Hello, I'm

Kolten Bierman

Entertainment Manager & Technologist

Bridging large-scale themed entertainment experiences, systems automation, enterprise infrastructure, and cybersecurity.

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01. Executive Bio & Leadership

I am the Entertainment Manager at Castle Park in Riverside, California. I serve as the primary director, leader, and project lead responsible for planning, developing, coordinating, and executing large-scale seasonal entertainment experiences, special events, themed attractions, technical installations, and operational initiatives throughout the park property.

Cross-Functional Leadership: I provide strict oversight and guidance across creative, technical, operational, construction, maintenance, facilities, safety, and entertainment departments to ensure complex initiatives are completed on time, within scope, and under budget.

Lifecycle Management: I direct the complete project lifecycle from initial concept development, budgeting, and spatial design through procurement, permitting, technical installation, live operation, maintenance, and post-event closeout.

Graduated from California State University, San Bernardino, with a B.S. in Information Systems & Technology (Cybersecurity Concentration) in May 2026. Currently pursuing an M.S. in Computer & Information Technology (Project Management Concentration) at Purdue University.

100+ Division Workforce Managed

$500K+ Production Budgets Governed

#3 USA Today Ranking (Top 3 Haunted Attraction)

$1M+ Annual Seasonal Revenue Impact

Operational Leadership

Lead and schedule division teams exceeding 100 employees during peak periods. Build dynamic labor models, oversee multi-disciplinary live operations, orchestrate safety onboarding, and command real-time incident resolution during high-capacity events.

Project Portfolio Management

Manage a concurrent portfolio spanning major seasonal event transformations, attraction installations, and facility optimizations. Utilize baseline Gantt schedules, milestone tracking, and proactive risk mitigation for zero-delay openings.

Fiscal Oversight & ROI

Direct production and operational budgets surpassing $500,000. Engineer custom Excel-based forecasting models, evaluate vendor procurement bids, and cut unnecessary spending without diminishing show quality or guest safety.

Public Safety & Permitting

Primary liaison with municipal planners, building inspectors, and the Fire Marshal. Author governance documentation packages for temporary structures, fire code compliance, emergency egress clear paths, and ADA regulations.

02. Skills & Master Competencies

PROJECT MANAGEMENT & OPS

Project Management & Operations

Gantt scheduling, budget oversight ($500K+), cost estimation, WBS, procurement, risk registries, and vendor coordination.

Microsoft Project Gantt Scheduling Budgeting ($500K+) Cost Estimation Risk Registries Labor Models (100+ Staff)

CYBERSECURITY & BLUE TEAM

Cybersecurity & Blue Team Defense

SIEM monitoring, threat hunting, vulnerability management, defense-in-depth, and NIST framework compliance.

Wazuh SIEM Vulnerability Management NIST CSF 2.0 / 800-53 Threat Hunting Incident Response RBAC & Least Privilege

ETHICAL HACKING & RED TEAM

Offensive Security & Pen Testing

Authorized enterprise penetration testing, service exploitation, Active Directory compromise, and CVSS risk reporting.

Kali Linux Metasploit Evil-WinRM / SSH Active Directory CVSS Scoring Formal Reporting

NETWORK ENGINEERING

Networking & Enterprise Infrastructure

Multi-segment WAN/DMZ/LAN routing, VLANs, OPNsense/VyOS firewalls, and switch & fiber-optic documentation.

TCP/IP (IPv4/IPv6) VLANs & Subnetting Routing & Switching WAN / DMZ / LAN Fiber Infrastructure Firewall ACLs

SYSTEMS & VIRTUALIZATION

Systems Administration & Virtualization

Windows Server, Linux (RHEL/Ubuntu), Active Directory Domain Services, Group Policy, and hypervisors.

Windows Server RHEL & Ubuntu Linux Active Directory (AD DS) Group Policy (GPO) VMware & Proxmox System Service Daemons

AI & WORKFLOW AUTOMATION

Artificial Intelligence & Automation

Local and cloud LLM integrations (Gemini API, Ollama), prompt engineering, n8n workflow orchestration, and event-driven automation.

Gemini API Suite Ollama Local LLMs Prompt Engineering n8n Automation Server Webhooks & REST APIs Autonomous Logic Trees

ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEMS

Show Control & Entertainment Tech

DMX512 lighting, pneumatic automation, animatronics repair, spatial audio mixing, and show control networks.

DMX512 & sACN Animatronics Automation Pneumatic Actuators Spatial Audio Mixing Projection Mapping Interactive Attraction Triggers

INFRASTRUCTURE DOCUMENTATION

Technical Documentation & Mapping

Network topology mapping, port/switch documentation, fiber pathways, maze schematics, and as-built drawings.

Network Topology Maps Fiber Pathway Docs Switch Port Mapping Maze Schematics As-Built Drawings Technical Reports

CAD & SPATIAL MODELING

CAD Software & Technical Modeling

2D and 3D architectural drafting, attraction schematics, physical site surveys, and spatial layouts in AutoCAD, Revit, Fusion 360, and SketchUp.

AutoCAD Architecture Autodesk Revit Fusion 360 SketchUp Physical Site Surveys Attraction Schematics

Core Competency Summary

Project Management Operations Management Cybersecurity Networking Enterprise Infrastructure Artificial Intelligence Automation Systems Integration Technical Entertainment Attraction Development CAD Software & Modeling Technical Documentation Leadership Public Speaking Risk Management Business Operations Technology Strategy Problem Solving

In Progress / Planned Certifications

Cisco CCNA (Routing & Switching) Project Management Professional (PMP)

Future Targets & Specialized Training

CISSP CompTIA Security+ Operational Technology (OT) ICS Certifications

03. Professional Experience

September 2023 – Present

Entertainment Manager

Castle Park — Riverside, California

Serve as the primary director, leader, and team lead responsible for planning, developing, coordinating, and executing large-scale seasonal entertainment experiences, special events, themed attractions, technical installations, and operational initiatives throughout the park property.

Cross-Functional Leadership: Provide strict oversight and guidance across creative, technical, operational, construction, maintenance, facilities, safety, and entertainment departments to ensure projects finish on time, within scope, and under budget.
Workforce Management: Lead, schedule, and coordinate a division workforce exceeding 100 employees during peak seasonal operating periods; continuously align staffing models with attendance projections, operational priorities, and daily goals.
Budget Governance ($500K+): Directly manage seasonal production and entertainment operations budgets exceeding $500,000 across multiple simultaneous properties, building custom Excel-based forecasting tools for data-driven capital allocation.
Castle Dark Flagship Property: Primary project lead for Castle Park's flagship Halloween property, consistently maintaining its national ranking as a Top 3 Haunted Attraction in the United States by USA Today 10Best for two consecutive years; generated $1M+ in annual revenue and boosted net profitability by $100K+.
Attraction Design & Spatial Layouts: Develop pinpoint-accurate attraction layouts, maze blueprints, and queue line pathways using physical field measurements; optimize crowd circulation and engineer emergency egress routes.
Permitting & Regulatory Compliance: Act as primary liaison with local municipal planners, building inspectors, and Fire Marshal representatives throughout all permitting, walkthrough, and sign-off phases, guaranteeing full ADA and fire code adherence.
Technical Entertainment Systems: Design, wire, install, program, and troubleshoot addressable DMX lighting environments, automated animatronics, custom pneumatic actuators, and multi-zone spatial audio cue networks.
Network & Infrastructure Mapping: Executed comprehensive, facility-wide technical surveys to locate, identify, and map out network switches, physical communication nodes, and foundational fiber-optic pathways for IT troubleshooting and capital expansion.
Midsummer Scream Presenter: Invited to speak as a featured panelist at Midsummer Scream for two consecutive years, representing Castle Dark and sharing event insights, seasonal promotions, and stories from that haunt year.

04. Projects

Enterprise Infrastructure, Hardening & Security Operations

Hands-on engineering across enterprise network segmentation, blue team defense, authorized penetration testing, and ICS/OT security analysis.

Simulated Enterprise Architecture & Defense | CSUSB

Dogpark Enterprise Infrastructure Project

Architected and defended a simulated enterprise network for fake company “KAM Industries.” Deployed multi-tier infrastructure segmented into WAN, DMZ, and internal LAN environments with Active Directory (AD DS), OPNsense/VyOS firewalls, and Wazuh SIEM monitoring; defended against live red team intrusions and achieved an audited 94% defensive baseline on NIST CSF 2.0 / SP 800-53.

KAM Industries Enterprise Active Directory (AD DS) WAN / DMZ / LAN OPNsense & VyOS Wazuh SIEM NIST CSF 2.0 (94%)

Enterprise Red Teaming & Critical Infrastructure | CSUSB

Dogpark Penetration Test & Risk Assessment

Lead contributor for authorized internal enterprise penetration test (April 2026); exploited Windows Server IIS, Linux PostgreSQL, and Active Directory domain controllers with CVSS modeling and AI acceleration; extended assessment to evaluate OT attack surfaces and multi-stage lateral attack paths into simulated critical infrastructure utilities.

Dogpark Red Teaming Kali Linux & Metasploit Active Directory Testing CVSS 3.1 Modeling OT / ICS Attack Surfaces Critical Infrastructure

Themed Entertainment & Information Systems Research | CSUSB

Meeting of the Minds: From DMX to IP

“From DMX to IP: How Lighting Control Systems in Themed Entertainment Have Evolved into Modern Information Systems,” presented at CSUSB’s Meeting of the Minds research conference. Examined how protocols like Art-Net and Streaming ACN (sACN) have evolved into IP-based networks requiring knowledge of networking, VLANs, managed switches, and cybersecurity—exploring how operational technologies increasingly resemble enterprise IT environments.

Art-Net & sACN (E1.31) From DMX to IP Managed Switches & VLANs OT Cybersecurity Meeting of the Minds Conference Presenter

Software Engineering, AI & Show Automation

Custom inventory databases, full-stack AI web applications, animatronic figures, and autonomous show control nodes.

Custom Software & Asset Tracking | Castle Park

Halloween Props Tracker

Standalone custom asset management database replacing legacy manual logging. Normalized schema, dynamic inline QR code generator on equipment labels, dynamic chain of custody, and instant Excel audit exports.

Python 3 Relational SQL Custom GUI QR Code Engine OpenPyXL

Full-Stack AI Application | Independent Project

AI Campaign Generator

Responsive cloud-hosted narrative platform building multi-turn campaign milestones, adaptive character arcs, branching dialogue, session tracking, Firebase cloud store, and n8n orchestration nodes.

JavaScript / HTML5 Firebase Cloud n8n Workflows Ollama Local LLM Gemini API

Embedded Hardware & Robotics | Themed Tech

Interactive Animatronic Bird (Arduino)

Autonomous animatronic figure featuring programmed head movement, synchronized sound playback, eye flicker effects, and wireless infrared (IR) command activation.

Arduino (AVR) Head Movement Synchronized Sound Eye Flicker IR Remote Commands

Microcomputing & Show Control | Production

Raspberry Pi Show Control Node

Debian Linux show node intercepting incoming audio frequencies to dynamically modulate DMX lighting; standalone thunderstorm simulation synchronizing random audio tracks with strobes.

Raspberry Pi 5 Debian Linux Audio-to-DMX Strobe Sequences Show Control

Large-Scale Themed Attractions, Seasonal Events & Technical Production

Nationally recognized Halloween properties (USA Today Top 3), holiday festivals, technical show systems, and industry convention presentations.

Flagship Seasonal Event | Castle Park

Castle Dark Project Portfolio

Project lead for Castle Park's flagship Halloween property; maintained national ranking as a Top 3 Haunted Attraction in the US by USA Today 10Best for two consecutive years; generated $1M+ in revenue.

USA Today Top 3 100+ Staff Managed $500K+ Budget DMX & Animatronics City Permitting

Seasonal Family Experience | Castle Park

Christmas Event Development

Led strategic multi-departmental planning, site layout optimization, holiday entertainment programming, projection mapping installs, and labor allocation models for optimal revenue and guest satisfaction.

Projection Mapping Lighting Installs Labor Scheduling Budget Oversight

Seasonal Festivals | Castle Park

Mardi Gras & Easter Seasonal Events

Coordinated design, operational logistics, themed guest experience loops, performance schedules, tech coordination, temporary staging, and front-line workforce deployment.

Festival Operations Live Logistics Performer Scheduling Guest Experience

Industry Convention Speaker | 2-Year Panelist

Midsummer Scream Presenter

Invited to speak as a featured panelist at Midsummer Scream for two consecutive years, representing Castle Dark and sharing event insights, seasonal promotions, and stories from that haunt year.

2-Year Panelist Panel Photos Gallery Event Insights Seasonal Promotions