"Military to DOD to CIO: A Marine's 22-Year Technology Journey" with Jorge Cardenas

What does it take to go from a young immigrant who barely speaks English to leading city-wide technology transformation? In this episode, Jorge Cardenas shares his powerful 22-year journey from the Marine Corps to the Department of Defense and now serving as CIO for the City of Brownsville, Texas. Jorge opens up about how joining the Marine Corps in 2004 introduced him to the world of information technology. What started as a military assignment turned into a lifelong career in infrastructure modernization, leadership, and innovation. After eight years in the Marines and nine years with the Department of Defense, Jorge transitioned into local government and private consulting, where he saw a major gap: many companies talked theory, but few had real-world execution experience. That realization led him to start his own technology consultancy five years ago. Today, Jorge specializes in smart city solutions, network modernization, fiber optic deployment, private 5G networks, and AI infrastructure. Most recently, he led the modernization of the entire infrastructure for the City of Brownsville, including deploying fiber optics, implementing a private 5G network, and building an AI analytics platform to create new revenue streams for the city.   Be a Guest Are you a successful business owner, entrepreneur, or professional with insights to share? Apply to be a guest at https://adaptandovercomepodcast.com/guest  and share your expertise with a wide audience eager to learn about you...