Hi, I’m David Molina. I’m a mission-driven founder and former Army Captain turned M&A Advisor and business broker. Previously, I founded a federal government contracting company, a remote/decentralized national veterans nonprofit, a bilingual job board, served in the Army (enlisted and officer), served two terms as a governor-appointed commissioner, and got my start working in the fields harvesting oysters, picking apples, cucumbers and berries across western and eastern Washington. Originally from Hood River, Oregon, I was raised in a little farm town just 60m north of Seattle in Mount Vernon, Wash. Some of my projects are below.

David Molina visiting an old Army friend in Louisiana

davidcmolina.com

Launched in 2009, davidcmolina.com (previously, davidmolina.github.io) is my personal sandbox– a place for my writing, research, and what I find interesting. Topics include, strategy, planning, execution, technology, and lifestyle medicine. It’s where all my long reads go.

Previously, my thoughts and insights spread across various publishing platforms, including Blogspot, Tumblr, Posterous, and Medium. While these are good writing platforms, I preferred to code. Now all my work lives under one roof, built in Jekyll, hosted on GitHub, and available freely. If you prefer more daily, short stories of my day you can find me on various social platforms here, or resume/CV.

molinas.consulting

molinas.consulting started as an experiment pairing alongside other small business contractors. In 2022, I accidentally started providing technical assistance to Seattle-based, veteran, women, and minority-owned contractors on developing their estimates, submitting an RFP, and building out their back office. This hands-on and pairing approach is the very best way to learn– because many of us learn by doing, not just death-by-powerpoint. I was assigned companies interested in doing work with King County, WSDOT, Seattle Sound Transit, and prime contractors.

David Molina pairing at Tabor100 with a client

During this time, I worked 1:1 with contractors as a fractional executive, and gave talks on growing a government contracting company, estimating strategies, and systemizing operations. While bringing high level advisory executive services to Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs) has been rewarding, in late 2025, I made the decision to shift and productize services online.

David Molina speaking in Tri-Cities

Regardless of geography, a small business contractor can now purchase the master takeoff and formulas, and schedule a 1:1 call with me to go over their markups, margins, and pricing strategy.

In 2013, I sat down over three weeks to write a 33,000 word manuscript. The Principles of MESLO, a book about getting to the value of x (bid price), value of t (time), and operationalizing the back office. It’s currently scheduled for a summer 2026 release. In the interim, I’ve open sourced the business plans, operations handbooks, naming conventions, and filemapping systems on the book landing page. Just scroll to the MESLO Starter Kit.

Molinas Construction Co.

In 2015, I founded Molinas Construction Company, a federal contracting firm serving government agencies and commercial clients. What began as a garage-based company evolved from large landscaping IDIQs into five divisions across general contractor, earthwork, material procurement, equipment procurement, and tenant leasing. From 2018 to 2022 I ran the company full-time and prioritized recruiting and retaining veterans, Latina/os, immigrants, and young people into the trades. During this time, I volunteered and served on multiple boards including, the Oregon State University Alumni Association, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), and LatinoBuilt. After leading the company through sustained growth, I transitioned from day-to-day operations to focus on advisory work and long-term strategic initiatives.

Operation Code

In 2014, after learning enough Ruby on Rails to be dangerous I launched a website petition to lobby Congress and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to cut the red tape preventing veterans from leveraging their Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefits to cover coding bootcamp tuition, room, and board. Veteran-founded and led, Operation Code, an open-source project evolved into an nationally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit and built the nation’s first large-scale veteran-focused software mentorship network, worked with policymakers and educational institutions to modernize eligibility pathways for technical training.

Operation Code - On a mission to expand the GI Bill from Teresa Mahoney on Vimeo.

GI Bill should expand to cover code school: Victor Molina's story from Teresa Mahoney on Vimeo.

Over a few years more than thirty coding schools across twenty states became GI Bill eligible, and advocacy efforts contributed to securing $75 million in federal funding through the VET TEC Act to expand access to technical education for veterans. The organization operated as a distributed, remote-first team spanning 19 time zones with the board of directors based across the entire United States. In 2018, I stepped down as Executive Director to allow the organization to scale under new stewardship.

BilingualHire

In 2013, I built a job platform to connect employers with bilingual (Spanish+ English) talent. The mobile friendly web app had a signup/ login page where employers could create a job posting without pass human interference. The following year I built operationcode.org and it took off like a rocket. In 2015 I sunset bilingualhire to focus on operationcode.org, and all services folded under Molinas Construction Co.

Military and Public Service

From 2011 to 2013 I served as an Army Captain at the Joint Personal Effects Depot (JPED), a mission responsible for the dignified collection and return of personal effects belonging to Fallen and Wounded Service Members. During a 24-month wartime mobilization at joint, multi-service wartime environment at Dover Air Force Base, I served as Plans, Training & Operations Officer (S-2/3 OIC) with additional responsibilities as Public Affairs & Protocol Officer. In this capacity, I modernized Standard Operating Procedures, co-authored the Center for Army Lessons Learned JPED Handbook, implemented cross-training certifications, launched internal and external digital platforms, and coordinated senior-level visits involving general officers, Pentagon leadership, and Members of Congress. During President Barack Obama’s visit to Dover in 2011, I served as Army Liaison to the Secretary of the Army and Sergeant Major of the Army.

Following my first active duty assignment at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, I staffed the Oregon House Committee on Veterans & Emergency Services. Earlier in my military career, I served as an Executive Assistant (Aide-de-Camp) to an Army General Officer, gaining early exposure to executive coordination, strategic planning, and institutional stewardship. Prior to commissioning, I was an enlisted soldier assigned to the 364th Civil Affairs Brigade. In my early 20s, I was appointed by Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski to the Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs, serving as Vice Chair and organizing public forums on civil rights, healthcare disparities, and workforce access.

Talks, Workshops

For workshops, speaking engagements, technical assistance initiatives, or operational training inquiries, please get in touch or connect via LinkedIn.