EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Award-winning, results-driven Information Technology management leader combining technical knowledge with strategic planning, resource management, and operational leadership in order to achieve ambitious project, program, and business objectives. Proven expertise in setting new standards and driving change while minimizing downtime through preventative maintenance and effective systems planning. Expert in the arenas of sourcing, purchasing, budgeting and procurement. Extensive knowledge-base and certifications, complemented by superb leadership skills.

Business-IT Alignment | Project / Program Management | Vendor Relations | Strategic Planning
Team Building | Infrastructure Development | New Systems Implementation | Cost Reduction
Server Optimization | Reengineering Programs | Systems Security | Data Management
Best Practices | Budgets | PCI Compliance | Staff Development

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Confidential, Secaucus, New Jersey | 2009 - present
Nationwide retailer of women's apparel with 180+ locations and $175M in annual sales.

Manager of Infrastructure: Command complex technology operations and lead large-scale initiatives to optimize performance across 180+ sites. Apply knowledge of best practices to facilitate data center, hardware maintenance and infrastructure functions in alignment with regulatory requirements. Lead infrastructure team and manage vendors to ensure quality administration and support for a range of technologies. Negotiate licensing agreements.

• Directed and provided guidance for design of IT infrastructure considering factors such as functional requirements, business objectives, system performance, capacity, throughput and response time, strategic technology direction and security.
• Managed the development of risk management procedures, business continuance scenarios and contingency plans for systems and networks to maintain operations during downtime and major disasters.
• Responsible for all aspects of IT infrastructure including: Servers, Storage, Networking, Security, Databases, Telecom, Operations, Disaster Recovery, Help Desk support and E-commerce.
• Led major restructuring efforts in regards to network availability and optimization, storage area network upgrades, server upgrades as well as consolidation programs thereby resulting in greater resilience, performance and fault tolerance of the overall environment.
• Regarded as a key strategic advisor to the POS team with regards to hardware, software, security and performance issues. Acted as new store lead and coordinated new store openings with numerous resources, both internally and externally.
• Played a key role in a major PCI compliance project to develop solutions for wireless penetration testing, network segmentation, credit card data tokenization, system logging, and file integrity monitoring. Led threat avoidance initiatives to ensure that all data referenced within PCI was protected and intact.
• Acted as lead for all IT vendor relations, and proactively engaged with key partners on a daily basis including Verizon, Covad, Tekmark Global Solutions, Granite, SpencerTech and New Edge Networks.
• Maximized application availability by orchestrating a VMware implementation and consolidation of numerous Microsoft SQL servers in order to successfully phase out an antiquated hardware platform.
• Re-engineered overall Disaster Recovery strategy by utilizing VMWare as opposed to reliance upon traditional physical server/back-up/restore methodologies.
• Spearheaded a cost reduction program to identify where systems and services have been under-utilized and provided recommendations to integrate multiple areas, thereby reducing overall operating expenses.
• Engineered the centralization of authentication services for WAN, LAN, Dial-in and VPN users on Cisco Radius server. Implemented Outlook Web Access and SSL VPN services.
• Managed regular risk assessments of various systems and developed comprehensive mitigating solutions and remediation projects.

Manager of Network Administration
Directed a multi-faceted core IT infrastructure, including servers, switches, backups, antivirus, email, databases, and security, ensuring all enhancements were aligned with short and long-term business needs and goals. Managed a cohesive team of network administrators and desktop support personnel. Established renewed accountability and commitment within IT team by identifying areas for improvement, generating performance metrics and developing an environment of individual growth.

• Devised a strategic vision for key applications and entire IT infrastructure. Developed long-term growth and development plans. Acted as a primary liaison between IT and core business teams.
• Led RFP process for core and edge network infrastructure refresh project, organized a collaborative process among multiple vendors to ensure a proposed solution meets established technical and budgetary targets within given time constrains.
• Spearheaded a 50% cost reduction effort by re-organizing vendor relations and contract negotiations, thereby streamlining support services. Coordinated service restructuring activities resulting in more robust service delivery and agile IT infrastructure.
• Directed all network operations including the integration of numerous network technologies and upgrades for both in-house and third-party software. Ensured the enterprise has the capability to support new technologies and maintain high levels of network performance and reliability.
• Conceptualized and matured strategy for off-site disaster recovery program which defines strategy, governance and assurance within IT team while improving focus on crisis management and business continuity.
• Developed and led transition from physical to virtual server infrastructure by overseeing an ongoing migration of servers from existing server farm to VMware environment. Coordinated a migration from DAS to iSCSI SAN.
• Successfully designed and implemented a migration strategy for company's main MS SQL database server. Managed expectations and risk throughout the process to ensure a maximum system uptime and availability.
• Orchestrated a strategic, company-wide platform upgrade including Microsoft Server OS migration and WAN links consolidation in accordance with technology frameworks and industry best practices.

Confidential, New York, New York | 2004-2006
Provider of financial and information services.

Enterprise Network Administrator
Supported Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, WINS infrastructure for 10,000 enterprise users located in multiple international locations, including Singapore, London, Hong Kong, Sydney, Tokyo, and Paris. Conducted services monitoring, resolved replication issues, performed backups and restores, patching, deployment and upgrade.

• Led Active Directory/Exchange part of SOX compliance project, ensured appropriate levels of oversight are in place across all business divisions within IT infrastructure.
• Engineered a fault tolerant DNS/DHCP/AD Enterprise Architecture addressing potential points of contention. Identified problems and opportunities in relation to relevant system design.
• Project lead for company-wide DNS system upgrade of Lucent Vital QIP utilized by 12,000 users with 0% down time and consistent fault tolerance. Maintained closed adherence to architectural principles, global product-specific guidelines and usability design standards.
• Coordinated global standard technology exercises in accordance with enterprise architecture methodologies and identified problems and opportunities in relation to relevant policies and procedures.
• Implemented services status monitoring and performance benchmarking, resolved replication issues and performed necessary backups and restores. Collaborated with various external vendors to provide effective technology solution for business units.
• Facilitated support, maintenance and timely upgrade of corporate IPS, VPN and antivirus solutions.
• Elevated quality of framework for servers and workstations by implementing standards, policies and procedures. Provided all necessary support for maximum system uptime and availability.
• Conducted the analysis of current environment to detect critical deficiencies and recommend strategies for improvements. Minimized technical exposure and risk on projects.
• Provided guidance, training and documentation to the Global Enterprise Team members.

Network Administrator
Maximized functionality of all aspects of IT infrastructure in 1,200-user network across 4 locations, including Active Directory, SQL, Exchange, IIS, Backup, LAN, WAN and Security solutions.

• Improved fault tolerance and increased systems uptime by guiding a multi-faceted team to implement a clustered MS SQL 2000 solution for central database server to create a stable configuration including backup, restore, and performance monitoring.
• Increased remote access speed by 50% by migrating remote access solution to new stand-alone RAS solution.
• Significantly reduced support costs while achieving network speed improvements by successfully completing a migration from Nortel Chassis 5000 to Nortel Passport 8600 core routing switch.
• Ensured 100% system availability by developing and executing a Windows 2000 migration plan, including resource consolidation and restructuring. Migrated NT domain users and resources to the Active Directory.
• Provided instant insight into real-time infrastructure issues by taking proactive measures to ensure system stability and uptime by establishing system-wide monitoring using WhatsUp Gold software, Compaq Insight Manager, Dell Open Manage, and Nortel Optivity Campus software solutions.
• Reduced Internet connectivity costs by 40% by identifying and migrating to a new ISP provider and implementing GFI Mail Essentials-based mail management and spam filtering techniques.
• Earned the prestigious Employee of the Year Award in 2003.

Confidential | 1996-2001
Various positions held with IBM, GALAXCO, AFL, INSEL, BUSSINESS APPROACH COMPUTER CONSULTING, INTERNET CENTER PLUS

• Led a roll-out of 300+ end-user Windows NT workstations.
• Performed quality assurance and control of computer assembly pipeline. Facilitated design and implementation of diagnostic and "burn-in" procedures.
• Successfully deployed a Microsoft BackOffice suite of products including Exchange, SQL, IIS and Proxy servers. Assisted with interoffice support and troubleshooting.
• Executed network infrastructure upgrade projects, coordinated vendors and third party service providers.
• Oversaw and administered all image standards for laptops and desktops.

SOFTWARE / HARDWARE

Operating Systems: MS DOS/Windows 9x/Vista/ 7, Windows NT/2000/2003/2008, Linux, AS/400
Databases: MS SQL 6.5/7/2000/2005/2008, Oracle 9i, 10g
Applications: VMware, Citrix, MS Exchange 5.5/200x, Blackberry Enterprise Server, MS SCCM/MOM, Lucent Vital QIP, PatchLink, GFI Mail Essentials, Nortel Optivity Campus, MS IIS, EMC Networker, Symantec BackupExec, ArcServe Backup, Dell IT Assistant, Compaq Insight Manager, What'sUp Gold, Big Brother, Norton Ghost, Kiwi Syslog, Quest Recovery Manager for AD and FogLight for SQL, Cognet, Abridean Suite
Security Products: AV/Malware protection suits from McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro, Barracuda SPAM and Virus Firewall, Tipping Point IPS, Cisco ASA, ACS, SonicWall CSM, Juniper SSL VPN appliance, Nortel Contivity VPN, MS Proxy and ISA servers
Networking: Cisco Routers 800, 1800, 2800, Cisco Catalyst 2600, 2900, 3500, 3700, 4500, 6500 Switches, Nortel BayStack 350, 450, BPS2000, Chassis 5000, Passport 8600, Nortel SR 3120, ASN
Servers / Storage: Dell PowerEdge, HP Proliant, IBM iSeries and pSeries, EMC CX-500, NetApp FAS3020
Programming Languages: VBScript, DOS shell scripting, RoboFTP scripting

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering

A+, MCSE Windows NT 4.0/ MCSE Windows 2000 certified.