Independent work by Lucian Badea. Software published through Anicor Labs.
About
I'm an enterprise IT leader and product builder focused on grounded decision-support systems.
I lead teams, modernize systems, and deliver reliable technology in higher education and public sector environments.
Alongside that work, I build products that turn complex, noisy, or stressful domains into clearer decisions.
From course materials and long-form media to nutrition, baby names, storm anxiety, and robotics analytics, my work focuses on helping people make better decisions with less friction, less noise, and more trust.
Across both sides of my work, I combine enterprise-scale thinking with hands-on product execution: reliable systems, pragmatic shipping, and a bias toward real usage over theory.
Today, my focus is expanding beyond building into distribution, positioning, and growth.
Fractional technology leadership
Senior technology leadership, with a hands-on approach to decisions and delivery. Work can include systems modernization, AI governance and policies, data governance, and product delivery.
I publish and operate my independent software work through Anicor Labs, the business home for my apps, decision-support tools, product sites, and Cloudflare-backed systems.
I am also a seasoned professional photographer serving the Gainesville area, with work across headshots, portraits, landscape, nature, and commercial photography.
Acting and professional headshot sessions are booked through
PhotoTale Studio.
I help organizations make technology decisions and carry them through delivery. That can mean modernizing business systems, guiding a product team, or putting practical AI and data governance in place. I work alongside internal leaders and implementation partners on a part-time basis.
How I can help
Fractional CIO
Connect business priorities with systems, vendors and a delivery plan people can act on.
ERP and HRIS requirements, vendor evaluation and implementation partner selection.
Integration strategy, platform ownership and modernization roadmaps.
Delivery oversight, technology investment decisions and operational handover.
Fractional CTO
Give product and engineering teams clear technical direction while staying close to implementation.
Product architecture, build-or-buy decisions and scoped delivery milestones.
Team leadership and communication between business owners and engineers.
Practical web, mobile and AI implementation, with attention to reliability and cost.
AI governance and policies
Help teams use AI with clear boundaries, named owners and a practical review process.
AI acceptable-use policies, approved-tool guidance and staff adoption practices.
Data-handling rules, human review and accountability for AI-assisted decisions.
Use-case and vendor evaluation, pilot criteria and checks before wider rollout.
Data governance
Make it clear who owns the data, which sources to trust and how information moves between systems.
Data ownership, stewardship and authoritative sources for core business information.
Data quality, shared definitions and integration standards.
Access, retention and lifecycle practices developed with internal owners.
Experience behind the work
Enterprise delivery
Lead a 14-person application development organization supporting systems for 1,500 staff and 16,000 students, with strategy for 54 integrations and 200+ operational reports.
Co-chair Santa Fe College's AI Workgroup, guiding strategy, governance and adoption. Independently build evidence-backed knowledge tools and secure workflow products, including TopicLens and LumenProof.
Start with the decisions, delivery risks or ownership gaps that need attention. We agree on priorities, a working schedule and concrete deliverables, then work with your team to carry them through. Engagements can focus on a defined initiative or ongoing fractional leadership.
Enterprise technology leader and hands-on product builder focused on grounded decision-support systems. Leads mission-critical higher education platforms at institutional scale while building AI-first products that help people make better decisions with less friction, less noise, and more trust.
Lead a 14-person application development organization supporting mission-critical systems for 1,500 staff and 16,000 students.
Operational Scale
Direct an in-house ERP ecosystem with tens of modules, 54 integrations, 200+ operational reports, and data warehouse feeds.
Modernization
Support major enterprise transitions including Workday Financials, HCM, Payroll, and financial aid migration to a third-party vendor.
AI Leadership
Co-chair Santa Fe College's AI Workgroup, helping guide institutional AI strategy, governance, adoption, and practical use.
AI Product Builder
Build grounded decision-support products across education, long-form media, nutrition, baby names, storm anxiety, and robotics analytics.
Technical Range
Bridge executive planning and hands-on architecture across databases, integrations, serverless platforms, APIs, and AI-assisted development.
Product and AI builder
Built and shipped a portfolio of grounded decision-support products, including TopicLens, GainzKeepr, NameStork, Lucidifier, RoboStats, Elixirate, and SkyeCalm.
Publish and operate independent software work through Anicor Labs, the business home for apps, decision-support tools, product sites, and Cloudflare-backed systems.
Build Discord-native product surfaces for communities with secure slash commands, account linking, generated cards, analytics, and serverless Cloudflare operations.
Apply AI patterns such as RAG workflows, embeddings/vector search, structured outputs, citation workflows, confidence signals, and LLM reranking.
Ship across Cloudflare Workers, Pages, D1, R2, KV, Vectorize, TypeScript, Hono, Vue/Astro, React Native, Expo, and SQLite-backed serverless architectures.
Experience
01/2020 - Present
Director of Information Technology Services
Santa Fe College, Gainesville, FL
Lead enterprise application development, integrations, reporting, and modernization for college-wide systems serving 1,500 staff and 16,000 students.
Lead a 14-person application development organization spanning business analysis/project management, development, database administration, reporting, and technical architecture.
Direct an in-house ERP ecosystem with tens of modules, including the Student Portal, College Application, Student Information System, staff applications, 200+ operational reports, and data warehouse ETL feeds.
Lead application development and architecture review across a Java Spring Boot, Angular/PrimeNG, and DB2 enterprise application stack.
Own integration strategy for 54 connections with third-party systems, state and federal agencies, banks, vendors, Clearinghouse, transcript exchanges, peer institutions, and institutional data platforms.
Support major enterprise transitions, including Workday Financials, HCM, Payroll, and financial aid migration from an in-house system to a third-party vendor platform.
Co-chair Santa Fe College's AI Workgroup, guiding cross-functional discussions around AI strategy, governance, adoption, and responsible implementation.
Reduce technical debt and delivery risk by modernizing Student Portal and College Application architecture, streamlining workflows, and standardizing review practices.
Bridge executive planning and hands-on technical leadership across database design, performance optimization, code reviews, mentorship, staffing, and vendor/resource planning.
07/2018 - 01/2020
Director of Technology
City of Gainesville, Gainesville, FL
Directed a city-wide technology portfolio across ERP, infrastructure, smart city, and business application support.
Translated civic technology priorities into delivery roadmaps, project timelines, resource plans, and cross-functional execution.
Led the team implementing Workday HCM, Finance and Payroll, coordinating data migration, integrations and stakeholders.
Built and managed ERP, Smart City, and Business Application Support teams while shaping the city's technology roadmap.
Improved technology governance through IT policies, SLA practices, vendor contracts, strategic partnerships, and cloud software evaluations.
Recruited and developed staff while managing performance, training, and day-to-day technology operations.
11/2011 - 07/2018
Associate Director, IT
Division of Student Affairs, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Managed cross-functional teams and major application modernization efforts for Student Affairs.
Led application modernization from a 20+ year-old legacy system into a roadmap-driven portfolio of Student Affairs applications.
Directed development of the Housing Management System, an ERP-scale platform replacing legacy processes with 90+ modules, 500+ web pages, and 100+ reports.
Owned the Youth Conference Registration System, a revenue-generating SaaS product, from licensing and customization through client delivery.
Modernized data workflows through AS/400-to-Oracle migration processes and improved operational reporting.
Provided technical direction across Oracle PL/SQL, SQL, Apex, SharePoint, and legacy DB2/AS400 systems.
Recruited and mentored staff, aligning team execution with divisional strategy and application delivery roadmaps.
06/2004 - 11/2011
Software Developer - Lead
LifeSouth Community Blood Centers, Gainesville, FL
Designed and developed core modules for regulated blood banking systems and enterprise data platforms.
Built regulated healthcare software in an FDA-approved blood banking environment, designing core IBBIS modules with Oracle, PL/SQL, MFC, C++, Java Tapestry, and PHP.
Architected Oracle and SQL Server database solutions, including replication for 100+ mobile and fixed sites using materialized views.
Delivered an enterprise document imaging solution using EMC Centera and developed Windows applications with MFC/C++.
Improved engineering consistency by establishing coding standards, training developers, and supporting QA and deployment processes.
08/2002 - 05/2004
Teaching / Research Assistant
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Supported teaching and database research in the Computer Science and Engineering program.
Taught Introduction to Java labs, designed coursework, and graded assignments for undergraduate computer science students.
Contributed to the SEEK project at the Database Center by developing a Java/Oracle query translator prototype.
06/2000 - 07/2001
Database and Systems Administrator
British American Tobacco, Bucharest, Romania
Administered enterprise databases and supported ERP/data warehousing work.
Administered Oracle 8/9i databases, supported data warehousing processes, and optimized enterprise query performance.
Earned the Best ERP Implementation award for synchronizing handheld devices with production databases.
Education
05/2004
Master of Science in Computer Science and Engineering
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
06/2000
B.S. Computer Engineering
Politehnica University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Skills
AI & Decision Systems
Core AI developmentOpenAI API, AI-assisted development, Structured outputs, Prompt design
Independent software and creative businesses built to turn complex workflows into clear, trustworthy experiences, from decision support to photography and client delivery.
TopicLens
Search Platform
A search and discovery product for long-form spoken content, built around topic-first retrieval, timestamped evidence, and playable source citations.
Combines transcript ingestion, chunking, embeddings, telemetry, and source metadata.
A multi-tenant studio platform for portrait and headshot photographers, focused on branded onboarding, client proofing and selections, retouching handoff, and final delivery.
Runs the proof-to-delivery workflow used by PhotoTale Studio, including private client access, favorites, selection submission, and studio follow-up.
Uses tenant-scoped data and protected media storage behind a Cloudflare Worker, with Stripe billing and AI-assisted onboarding.
A Gainesville photography studio for modern professional, medical, academic, and acting headshots, plus on-location portrait sessions, with guided expression and realistic retouching.
Combines a photography-first portfolio and service site with structured session pricing, booking, and Stripe Checkout.
Includes a private client gallery portal, protected image delivery, favorite selection, and studio operations tooling.
Selected institutional and enterprise systems showing the other side of the same pattern: mission-critical platforms, integrations, reporting, migrations, and operational scale.
Santa Fe ERP Ecosystem
Enterprise Platform
Leadership of an in-house ERP ecosystem with tens of modules, 54 integrations, 200+ operational reports, data warehouse feeds, and college-wide application services.
Workday Transition Support
ERP Transition
Support for Santa Fe's transition from in-house ERP capabilities to Workday Financials, HCM, and Payroll, including related data and integration work.
Student Portal and College Application
Student Systems
Modernization and architecture review for student-facing and staff-facing systems supporting admissions, student services, workflows, and institutional operations.
UF Housing Management System
Housing ERP
ERP-scale housing platform replacing legacy processes with 90+ modules, 500+ web pages, and 100+ reports for Student Affairs operations.
Youth Conference Registration System
Registration SaaS
Revenue-generating SaaS product for youth conference registration, licensing, customization, client delivery, and operational workflows.
LifeSouth Blood Banking Systems
Regulated Systems
Regulated healthcare software and data platforms, including FDA-approved IBBIS modules, enterprise document imaging, and replication for 100+ mobile and fixed sites.
Portfolio
I am also a seasoned professional photographer serving the Gainesville area, with work across headshots, portraits, landscape, nature, and commercial photography.
