Wes Sanford

Summary

Enterprise solution architect with 28 years in software engineering: the first twenty at Microsoft's Developer Division, the last nine on state Medicaid, federal reporting, and K-12 data programs. I design Azure-native data platforms, integration architectures, and governance frameworks for programs where CMS certification, HIPAA, and audit readiness are not optional, and I lead the cross-functional teams that deliver them. Recent work: a district-wide enterprise data warehouse for a Florida school district, the first enterprise data platform outside a state MMIS warehouse, and solution quality across 365 non-functional requirements on a multi-vendor Medicaid modernization.

Experience

1. IBM Consulting

   Enterprise Solution Architect and Practice Lead

   Apr 2019 – present

   1. Large K-12 school district, Florida · Enterprise Solution Architect

      Nov 2025 – present

      • Architected the district's enterprise data warehouse on Azure: the student information system into Azure Data Factory into Azure SQL, star-schema data marts, and Power BI, replacing a previous vendor's dashboards and a costly survey platform.
      • Authored the contracted deliverables: architecture and design, scope, technical platform recommendation, data warehouse architecture, physical data model with DDL, and the server build document covering Private Link, firewall, and least-privilege database roles.
      • Set the security baseline: encryption at rest, Azure Key Vault for key management, private endpoints for users and BI, and role-based access driven from the district's Active Directory rather than a custom security model.
      • Designed the Power BI workspace and security-group structure across dev, QA, and production, with district, multi-school, and single-school filtering.
      • Delivered the first data-quality dashboards within the district's existing budget by sizing Azure components deliberately and avoiding a seven-figure per-user licensing path.
      • Cut an AI-drafted 60-page architecture document to what a CIO-level audience will read, and ran knowledge transfer for the district's own developers.
      • Shaped the integration approach for ERP and assessment data, and helped stand up the district's data governance board.

   2. Medicaid managed-care organization, North Carolina · Development Lead and Enterprise Solution Architect

      May 2024 – Nov 2025

      • Solutioned the client's first enterprise data platform outside the core MMIS enterprise data warehouse: data governance, pipeline orchestration, and analytics capabilities.
      • Led solution architecture and development strategy for a 12-person team automating financial reporting and remittance-advice verification for claims processing; month-to-month vendor RA verification improved 50% and the work surfaced critical system and configuration defects.
      • Introduced AI-assisted documentation into the SDLC to document 10–20K-line undocumented stored procedures, accelerating knowledge transfer and reducing defects.
      • Drove partner-level strategic architecture for modernizing healthcare EDI claims and encounters processing: integration patterns, data standards, and scalable platform designs.

   3. State Medicaid agency · Quality Assurance and Solution Architecture

      Sep 2022 – May 2024

      • Directed solution quality for a large-scale Medicaid data platform modernization across a multi-vendor, multi-module ecosystem; owned 365 non-functional requirements tied to performance, interoperability, scalability, security, operations, and CMS certification.
      • Bridged architecture, engineering, and the PMO so design, implementation, and operational readiness met CMS, HIPAA, contractual, and data-governance standards; led audit preparation and evidence gathering.
      • Defined and governed KPI and SLA frameworks tied to contractual obligations and liquidated damages; built executive dashboards used in weekly governance forums.
      • Led the 372-requirement NFR workshop (definitions of done, acceptance criteria, evidence-based verification) and built the requirements traceability pipeline from Azure DevOps into the state's Jama format.
      • Built the master roster standardizing staffing, access, and training across vendor and IBM teams; authored the data security and privacy onboarding process.

   4. IBM Global Health and Human Services · Practice Lead: T-MSIS Development, Release Management, and SDLC Governance

      Apr 2020 – May 2022

      • Directed the T-MSIS development team delivering federal Medicaid reporting for six states with CMS-compliant pipelines and consistent architecture.
      • Led release management across five state programs (DDI and O&M): scheduling, dependency tracking, UAT coordination, quality gates, and traceability.
      • Owned SDLC tooling strategy (Jama, TaskTop) and institutionalized release standards, reporting frameworks, templates, and training adopted across the practice.
      • Architected automated testing with Tosca; reduced critical production incidents by 25%. Contributed release-management and federal-reporting content to RFP responses that won additional state engagements.

   5. State of New Mexico, HHS 2020 enterprise data warehouse · Scrum Master and Coach

      Apr 2019 – Apr 2020

      • Designed the Agile operating model for the data services team on New Mexico's CMS-aligned MMISR modernization; ran the daily Scrum of Scrums across engineering, QA, data, and architecture.
      • Built the Jira tooling ecosystem (workflows, dashboards, burndown, release views) and the weekly performance reporting used by program leadership.

2. State of New Mexico

   Architecture Review Board Lead; Functional and QA Architect

   Feb 2017 – Apr 2019

   • Partnered with CIO-level leadership to design, stand up, and operate the statewide Architecture Review Board for the HHS 2020 / MMISR modernization, uniting Medicaid, behavioral health, child welfare, and cross-agency stakeholders under one governance process.
   • Led ARB reviews across all MMISR modules for conformance to the enterprise architecture, CMS modularity, and interoperability; assessed designs, data flows, integration patterns, and security approaches.
   • In parallel, senior QA engineer and Scrum Master on the YesNM portal (Medicaid, SNAP, and TANF eligibility and enrollment); improved testing efficiency 35% and cut testing cycles 40% with modern tooling.

3. Sanford IoT

   Owner

   Jan 2016 – Feb 2017

   Founded an IoT research and development company in New Mexico focused on off-grid device management; prototyped the first product before closing the business to care for family.

4. Microsoft

   Senior Program Manager; Senior Software Engineer (QA), Engineering Excellence and Developer Division

   Feb 2012 – Jan 2016

   • Drove adoption of Visual Studio Online and Azure services under the One Engineering System initiative.
   • Member of the developer-productivity team that ran Agile transformations and discipline dojos across divisions; knowledge engineer for the SDET discipline.
   • Led QA automation strategy for Office 365 SharePoint Online, building data-driven test frameworks and CI pipelines that cut deployment time 30%.

5. Cisco Linksys (acquired Pure Networks)

   Senior Manager, Software Engineering

   Aug 2008 – Jul 2011

   Managed quality and releases for Device Setup, Cisco Connect, Valet, and Linksys E-Series routers; led adoption of the Atlassian toolset across the consumer division and built the PC and Mac client automation architecture.

6. Pure Networks

   Test Manager

   Sep 2006 – Aug 2008

   Managed a team of 20 across Network Magic, SpeedMeter Pro, and the HNAP developer kit; moved the SDLC from waterfall to Scrum and introduced work-item tracking and a test-case database.

7. Microsoft

   SDE/T and Test Manager

   May 1995 – Feb 2006

   • Hired and managed the 23-person QA team for Visual Studio Team Foundation V1; team owner for model-based testing with SpecExplorer; managed China outsourcing, saving $300K in year one and $600K+ in year two.
   • Test Manager, Internet Explorer Sustained Engineering (three leads, 30 engineers); one of eight engineers on the IE security and API documentation project; led Watson crash-reporting process improvements.
   • Test Lead, Visual C++ Win64 compiler backend and VC 6.1; earlier SDE/T on Visual C++ setup and the Macintosh box.

8. Cummins Electronics

   Software Design Engineer

   Sep 1992 – Aug 1995

   Designed embedded real-time control modules for Cummins diesel engines.