John Bowen

BreathTestConnect — Multi-Tenant SaaS Platform

2023 – Present

Sole architect and developer of a commercial multi-tenant SaaS (Django · Django REST Framework · PostgreSQL · Celery · Docker · WireGuard) built to FIPS 140-2 and CJIS-compliant standards for forensic breath-alcohol program management. Runs on a hardened Linode VPS with isolated staging and production stacks, containerized builds, and encrypted site-to-site networking.

Self-Hosted Production Infrastructure — “saturn24”

2019 – Present

Design and operate a production Ubuntu server running 60+ containerized services across independent stacks — document management (Paperless-ngx, Apache Tika, Gotenberg), media (Jellyfin, Sonarr/Radarr), productivity (Nextcloud, Vikunja), monitoring (Uptime Kuma, NetAlertX), and custom applications — unified behind Authentik SSO, forced SSL, WireGuard VPN, and a default-deny firewall. Full lifecycle: provisioning, networking, backups, monitoring, and security hardening.

bowenweb.com — Self-Hosted Web & Mail

Ongoing

Own and administer a self-hosted web and mail platform end to end: Postfix + Dovecot mail with SPF/DKIM/DMARC, Apache/Nginx, MariaDB, and Drupal — DNS to TLS to deliverability.

FSD Apps Issue Ticketing System

2015 – Present

Built, hosted, and support a Drupal/PHP web platform through which statewide forensic staff report hardware, instrument, and software issues to the Technical Support Unit. Originated as a compliance remediation: an Office of the Auditor General audit found that case-management system administrators were making necessary corrections to data-entry errors with no record of the change or of the verification that it was warranted. The system created a documented, auditable trail of every correction and its justification — closing the finding and bringing the division into compliance. More than 27,500 issues logged to date, running continuously in production for a decade.

State of Iowa Attorney General — SAEK Tracking System

2018 – 2019

Engaged as an external vendor to design, build, and deploy a LAMP-stack / Drupal web application for the State of Iowa to track statewide-backlogged Sexual Assault Evidence Kits through the grant collection, submission, and testing process.

Forensic Advantage Data Analytics

2012 – Present

With no vendor support and limited IT resources, reverse-engineered significant portions of the Forensic Advantage case-management database and built a suite of reliable query and reporting tools — delivered via web, scripted direct-to-email, and client tools (Excel, Power BI) — now used routinely by division command for metrics, analytics, and strategic planning.

FSD Documentation Management System — Atlassian Confluence

2009 – 2011

Led a team of division leadership to consolidate disparate paper and PDF manuals scattered across seven worksites into a single Atlassian Confluence instance, establishing one authoritative source of truth for every member of the division. Served as the project's technology leader and as principal author of the first-version Laboratory Operations Manual and Quality Manual, then trained staff on the platform and drove adoption across all sites. Have retained ownership of portions of those documents in the years since.

Controlled-Substances Data Capture (XML-in-CMS)

2016 – 2019

Conceived and scripted (AutoHotKey) a workflow capturing structured XML data in an unused Forensic Advantage comment field, with an auto-launching UI for analysts and back-end queries to collate it. Solved a metrics-collection problem another MSP division could not otherwise meet — and let MSP Special Investigations build near-real-time drug-activity intelligence without funding a separate IT system.

Thin-Client Deployment in Forensic Wet Labs

2017 – Present

Conceived using thin-client devices to remove full computers from contamination-prone wet-lab areas. Proved the concept to DTMB (state IT), pitched it to MSP leadership, and drove division-wide deployment — improving safety and cutting per-seat cost and contamination risk.

lgmnm.org — “Let's Get Moving Northern Michigan”

c. 2009 – 2011 · three program seasons

Built and administered the public website for a community-health initiative spanning the entire northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. In this 100-day program, participating hospitals across the region competed by having residents register on the site, log their activity miles, and associate them with a local hospital — the site served as the central platform aggregating 1,700+ registered users and their mileage each season. Developed on the Rainbow Portal (ASP.NET / C# open-source CMS) and managed across three consecutive seasons.

Personal Applications

Habla — custom React / Vite application built against the Anthropic API. wordle-startword — Flask / Python web app served under Gunicorn.

Inspector / Operations Commander

Michigan State Police — Forensic Science Division, Division Administration
January 2016 – September 2026 (retirement)

• Direct a statewide forensic operation of 8 Laboratory Directors and 290+ total staff across seven laboratories and all major forensic disciplines.
• Supervise FSD's seven-person Technical Support Unit, owning end-user hardware/software support, instrument maintenance, and equipment replacement across all sites.
• Serve as executive sponsor for every division IT project — a role held continuously for more than 10 years — owning IT strategy, contracts, hardware/software upgrades, and the technology roadmap.
• Established the division's first employee-accountability framework. Prior to this tenure, neither FSD nor its HR function had any strategy or mechanism for performance accountability; built one from the ground up and have enforced it uniformly for ~8 years — personally owning the full lifecycle of re-training, professional development, formal discipline, and termination cases.
• Devolved operational leadership to the front line (2021 – Present). Convened per-discipline teams of front-line supervisors across the division and charged them with leading their own disciplines operationally, assigning a Laboratory Director to each team as liaison to division command. The teams own performance metrics and requirements per analyst and per unit; continuous statewide case and evidence sharing so work routes to the laboratories with capacity; statewide standardization of evidence-processing methods, report wording, and equipment purchasing; and formal recommendations for change. Gave front-line managers genuine authority alongside accountability, and accelerated progress in every corner of the division.
• Own division-wide operations: casework production goals, operational planning, and facility management.
• Build and own the division's metrics and analytics infrastructure, including reverse-engineered queries against the case-management database that drive HR, financial, and operational decisions.
• Develop and execute FSD's hiring, training, and budget plans, managing an annual budget of $22M+; present to Bureau command and budget sections.
• Serve as the division's representative to external stakeholders — legislative tours and testimony at the State House, and routine host for visiting domestic and international forensic delegations.

Inspector / Quality Assurance Manager

Michigan State Police — Forensic Science Division, Division Administration
December 2012 – January 2016

• Managed FSD's ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation program as primary ASCLD/LAB liaison — individual accreditation for each of seven laboratories.
• Supervised 7 Technical Leaders and the Technical Support Unit; directed design of modular, discipline-specific training programs replacing ad hoc processes.
• Oversaw internal and external audits/inspections and their remediation to resolution.
• Built the division's metrics and reporting capability from the ground up for command and MSP leadership.
• Led the DNA/Biology efficiency project: convened leadership, applied Lean/Six Sigma to select best practices, and organized a benchmarking visit to a high-volume private forensic lab.
• Drove the entire division to paperless record-keeping over roughly two years — scaling division-wide the transition first proven at the Grayling laboratory.

Owner

Bowen Technology Services, LLC — Michigan
2008 – Present

• Founded and continue to own an IT services company, maintained as an active entity and the intended contracting vehicle for post-retirement consulting and development work.
• Staffed operation, 2008–2012: served small professional-business offices across Northern Michigan, managing a team of up to 4 staff including on-site repair and installation. Delivered whole-office computer and server replacements, vertical software solutions, and new network deployments — from both vendor and customer perspectives.
• The contracting entity through which the State of Iowa Attorney General SAEK tracking system was delivered as an external vendor (2018–2019).
• Currently the vehicle for ongoing software and infrastructure projects in development.

Michigan State Police — Forensic Science Division, Grayling Laboratory

1999 – 2012 · progressive roles within an independent regional laboratory in FSD's seven-lab system

Trooper

Michigan State Police — Cheboygan Post
February 1996 – November 1999

• Road patrol and general law-enforcement duties following graduation from the 113th Trooper Recruit School.
• Served as Evidence Technician, processing crime scenes for physical evidence — the foundation of a subsequent 25+ year forensic-science career.
• Served as a Field Training Officer (FTO), training and evaluating newly assigned Troopers for independent field work.

Operational Tabletop Exercises

American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD) Annual Symposium · 2022 · general session, ~400 attendees

Presented to the national ASCLD membership on preparing laboratory leadership teams to make sound decisions in real time during genuinely novel emergencies — situations that defy existing policy and prior experience. Drawing on exercises conducted with the MSP Forensic Science Division operational leadership team, the session demonstrated how to build low-cost scenarios that evaluate team preparedness, test policies and procedures for completeness and accuracy, clarify roles, authority, and expectations under emergency conditions, validate disaster-recovery and business-continuity plans, and expose weaknesses in the decision-making process — while building critical thinking, confidence, teamwork, and trust. Emphasized that effective exercises need not be complex and can be run in as little as an hour.

Bachelor of Science — Criminal Justice / Criminalistics

Minor: Chemistry · Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan · 1995 · graduated cum laude

113th Trooper Recruit School

Michigan State Police, Lansing, Michigan · 1996 · graduated first in class

Certifications & Professional Memberships

• Certified ISO/IEC 17025:2017 ANAB Assessor
• American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD)
• Association of Forensic Quality Assurance Managers (AFQAM)
• International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)