FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT

Joe Goldstein

Joe Goldstein found his passion for computers at the ripe age of 12 years old. He got a Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer in 1980. This model was one of the first personal computers available for home use. This cutting edge computer had 4KB of RAM, BASIC, and plugged into the home TV as a monitor. It used a cassette tape for saving programs. Most people could not make the cassette tape storage work, but he figured it out before becoming a teen.

In an age where most computers were housed in large, expensive systems owned by big corporations, universities, and government agencies, he was already hooked on the ever-interesting things a computer could do for him at home. The problems with these computers were many. He was intrigued by those problems and spent every waking hour he could with his computer to learn how it might actually work.

For more than 30 years, this passion has been his profession. His clients range from small businesses to enterprises that need someone to build and service high-level technology infrastructure. The work done by his team includes security, networking, project management, IT strategic planning, technical architecture development, and IT department restructuring/management.

Since 2005, a large part of his focus is on Healthcare Information Technology. Today, healthcare organizations require a lot of specialized technology. Joe designs entire infrastructures for enterprise-level healthcare organizations. He has also deployed multiple EMR (Electronic Medical Record) applications for both hospitals and private practices.

Joe’s experience in healthcare technology includes being a subject matter expert on HIPAA/HITECH. He deeply understands the many requirements of Covered Entities (CE) and Business Associates (BA) and routinely provides his clients with compliance guidance for HIPAA and HITECH issues.

Joe feels blessed to be living the dream of his 12-year-old self. Before founding Optimized Computer Solutions, he was the site CIO (Chief IT Officer) for multiple hospitals while working for ACS. His entire life with technology has been a progression to more and more complex systems.

His drive to increase his value in the technology field is only exceeded by his drive to make his clients happy with the work of the team at his company. To accomplish this goal of outstanding service, he carefully selects each and every team member. He simply won’t settle for anything but the best. He knows that to provide a consistent level of high quality to his clients, he must have the best team members.

On a personal level, Joe has volunteered as a mentor for the two time National Cybersecurity Champion and nationally recognized Troy High School Cyber Defense program. In this role, he mentored middle and high school students on how to harden computers and server systems. He teaches them how to do this while they also maintain critical services in a competitive environment. He believes the Cyberpatriots program will serve the students well in the future as they expand their passion for computers. Many of his past students have continued their education in college, focusing on cyber or technology-related programs.

He also has been a volunteer leader for multiple not-for-profit boards of directors and homeowners associations. Another way he has served young people is by being a founding member of the Inland Empire Navy League.

When not solving his client’s technology challenges, Joe enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife, three amazing kids, five dogs, and a bearded dragon named Mrs. Spikes (RIP).