Rafael Gonzalez Bio

Rafael Gonzalez
Director of Facilities
Sandia National Laboratories

Rafael is an executive leader at Sandia National Laboratories, overseeing Infrastructure Operations with a $200 million annual budget and 850 employees. He manages a critical 32-square-mile, 8.1 million square-foot multi-state infrastructure portfolio that supports Sandia’s research and national defense missions. His leadership drives operational excellence, cost efficiency, and modernization to ensure a resilient and agile infrastructure foundation.

Previously, Rafael held senior roles including Senior Manager of Performance Assurance and Engineered Safety, and R&D Manager for the Microsystems & Engineering Science Applications (MESA) complex. He led a $100 million upgrade of the Silicon Fabrication Facility to an 8-inch wafer process, securing trusted radiation-hardened microelectronics essential to national defense.

Before joining Sandia, Rafael built a distinguished 12-year career at Intel Corporation, leading multi-disciplinary teams managing $500 million in R&D and manufacturing operations. His pioneering work on semiconductor technologies from 90nm to 22nm nodes delivered breakthrough innovations that propelled Intel’s market leadership.

Rafael’s expertise spans the full microelectronics lifecycle—from R&D and technology development to manufacturing, quality assurance, and mission-critical operations in high-stakes environments. He excels at aligning operational execution with strategic mission goals to accelerate national security advancements and sustain technological superiority.

He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and completed executive programs at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School (Senior Executives in Leadership and National and International Security). Rafael’s leadership has been recognized with the “40 Under Forty” award (Albuquerque Business First), the Great Minds in STEM Luminary award, and as a Leadership New Mexico graduate.

Deeply committed to STEM education and community leadership, Rafael serves on the boards of New Mexico MESA and Leadership New Mexico, acts as Sandia campus executive at UTEP, and contributes nationally as a Great Minds in STEM selection committee member—fostering the next generation of scientists, engineers, and executive leaders.