## Chris Malek

I am a San Diego, California-based Enterprise Integration Architect with over 25 years of experience designing and building integrations between enterprise systems. My solutions are deployed at Stanford, Duke, CUNY, UC Santa Cruz, and across the California Community College system. I specialize in REST API architecture, identity and authentication integrations (OAuth, SAML, SCIM), and real-time data synchronization between cloud platforms and on-premises systems.

I prioritize understanding business requirements before writing code. I work directly with functional experts to ensure solutions that departments can manage themselves—when I hand off a project, the team shouldn’t need to call IT for every change. My 25 years across dozens of universities and corporations means I’ve seen what enterprise patterns actually survive contact with reality, and which ones don’t.

# Work Experience

## Cedar Hills Group, Inc

Principal Consultant / Integration Architect March 2003 - Present

I run an independent consulting practice specializing in enterprise integrations for higher education and corporate clients. I design and build API architectures, identity management systems, and real-time data synchronization solutions. I authored an open-source reference book on enterprise system integration that has become a reference for the community. My solutions are designed for clean upgrades with minimal maintenance burden—zero modifications to vendor-delivered objects.

## Notable Projects

### API Architecture & Multi-Tenant Integration Design

• Multi-Institutional REST API Suites: Designed and built REST API platforms deployed across multiple institutions—a single configurable codebase serving many clients. Examples include curriculum management integrations (running at Stanford, Duke, CUNY, University of Minnesota, and others) and non-credit registration platforms across California community colleges. Each client controls behavior through configuration tables rather than code changes, enabling rapid deployment and zero-touch upgrades.

• Bidirectional LMS Integration: Built a 23-endpoint REST API suite enabling bidirectional, real-time data flow between cloud LMS platforms and on-premises student information systems. The integration handles course catalogs, enrollments, personal data, academic records, and financial transactions—processing thousands of messages daily across multiple institutions.

• Statewide Cross-Enrollment System: Architected the integration layer for California Virtual Campus, enabling students at any California community college to enroll in online classes at participating schools without separate applications. The system handles real-time student data exchange, cross-institutional enrollment, and payment processing across 10+ colleges including Los Rios, LACCD, MiraCosta, and San Diego Community College District.

### Identity & Authentication Integrations

• SCIM 2.0 Server Implementation: Designed and built a SCIM 2.0 compliant server for James Madison University, enabling OKTA to provision, update, and manage user accounts through standard protocols. The implementation maintains full audit trails and integrates with existing security models rather than bypassing them.

• OAuth Client & LMS Authentication: Built OAuth 2.0 client implementations for D2L Brightspace LMS integration, handling the full authentication flow and token management. The design is flexible enough that multiple institutions have deployed using the same integration framework.

• SAML Authentication Redesign: Replaced legacy authentication systems with clean SAML-based implementations and event-driven user provisioning. The redesign eliminated frequent outages, reduced support costs, and enabled safer system upgrades by isolating authentication logic from vendor-delivered code.

• Real-Time Identity Provisioning: Built integrations managing 45,000+ user accounts with real-time provisioning and de-provisioning based on system events. Group memberships sync automatically based on configurable rules, eliminating manual account management.

### Real-Time Data Synchronization

• Event-Driven SMS Campaign Integration: Designed a near-real-time sync system for student engagement platforms, monitoring database changes via audit tables and pushing updates automatically. Eliminated manual Excel exports and stale data—campaigns now run with current information for 45,000+ students.

• Admissions Pipeline Automation: Built integrations that pull applicant data from CRM systems, perform intelligent record matching against existing databases, and automate the full admissions workflow—reducing manual data entry from 10+ minutes per student to zero.

### Business Process Automation

• Configurable Forms Framework: Designed a forms platform where business owners can create, update, and manage forms through a web interface with no developer involvement. The system processes 20,000+ submissions annually across 60+ form types, with turnaround times reduced from weeks to minutes.

• Rule-Based Payroll Automation: Built a configurable payroll calculation engine handling complex, variable payment rules based on enrollment, teaching method, and seniority. The system automatically calculates retroactive adjustments when upstream data corrections occur, and provides self-service inquiry for end users. Audit risk decreased by orders of magnitude.

• Benefits Enrollment Workflow: Designed an event-driven benefits system that detects eligibility changes and generates workflow tasks automatically. Replaced paper-based processes with electronic workflows, improving data integrity and reducing time-to-enrollment.

## Clients & Deployments

Solutions deployed at Stanford, Duke, CUNY, UC Santa Cruz, James Madison University, National University, University of Minnesota, UMASS, and across the California Community College system—35+ institutions spanning higher education, healthcare, energy, and real estate sectors.

## PeopleSoft Consulting USA (now Oracle)

Technical Consultant

January 2000 - March 2003

Worked in the enterprise consulting practice on ERP implementations nationwide, including technical architecture, integrations, and custom development.

# Education

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (1999)

The University of Texas at Austin

# Skills and Tools

• Integration & API Design
  • REST API Architecture, OAuth 2.0, SAML, SCIM 2.0
  • Event-driven systems, real-time sync patterns
  • Multi-tenant SaaS integration design
• Programming & Infrastructure
  • Go, SQL, HTTP/Web Services
  • AWS, Google Cloud
• Enterprise Systems
  • 20+ years Oracle PeopleSoft (ERP domain expertise)
  • OKTA Administration and Integration
• Areas of Current Technical Research & Interest
  • Datastar , Hypermedia

# Additional Personal Information

• I love to learn new things and the challenge of solving complex problems.
• Interests - Surfing, Wing Foiling, Hiking, Reading, and Traveling
• Dream Vacation - Surfing from a yacht in warm water with my family. Wingfoiling in the Maldives.
• Apps I use Daily:
  • NotePlan
  • VSCode
  • https://github.com/danielmiessler/fabric
• Recent Books
  • Nexus - Yuval Noah Harari
  • James - Percival Everett
  • The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah (Anything by Ms. Hannah)
  • Endurance - Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage - Alfred Lansing
  • Endurance - Scott Kelly
  • Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde (Amazing Classic!)
  • I love Capitalism - Ken Langone
  • The Evolution of Everything - Matt Ridley
  • Skin in the Game - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  • Leonardo da Vinci - Walter Isaacson
  • Principles - Ray Dalio
  • The Go Programming Language - Alan A. A. Donovan
  • The Rational Optimist - Matt Ridley
  • Super Intelligence - Nick Bostrom
  • Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. - Ron Chernow
• Favorite Podcasts
  • Software Engineering Daily
  • Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History
  • James Altucher Show
  • This Week in Startups
  • ECON 102 with Noah Smith