

09:41:02contract summary820 ms
09:38:57nightly dr check2.1 s
09:31:14ticket triage410 ms

Question asked

assistant

Mark Dalton

open to director roles

Get in touch

open to director-level roles

Infrastructure AI can trust.

IT infrastructure director: twenty years of VMware and storage, now private AI.

Get in touch Request the résumé

vcf architect 9.x / 20+ years / houston, tx

Private AI request

3 steps / 1 branch

100%

running

Run model locally

on-prem gpu

Log to audit trail

vsan esa

Ask a partner

waiting on a yes

4 min

true

else

last runs

09:41:02contract summary820 ms
09:38:57nightly dr check2.1 s
09:31:14ticket triage410 ms

Question asked

assistant

twenty years on the platforms enterprises actually run

vsphere
vcf 9
pure
azure
aws
cisco
tanzu
and more

what I lead

AI is the last layer.

AI stalls on what nobody demos: where the file lives, who can touch it, what breaks at 3 a.m. I lead from the platform up.

A platform that holds at 3 a.m.

VCF, vSAN ESA, NSX and Tanzu as one control plane, with DR that is published, tested and boring.

req 41982

answered in 129 ms

read source file0 ms
check access0 ms
route to local model0 ms
partner sign-offpending

050100150200 ms

AI where the data already lives

Local models on hardware the company owns. Files stay put, and a person signs off where it matters.

#legal-ops

today

Assistant

9:41

Contract summary for Northwind is ready. Send it?

source: vsan, on site
model: local, on-prem gpu
rule: client files stay inside

Approve

Hold

waiting 4 min

Run like infrastructure

Owners, logs, uptime targets and a defined answer for when it is wrong. Not a chatbot account.

tickets per day15 min response

[ how I lead ]

The best platform is the onenobody mentions at the board.

one tick, one hour up

now

platform

Boring in the ways that matter.

Identity, DR, replication, residency. The parts nobody demos, and the parts that decide whether the year goes well.

One control plane, every workload

VMs, containers and private inference on one VCF estate, with identity collapsed into a single plane people can support.

vsphere
tanzu
inference
storage

identity, dr, replication, residency

one platform, every workload

Uptime is a leadership call

At CloudNine: three data centers plus Azure and AWS, a published DR plan and a data-center move. At El Paso: virtualization as the standard.

what changed, measured

uptime before cloudnine, when I arrived89.7%
uptime after cloudnine, when I left99.9%
servers retired el paso corporation75%

every number here is on the résumé

results

Numbers I do not have to explain away.

From director and manager seats in energy, SaaS and mid-market IT. Every one is on the résumé with the employer named.

run-rate
$500K
a year taken out of cloud spend on one production platform
single-tenant to multi-tenant
We moved ONYX off single-tenant Azure and kept cloud only where it earned its place, for DR.
Arcxisdirector of IT infrastructure, 2024–25
footprint
75%
of physical servers retired while absorbing 90% of P2V load
$1.3M+ saved on staff and time
Virtualization became the corporate standard, with 4-hour DR failover and PowerCLI-built hosts.
El Paso Corporationvirtualization lead
uptime
99.9%
production uptime, up from 89.7%
three data centers, Azure and AWS
Published the DR plan, moved a data center, and got helpdesk response under 15 minutes.
CloudNineinfrastructure manager, 2022–24

roles

The seats I am built for.

Hands-on leadership where infrastructure and AI meet. W2, The Woodlands and Houston, or remote across the US.

infrastructure
Director
of IT infrastructure
- own the roadmap and budget
- lead infra, cloud, service desk
- DR and uptime as standards
- the last escalation engineer
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ai platform
Head of AI
platform or AI product
best fit
- private AI on owned hardware
- GPU, storage, residency design
- pilot to something trusted
- keep only what earns its place
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technology
CTO
or field CTO, AI infra
- set the technology strategy
- VCF, storage, AI landing zones
- field lessons into product
- seven years running a firm
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contact

Tell me about the role.

My résumé is not posted publicly. Ask for it here, or send a note about a role, and it comes straight to my inbox.

Infrastructure AI can trust.