AJAY PATEL

* ***** ***** • Hillsborough, New Jersey 08844

908-***-**** • acfdyg@r.postjobfree.com

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LEADER

Results-driven, hands-on I.T. leader with extensive experience in managing technology design, engineering,

operations and support. Excel at translating business requirement into technology solutions. At ease working

with technologists, as well as senior executives. Bring client focus, initiative and problem solving skills. Thrive at

leading and managing a team and guiding and coaching team members. Develop and foster collaborative team

dynamics with strong sense of ownership and accountability. Adept at working in a dynamic and fast-paced

environment. Deliver on complex technology requirements and improve performance. Areas of expertise:

Virtualization • Systems Architecture • Technology Strategy • Systems Administration • Project Management •

Business Continuity and Recovery • Scripting and Automation • Capacity Planning • Consolidation/Migrations •

SAN/NAS Storage • Database Platforms • Technology Integration • Systems Monitoring and Performance Tuning

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Virtualization: VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V/SCVMM, Citrix XenApp, VDI

Microsoft Infrastructure: Windows Servers, Active Directory, DCs, DNS, DFS, DHCP, SQL, IIS, Exchange

Storage Platforms: EMC VNX/CX4/VMAX SAN, Celerra NAS, NetApps

Business Continuity: Microsoft Clustering, EMC Recover Point, VMware SRM, NeverFail, EMC VPLEX

Server Platforms: HP ProLiant, HP C-class BladeSystem, IBM xSeries, Cisco UCS

Management: SCOM, HP Insight, vCOPs, LANDesk, Quest; Batch, PowerShell, VBScript

Networking: Cisco switches/routers, Citrix WANScalar, Brocade FC, HP VirtualConnect

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

ZIFF BROTHERS INVESTMENTS, New York, New York • 2010-Present

Private capital management firm.

Systems Manager

Manage the design, implementation, and operations of global infrastructure comprised of servers, SAN and NAS

storage, virtualization, core infrastructure, and database platforms. Lead and guide a team of six senior

engineers and administrators. Develop vision and strategy and align it with business needs. Define and refine

policies, procedures and documentation to ensure efficient and optimal management of the team’s resources.

Actively lead and manage projects. Partner with development and business teams in designing solutions. Work

closely with vendors and consultants. Lead critical problem management and root-cause analysis. Ensure

business continuity and high availability of infrastructure. Manage infrastructure lifecycle and proactive capacity

management. Plan and manage operational and project budgets. Assist with internal and external audits.

• Designed the next generation of the virtual infrastructure to significantly improve the performance of VMs

and reduce operational overhead by increasing virtual-to-physical server ratio from 50% to 85%.

• Developed a framework and transformed to an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) model with tiered

compute and storage design leading to increased agility, ease of management, and significant cost savings.

• Led the design and implementation of EMC storage infrastructure and migrated from IBM DS SAN and

DAS storage to EMC VMAX 20K and VNX 7500/8000 storage platforms.

• Transformed the team to be highly proactive, process oriented and self-driven.

• Developed detailed processes and key metrics for proactive capacity management and efficient

infrastructure utilization.

• Significantly improved resiliency and uptime by spearheading rigorous change management, as well as

implementation of name space virtualization, Windows failover clustering, DFS-R or NAS replication, etc.

• Initiated reports with key metrics to provide in-depth visibility and proactively manage the environment.

• Designed and implemented Windows 2008 R2 Active Directory infrastructure globally. Collapsed 4 forests

and 8 domains into a single forest/domain environment to reduce operational complexity.

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• Significantly improved the team’s communications, follow through, and project management skills.

• Spearheaded converged infrastructure initiative by engineering and implementing HP BladeSystem

solution.

• Instituted formal procedures such as server build guide, inventory document, and team principles.

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• Significantly simplified and improved business continuity by migrating from a warm or standby Disaster

Recovery setup to a hot or active setup using EMC’s RecoverPoint, VMware SRM, and SQL Mirroring.

• Led integration and separation of several business lines.

• Engineered implementation of Exchange 2010 and assisted with Notes to Exchange migration.

• Led a new D.R. data center build out, migration, and consolidation project.

• Built out a new CoLo facility and transitioned to active-active data center model across two sites.

• Guided the team leads through various operational projects such as vSphere upgrade.

• Spearheaded proactive systems monitoring using MS SCOM, HP Insight and IBM Systems Director.

• Improved efficiency by streamlining operational tasks and processes through scripting such as daily

“baseline”, disk space alerting, validation of SQL and DFS replication, automated post-patching server

reboot, etc. Led a new D.R. data center build out, migration, and consolidation project.

MELILLO CONSULTING, Somerset, New Jersey • 2008-2010

Mid-Atlantic Systems Integrator. HP/VMware/EMC/Microsoft channel partner. $100M in sales.

Senior Solutions Architect

Principal architect and senior engineer for Microsoft, VMware, Citrix, and HP technologies and solutions. Led a

team of internal and external resources to deliver the solutions. Provided pre and post sales technical expertise

and leadership in all areas of the Wintel platform (e.g. servers/blades and storage, tiered applications, DR/HA,

virtualization, consolidation). Defined, refined, and developed SOWs, TCO/ROI models, and engineer solutions

to meet customers’ business requirements and challenges. Led POCs, workshops, and technology

assessments.

• Designed and implemented site virtualization & recovery using VMware and EMC for an international

retailer. Designed and led a highly resilient deployment of Charles River infrastructure for a regional

financial firm using Citrix XenApp, SQL, VMware, and HP blades.

• Engineered enterprise server and storage virtualization and consolidation solution using VMware, HP

BladeSystem, and FalconStore NSS and CDP storage appliances for an international law firm.

• Led assessments – Virtualization, Consolidation, Storage, Business Continuity, and Exchange/SQL.

• Architected solutions – Microsoft Windows (AD, DCs, Clustering, GPO, DFS, and DNS), VMware (ESX to

vSphere upgrades), Citrix XenApp, Citrix/VMware VDI, SCOM, and Exchange 2007 and SQL upgrades.

GOLDMAN SACHS, New York, New York • 1998-2008

International financial services corporation. Over $50B market cap.

Vice President of Information Technology

Led junior systems administrators providing engineering, integration, and management of infrastructure

technology and critical line-of-business (LOB) systems for the Fixed Income (Trading) division. Provided hands-

on technical leadership in the design, development, and support of windows systems and applications. Led

cross divisional/functional global teams that defined and implemented policies, procedure, and best practices.

Interfaced closely with business and development managers on requirements and deliverables formulation.

• Pioneered the engineering and implementation of Windows infrastructure (NT/XP desktops, 2000/2003

servers, domain controllers, directory services, file services, IIS, SQL, and clustering) within in the firm.

• Delivered substantial resource savings by deploying and managing “SecDB Process PC” farm consisting of

150+ servers and various applications for critical intra-day, EOD, or EOW trading system processes .

• Engineered the implementation of next-generation strategic desktop platform (VDI), partnering with Citrix

and using VMware technologies, enabling efficient and flexible use of resources and user session

portability.

• Led infrastructure projects/initiatives (i.e., server rollouts/refreshments/moves/consolidations, data center

moves/consolidations, exchange rollouts, desktop migrations from Solaris to NT/XP, remote office solutions,

NetApp NAS, Market Data deployments, and systems management) successfully and efficiently.

• Significantly improved efficiency by architecting various automated/scripted solutions such as automated

application installations, “self-driven” compute server builds, and VDI health-check.

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• Designed and administered implementations of Siebel CRM, data warehouse, and in-house trading

systems on Windows platform with IIS, MS SQL, Sybase, and DB2 backend after performing needs

assessments.

• Improved performance by automating Microsoft A.D. management, system health/performance verification,

security management, and consistent server/desktop configuration management processes.

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DEBEVOISE AND PLIMPTON, New York, New York • 1997-1998

International corporate law firm. 2K employees.

Network Engineer

Managed technology infrastructure globally in 24/7 environment. Provided technology architectural leadership

with on-going operations and future direction. Supervised 2 network/systems operators.

• Significantly cut time and effort required to maintain applications by creating and implementing CD-ROM

networking system using DiscPort Executive to consolidate critical legal research suite of applications.

• Drove design and implementation of disaster recovery for critical operations including PC Docs on SQL

backend, mitigating operational risk to the firm.

• Protected data and systems by leading deployment of essential Systems Security using CheckPoint

Firewall systems and Norton Anti-Virus for firewalls, mitigating information security risk to the firm.

• Improved performance, system reliability/uptime, and yearly maintenance cost by replacing “aging”

systems.

• Introduced Internet access using T1 connection directly to ISP, improving internet browsing user

experience.

PAPERCLIP SOFTWARE INC., Hackensack, New Jersey • 1996-1997

Metro New York area document management Software Company. 200 employees. $100M in sales.

Information Technology Manager

Key player in initial corporate start-up. Managed 2 resources. Implemented technical requirements, systems

maintenance, strategic planning. Managed IT operations during rapid business growth and technology

innovation.

• Slashed $100K in licensing and maintenance fees by leading migration from Novell NetWare to MS

Windows NT based network to improve interoperability of systems.

• Improved security and user administration by engineering and implementing Windows NT domain strategy.

• Managed installation, configuration, and maintenance of business critical applications and platforms.

ROUTLEDGE, INC., New York, New York • 1993-1996

International publishing company. 500 employees.

Network and Data Systems Administrator

Managed LAN/WAN and PC systems infrastructure. Administered Unisys A6 mainframe and data processing

(i.e., critical SOD/EOD and EOM processes). Trained and led one mainframe operator and one PC/LAN

technician.

• Developed ETL methodology between mainframe and PC systems.

• Designed NDS directory and installed and configured NetWare 3.x/4.x servers and clients.

• Setup Intel LANDesk to manage network servers, nodes, segments, and software/hardware.

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Rutgers University, New Jersey

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, New Jersey

QUALIFICATIONS

Project Management Professional (PMP)

VMware Certified Professional (VCP)

Mini-MBA Business Essentials (Rutgers University)

Microsoft MCITP: Enterprise Administrator

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Citrix Certified Associate (CCA)

HP Accredited Systems Engineer (ASE)

Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)

Certified Microsoft Systems Engineer (MCSE)

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