Executive technology advisory · Northern Virginia

Built to hold up in the field.

Apex advises leaders on technology, cybersecurity and operations, then leads the transformations that follow. Every engagement is held to a standard earned over 22 years in the military and two decades in federal IT.

How Apex helps ↗ Meet the founder

ATO & RMFAWS GovCloudGCC High · IL4/IL5Operations

Move to raise the summit · tap to plant a peak

Executive advisory

For missions that cannot fail.

Apex works with leaders whose systems carry real weight: public trust, sensitive data, people in the field. You get one senior advisor who has led the work himself, from the first risk assessment to the team that keeps it running.

Cybersecurity · Authorization

Security & ATO

Get to an Authority to Operate, keep it, and build the security team that holds it.

The full RMF lifecycle, from categorization to continuous monitoring
AWS GovCloud, Microsoft 365 GCC High, IL4 and IL5
Annual reviews, POA&Ms and STIG hardening

Strategy · Cloud

Technology strategy

Clear advice on what to build, buy, move or retire, and how to do it without losing your authorization.

Cloud and hybrid modernization plans
On-premises and virtualized workloads to the cloud
Secure mobile and web platforms

Operations · Programs

Operations transformation

Large-scale, global operations changes, led from the plan to a steady state.

Program and portfolio leadership
Large federal and military teams
24/7 operations and recovery

22years of military service

18years in enterprise and federal IT

3federal and military agencies whose cyber teams he led

6national information-assurance certifications

Work

Advising leaders. Delivering at federal scale.

Current advisory work, and the federal and military customers Joe has served while leading secure systems, operations and modernization.

Advisory · Operations & Technology

ALPHA · Operations · Technology · Web

HINA

Humanitarian Initiative for Native Advancement

HINA strengthens communities across the Pacific and Asia through trusted partnerships and local capacity. Joe leads ALPHA, HINA's knowledge arm, and runs its operations and technology. Apex also built its launch site end to end, from research and brand to hosting.

Operations leadership
Technology strategy
ALPHA
Web

hinapacific.org ↗

Federal and military customers served

Federal & military

U.S. ArmyDepartment of the Army
Defense Health AgencyDepartment of War
Veterans Health AdministrationU.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Defense Counterintelligence and Security AgencyDepartment of War
Financial Crimes Enforcement NetworkU.S. Department of the Treasury

Agencies are named only to show experience gained through prior employers and contracts. Names belong to their owners. No endorsement by any agency or company is stated or implied.

Need it built, too?

Apex also builds apps and mission websites.

Native iOS and Android apps and fast, easy-to-keep-current websites, held to the same security standard as the advice.

See Build

Founder

Built on service. Led from the field.

Joe served 22 years in the U.S. Army, rising to senior leadership and running operations worldwide. He then spent two decades leading secure infrastructure, cybersecurity and modernization programs for federal agencies and global companies. Apex brings that experience to your organization.

Joe McMullinFounder & Principal · Veteran

Full biography →

BiographyJoe McMullin · Founder & Principal Read moreClose

Joe McMullin is the Founder and Principal of Apex Development Studio LLC and a senior leader who runs cloud engineering and cybersecurity teams in secure government environments. He advises organizational leaders on technology, cybersecurity and operations, and leads transformation teams through large-scale infrastructure projects that modernize critical capabilities. His career spans 22 years of Army operations worldwide and two decades of federal and enterprise technology.

Military operations

22 years in the U.S. Army. As a senior leader, he planned, coordinated and supervised security-critical operations at senior headquarters and joint commands.

He led worldwide missions across Central and South America, Asia and Europe, ran regional operations and trained others to run them. He brought new technologies into service, reworked operating protocols, and was selected for special planning projects. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and five Meritorious Service Medals.

Federal & enterprise technology

Two decades in federal and healthcare IT. His work has spanned bare-metal servers, virtualization and hybrid cloud. With a large federal systems integrator he delivered systems and infrastructure for federal and military agencies. With a large federal contractor he managed global healthcare software systems, infrastructure and support, cut response times on a global customer issue by 10%, and led engineers who earned government recognition for a record-breaking data-center recovery. He organized a global team on a $14M program that won Government CTO approval for a cloud architecture and migration plan, cutting infrastructure needs by 50%.

With a mid-sized federal contractor he led cybersecurity and hybrid-cloud infrastructure for two major federal agencies, including the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, across 24/7 cloud and geographically separated data centers. With a global consulting firm he led a large management team on a $285M enterprise IT contract for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. He has headed a $40M program moving secure workloads to Microsoft 365 GCC High and AWS GovCloud, and $25M+ in data-center and enterprise modernization. Today he leads the cloud engineering and cybersecurity teams behind ATOs on AWS GovCloud, Microsoft 365 GCC High, IL4 and IL5, including annual reviews, STIG hardening and continuous monitoring.

Advisor · Apex Development Studio

Founder of Apex Development Studio. Joe brings global military operations and two decades of federal technology leadership to the leaders he advises. He has directed strategy and operations for programs worth more than $100M, and helps organizations modernize at scale, protect what they run, and keep operations steady through change.

He pairs that field experience with business strategy training from Cornell University, and leads transformation teams through large-scale infrastructure projects and capability upgrades. At HINA he leads ALPHA, the knowledge arm, and runs operations and technology.

Agencies are named only to show experience gained through prior employers and contracts. Names belong to their owners. No endorsement by any agency or company is stated or implied.

Education: Bachelor's degree, Information Security and Forensics, Fountainhead College of Technology (FCT), Tennessee
Cornell University, Business Strategy
Sectors: Federal and defense · Healthcare · Finance and markets

Security: CNSS national information-assurance standards 4011–4016: INFOSEC Professional, Senior Systems Manager, System Administrator, ISSO, System Certifier, Risk Analyst

Strategic planning & designOperations transformationCloud innovation & modernizationCybersecurity & RMFEnterprise systemsDatacenter operationsGlobal businessProgram & project managementTeam building & leadershipTraining & mentoringPerformance developmentAI & data scienceComplex problem-solving

Personal project · Photography Years of light, kept in one place. Milky Way over Harmony Borax Works, Death Valley · stacked panorama · April 2023 joemcmullin.com ↗

Have a mission that needs to work?

An ATO on the line, a move to the cloud, an operation that has to change, or an app to build. Tell Joe what you're facing. He reads every message personally.

Prefer email? support@apexdevelopmentstudio.com