Summary

Work Experience

Education

Publications

Awards

Community Activities

John Pfaff, Ph.D.

*** ** ****** **

Lee’s Summit MO 64064

571-***-****

adu2r4@r.postjobfree.com

Summary

I am a creative, energetic, disciplined and diplomatic professional with over 30 years of telecommunications, Internet, investment banking and entertainment industry experience in cost and price modeling, business process engineering and automation. I have a proven track record at addressing complex business problems, and defining the path to profitability through business process and product simplification, and by defining multi-phased feasible automation plans. I also have an outstanding record at project-managing large and complex software projects through delivery, and at recruiting, motivating and developing high-performing teams. I am extremely good at determining how an enterprise can slightly tweak their existing products or business processes in order to effectively deploy and exploit new information technologies, either Customized Off-The-Shelf, Configured Off-The-Shelf, or Home-Grown. This skill has proved very valuable to both Service Providers as well as Application Vendors – I can find the Win-Win Solutions!

Department of Defense Secret security clearance – until 2025 ITIL® Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management Fluency in: Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook, Project), LAMP - Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP, XML, VoIP, LSOG, SIP, SS7, MSAG, RSAG, GIS, LERG, LCADS, LIDB, CNAM, G2B, KML, HIPAA, ICOMS, CSG, BillPlex, Xpercom, Neustar, Siebel, Intrado, TargusInfo, MapInfo, RateCenterInfo.

Work Experience

January 2022 – Present: Aavalar Consulting, Vertex Product Technical Specialist. Providing 2nd level support for issues that were not resolved by the frontline (Troubleshooting in areas of product functionality, data, calculation, and integration issues). Facilitating resolution of customer issues by logging and verifying issues, working with the correct resources to identify the root cause. Acting as the business liaison between the company and client to ensure the needs of both client and business are in line.

September 2020 – October 2021: Microsoft, Support Engineer, Azure SQL Database, Charlotte NC. Responsible for the customer support experience with Microsoft. Own, troubleshoot and solve customer technical issues, using collaboration, troubleshooting best practices and transparency within and across teams (e.g. swarming). Identify cases that require escalation (either technically or strategically). Create and maintain incident management requests to product group/engineering group. Contribute to case deflection initiatives, automation and other digital self-help assets to improve customer/ engineer experience. Provide ramp activities, knowledge sharing, technical coaching and mentoring. Drive technical collaboration & engagement outside of CSS (Product Engineering teams. Lead or participate in building communities with peer delivery roles.

March 2020 – September 2020: Wells Fargo, Business Application Analyst, Charlotte NC. Member of the "help desk" for Third Parties who use the Third Party Complaints portal, partner with the SCRUM team on on-going basis to improve the portal and engage with various stakeholders to develop and report business analysis of complaints, user data, and Third Party activity. Onboard Third Party users to the portal as well as continually engage them to resolve issues they might encounter. Ensure that the team is adhering to policy and develop internal procedures that ensure proper controls are in place for Third Parties. Effectively partner with the Complaints Reporting and Analytics team to develop reports reflecting Third Party activities, portal usage, and complaints analysis.

April 2018 – February 2020: Independent IT Consultant, Charlotte NC. Designed and developed an open source client records database that is fully HIPAA-compliant for a counseling agency. Designed and developed a client records database for a health care organization that serves the Third World, incorporating GIS components. Leveraged the Keyhole Markup Language

(KML) to integrate a MySQL relational database with the Google Earth mapping toolset. Designed and developed a Palm-based healthcare application that integrates with the central database and GIS systems.

December 2016 – March 2018: CenturyLink Business, Principal Architect, IT Security Services, Herndon VA. Defining optimal business processes, solution architectures, and integration and development requirements, to streamline and automate operations, with the objective of optimizing IT security for CenturyLink’s business customers. December 2015 – November 2016: Time Warner Cable / New Charter Communications, Lead OSS Voice Systems Engineer, Herndon VA. Defining optimal business processes, solution architectures, and integration and development requirements, to streamline and automate operations, with the objective of optimizing Time Warner Cable's / New Charter’s Voice product profitability. Designed, developed and maintain a LAMP(Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP)-based application that TWC / New Charter uses to keep its voice switches in synch with telephone industry updates (i.e. LERG), and in synch with TWC's / New Charter’s tariff experts' interpretation of local service tariffs (i.e. NOT LCADS) - US patent 7,734,030 listed below. June 2002 – December 2015: EMC Consulting, Senior Consultant, Edison NJ. Large Cable TV / Internet / IP Telephony Service Provider – I provided technical leadership to a large IP Telephony Service Provider as it separated from its CLEC business partner. I defined requirements for modeling the new network interconnections in the Granite inventory system, and provided architectural leadership and defined requirements for migrating service order fulfillment and service activation away from the CLEC partner’s information systems over to the Neustar Clearinghouse, Intrado (E911), and TARGUSInfo (LIDB, CNAM and Directory Assistance). I also provided overall business analysis and architecture leadership in the areas of access management and call routing, and identified opportunities to simplify or otherwise improve the profit margins of telephony products. I also developed and deployed LAMP(Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP)-based process automation and business intelligence applications that saved millions of dollars per month in operational expenditures. Two of my inventions were patented, and continue to be used, by the client.

Commercial CLEC – I provided business analysis and architectural guidance to a very profitable Commercial CLEC which had recently acquired some other CLECs, and needed to consolidate to a single set of information systems. I focused on applications that interfaced with the telecommunications industry, and other providers (service order and trouble referral gateways), evaluated home-grown and COTS applications, and defined an optimal end state architecture, and provided suggestions on how to get there. As a result of the architectural work, EMC was retained to lead the implementation of the evolution to the target-state architecture. ILEC Launching IPTV – I was part of a team that provided technical leadership to an ILEC that was entertaining the idea of leveraging their IP network and plant to providing IP TV service. I conducted an assessment of their current operations and information systems infrastructure, and identified gaps between where they were, and where they would need to be, in order to run a profitable video business. I was responsible for the following functional areas: billing, service order generation and management, trouble management, content management, content provider contracts and settlements, collections, and regulatory compliance and reporting. Wireless Network Operator – I was part of a team that provided technical and operational expertise and guidance to a multi-national wireless network operator, which was considering providing outsourced network operations services to a large US-based wireless service provider. I provided technical expertise and due diligence analysis of the business case in the operational areas of service activation and stationary and mobile work force administration. Prepaid Wireless Service Provider – I was the principal architect and analyst for a large prepaid wireless service provider, designing and leading the development of a portal that could be used by independent dealers, to activate handsets and gather important business measurements on dealer volume, compliance and discretionary compensation. I led the portal project from concept to deployment in three months, working with and into an extremely rigid corporate release management culture and set of procedures.

Wireless Service Provider – I led the design and development of process and systems requirements on behalf of a large wireless communications company to deliver the “quad play” to the four largest MSOs in the US. I provided technical leadership in defining streamlined business processes, and how to leverage (and customize) the CableLabs Go2Broadband (G2B) messaging infrastructure to automate pre-sale qualification, sales and activation business processes. I wrote and brokered an interface agreement with two of the major ISPs that leveraged the G2B 4.1 message set to fully automate a very labor-intensive sales and activation process. Large Cable TV / Internet / IP Telephone Service Provider – I implemented a PC-based E911 records management system within the process and systems infrastructure of a large Internet telephony provider. I analyzed the pre-selected tool’s capabilities and limitations, worked with certification teams in two different ILECs, and rapidly brought the tool through ILEC certification. I documented detailed procedures on how to maintain accurate and current subscriber records, how to validate and scrub service address records, and how to upload and audit ALI records with the ALI database providers. Requirements for integrating the PC-based tool into the provider’s system infrastructure were also delivered.

Wireless Service Provider – I analyzed and synthesized product and business requirements for two major wireless communications companies that were undergoing a merger. With the object to migrate accounts from one incumbent billing / customer care environment to the other, I provided architectural leadership and guidance on how to minimize negative customer impact resulting from migration / consolidation.

Internet Service Provider – I conducted discovery and reverse engineering of a large Internet Service Provider’s serviceability logic and support software. I dramatically simplified the serviceability logic and defined development requirements for a streamlined product offer serviceability engine, that would produce consistent results regardless of the source of inquiry, but also that could provide customized results based on co-marketing and co-branding decisions. Wireless Service Provider – I conducted a comprehensive process and technology readiness audit for a major Canadian wireless communications company, to assess their readiness to implement wireless number portability (WNP).

Large Cable TV / Internet / IP Telephone Service Provider – I defined technical product requirements for set-top devices and associated web portals, to enable a large Multiple System Operator (MSO) to compete head-to-head with TiVo. I investigated and leveraged cable TV standards like OCAP, CPSA, CPRM, CPPM, CSS and DTCP to maximize end user access to premium content, while protecting content owner assets. Product requirements were successfully implemented in set-top device vendor’s hardware.

Communications Equipment Vendor – I led the definition of an operations support systems architecture to support Internet Television, for a leading network equipment manufacturer, which included systems developed by the manufacturer, and partnering “ecosystem” OSS providers. Large Cable TV / Internet / IP Telephone Service Provider – I led the business process engineering, CLEC interconnection negotiation, product definition, regulatory compliance, network engineering and routing, network provisioning, service provisioning and automation planning for a major cable TV and Internet Service Provider. I led the technical planning for the delivery of Internet Telephony service over the cable plant and the Internet, including identifying and resolving legal and regulatory issues, product feature availability timing, switch configuration methodology and end user training. I led the negotiation of business process and system interfaces between the ISP and its trading partners, and driving the selection of electronic trading applications that maximize the ISP’s profitability. I worked with commercial applications ICOMS, ACP and the Cisco BTS 10200 softswitch. I designed and developed two operations automation tools for which patents have awarded. I developed proficiency in telephony standards for ordering, transmission, North American Numbering Plan, signaling and FCC/PUC regulations, and proficiency in Linux, Apache, MYSQL, and PHP.

June 2000 – June 2002: Sphera Optical Networks, Chief Information Officer, New York NY. I was responsible for the planning, design, procurement, implementation and management of all information technology, operations support systems, business process design and management, voice and data communications, and new services technical planning. I led the evaluation, purchase and implementation of: Siebel (sales force automation, service order management and trouble tracking and management), BillPlex (Daleen’s billing application), Xpercom (Granite’s network inventory management application), Oracle Financials (general ledger), as well as MicroSoft Windows 2000 desktop environment, Microsoft Exchange corporate e-mail, and CheckPoint firewall and VPN. I supported product management and RFP responses from a technical perspective, representing the company's technical capabilities. I supervised the company's Global Network Management Center, overseeing test and turn-up, and diagnostic and troubleshooting activities. I was responsible for tier support and network equipment vendor interface for bug resolution and new release acceptance testing, for a network supporting SONET, SDH, Ethernet, Wavelength, Fibre Channel, FICON and ESCON services. I developed proficiency in ITU/Telcordia standards for optical networking, network nomenclature, and performance. June 1999 – June 2000: BusinessEdge Solutions, Principal, Edison NJ. I led implementation of the proprietary EdgeWorks development requirements methodology within the IT organization of a leading CLEC specializing in DSL. I led business process re-engineering, inter-corporate interface definition effort and led the implementation of a standard Network Management to Element management interface, for a major Global fiber capacity carrier. June 1998 – June 1999: DMR Consulting Group, Director, Communications Services Group, Edison NJ. I led operational and systems engineering work to seamlessly integrate TCG’s products and operations into AT&T, following the acquisition of TCG by AT&T. I negotiated an EDI LSR interface with Ameritech on TCG’s behalf, and integrated an off-the-shelf EDI gateway product in a very short time. I led the requirements, development management, training, testing, inter-corporate network security assessment and connectivity establishment, and managed continued enhancements after initial deployment.

June 1986 – June 1998: AT&T Business Markets CIO Organization, District Manager, Data Services Ordering and Design Systems, Middletown NJ. I led a group responsible for maintenance and Y2K repair of legacy ordering and design systems, and for design and development management of new applications to replace legacy systems and to support new business initiatives (e.g. TCG merger, Business Simplification). I maintained AT&T industry negotiating position regarding access ordering and preorder data validation. I maintained and evolved legacy ordering systems in support of aggressive data services product development programs. I grew my technical staff from 20 to 35 direct reports, in response to outstanding team performance.

I led a group responsible for technical support for LSP interface negotiations for Resale and UNE ordering and maintenance, AT&T negotiating position in industry standards, and in managing development of electronic ordering and maintenance interfaces. I defined and maintained AT&T’s negotiating position based on AT&T’s capabilities and business plan. I provided technical support for ordering and maintenance interface negotiations. I managed the on-time operational delivery of electronic ordering and maintenance interfaces with 8 Local Service Providers, for TSR and UNE connectivity options. I grew my technical staff from 4 to 32 direct reports, in response to outstanding team performance.

I led provisioning operations planning and systems architecture work in support of new service rollout, operations process re-engineering and network technology evolution. I coordinated process changes and system developments across Business and Network operations and systems organizations, and program managed coordinated deliveries of new capabilities. I started the program with 3 technical staff focused on improving T1.5 service provisioning. The program grew steadily in response to outstanding track record of delivering value to BCS, resulting in current program staff level of 140. The program was characterized by sharp business focus, process re- engineering expertise, and a rapid incremental development approach. Sales support, ordering and design systems launched during this period are currently used by over 1,000 AT&T personnel in Sales, Ordering, Provisioning and Capacity Management functional areas. I led operations planning in support of new service delivery, technology evolution and operations process improvement/cost reduction initiatives. I supported Business, Consumer and Enhanced Services with operations planning and systems architecture, program managing development work required by operations plans. I did groundbreaking work, the business case, operations plan and systems architecture for what is now AT&T’s primary service maintenance platform. I led operations planning and systems architecture in support of AT&T Communications OS architecture. In support of the FTS-2000 project, I led the provisioning process re-engineering and systems architecture work, and program managed the required process and systems enhancements. June 1985 – June 1986: Citicorp Investment Bank, Systems Officer, New York NY. I developed mathematical models of the stochastic mortgage-backed securities market, and designed, developed and maintained pricing and simulation systems used by securities traders. Mortgage- backed securities have unpredictable yields, due to prepayments and refinancing, and therefore have non-trivial ways to assign accurate prices.

June 1984 – June 1985: AT&T Bell Labs, Member of Technical Staff, Operations Support Systems Architecture, Holmdel NJ. I defined systems architecture in support of service operations, including interfaces with network operations and customer control capabilities. Education

May 1984, Clemson University, Ph.D. Mathematics. Doctoral Dissertation on algorithmic and computational complexity of optimization problems on networks December 1981, Purdue University, M.S. Mathematics June 1979, Oakland University, B.A. Mathematics

Publications

Algorithmic complexities of domination-related graph parameters, Ph.D. dissertation,

(1984), Clemson University; Renu C. Laskar, advisor

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Awards

Community Activities

Significant community services involvement in recent years has included: Complete coloring parameters of graphs. (with Hare, W. R., Hedetniemi, S. T., Laskar, R.) Congr. Numer. 48 (1985) 171-178 05C15

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A linear algorithm for finding a minimum dominating set in a cactus. (with Hedetniemi, S. T., Laskar, Renu) Discrete Appl. Math. 13 (1986) 287-292 05C35 (05-04)

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Irredundance in graphs: a survey. (with Hedetniemi, S. T., Laskar, R.) Congr. Numer. 48

(1985) 183-193 05C35

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Linear algorithms for independent domination and total domination in series-parallel graphs. (with Laskar, Renu, Hedetniemi, S. T.) Congr. Numer. 45 (1984) 71-82 05C35

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● US Patent 7734030, “Dial Plan Generator”, awarded 6/8/2010. US Patent 7664245, “System and Method for Provisioning Digital Phone Service”, awarded 2/16/2010.

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Chairman of the Monmouth County chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of New Jersey, coordinating county wish-granting, fund-raising and public relations activities;

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Building maintenance volunteer for the Women’s Center of Monmouth County, a shelter for victims of domestic violence;

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Technical support and counselor for the Monmouth County Rape Care Program, counseling fathers, husbands and other male significant others of victims of sexual assault.

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Designed and developed an open source client records database that is fully HIPAA- compliant for a counseling agency.

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Designed and developed a client records database for a health care organization that serves the Third World, incorporating GIS components. Leveraged the Keyhole Markup Language

(KML) to integrate a MySQL relational database with the Google Earth mapping toolset. Designed and developed a Palm-based healthcare application that integrates with the central database and GIS systems.

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