Project Manager Management

Location:

Posted:

January 24, 2013

Resume:

Arnie Williamson

A seasoned IT professional bringing over 20 years of experience management to IT operations and development organizations varying in size from dot com startups to multidivisional structures in geographically dispersed international corporations.

124 Elmer Avenue, Toronto, ON. M4L 3R8

Tel: 416-***-**** VOIP: 289-***-****

Email: ****************@*******.***

LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/arnie-williamson/27/610/655

Website: www.padj.biz/resume/index.htm

Executive Summary

Professional Career Highlights

At a major retail, loyalty and analytics company in Canada, increased system up time by nearly a full percentage point, (to 99.98%) significantly increasing the profitability of the revenue stream generated by the company’s call centre sales force the and the online eCommerce systems. The increased availability had the added result of lowering operating costs of the IT Production Support group (Service Desk and Desktop Technicians). As systems became more stable and predictable, fewer staff were needed to deal with the impact of unplanned outages and the surge in incident calls it createdRecovered a failing program, the creation of the world’s largest Internet online real estate multiple listing service (MLS). In this undertaking. Program was managed to a successful completion on time and within budget.Managed a problem management exercise on one of the most complex Cisco networks in the world. This team used five labs working 7/24 scattered across four continents following the sun. the interest rate on an 11 billion dollar bond was at risk if the problem was not solved quicklyManaged the creation of the world’s first business to business (B2B) eCommerce system for the global mining industry, both infrastructure and software. The site was written about in a major trade magazine and cited for technical excellence. Planned and managed the complete shutdown upgrade and restart of a major Canadian bank’s worldwide merchant banking and ATM systemManaged a complete IT infrastructure replacement at one of the largest Pension companies in CanadaManaged the installation of the largest storage area network ever installed at an international airportDeveloped InfoSource the first B2B eProcurement tool for the Canadian paper and printing industryDeveloped SupplySource the first b2B eProcurment tool for the Canadian paper products industry

Business Strengths

Over 20 years managing large, complex geographically dispersed IT organizationsExtensive experience in strategic planning aligning IT planning to the overall corporate strategic plans and goalsFunctional aligning or realigning of IT organizations to meet business objectives Data Centre design, operation and managementOversight of large operating and capital budgets over 20 million dollarsIT business process and governance development SDLC (system development life cycle), PMI (PMBOK), COBIT, ITIL (ITSM), SEM and TOGAF)Large team management (over 100) and team building in multicultural environmentsKnowledge of security design principles, security architecture, disaster recovery, contingency planning, information privacy, security laws and practicesIT service outsourcing and insourcing back from failed outsourced servicesVendor and client relationship managementfor and with multinational corporationsPortfolio and program managementBusiness case proposal and presentation to executives IT procurement including tender preparation, vendor evaluation, coupled with strong negotiating skills in order to negotiate cost effective contractsProject management - Extensive high dollar project management experience including Project Charter, RFIs, RFPs, RFQs, SLAs OLAs using Agile, Waterfall etc. methodologiesMentoring and developing individual staff.

Professional Experience

AIR MILES REWARD MILES (LoyaltyOne Inc.) 2007 – 2012

Associate Director Information Technology Operations

Accountable for maintaining the online availability and audit compliance of the company’s revenue generating systems in a highly virtualized environment. This included web based revenue generating systems as well as the call centre and work-at-home systems. This included enterprise infrastructure, applications, desktop, server as well as ownership for the ITIL processes of service delivery, incident management, change management and problem management. It also included ownership of the data centres (and facilities), live computing environment, Application Support, Desktop, Service Desk support (supporting over 1000 agents in geographically dispersed call centres as well as work-at-home agents. Responsibilities also included UNIX and Windows server teams and managing company owned data centre facilities through an outsourced maintenance and engineering service provider. Financial responsibilities included operating and capital budget responsibility for a team of 40.

Initiated and managed the build out of an infrastructure-wide preemptive monitoring and enterprise-wide reporting system resulting in preemptive alerting before equipment failed reducing unplanned downtime by .8% increasing the value of the revenue stream by our online eCommerce systemsInitiated and managed a three year program of Data Centre environmental efficiencies lowering operating costs by 15% which had a direct positive effect on bottom lineManaged an exercise to develop and institute comprehensive infrastructure monitoring and metrics reporting to the organization which resulted in better planning and utilization of equipment as a result of real time capacity metrics as well as trend metrics over time intervalsInitiated and managed a maturing exercise of the ITIL Change Management, Incident Management and Problem Management processes. This resulted in an increase in the quality of changes being introduced into production. This process refinement was key to increasing production systems availabilityIntroduced the concept and developed the process of Operation Readiness (and review) in the production environment which insured that any new products into production were capable of delivering the required service and had a full support matrix Reorganized the Service Desk and Desktop groups to increase operational effectiveness.Spearheaded and managed the reorganization and remediation of data centre failsafe infrastructure to increase operational effectivenessDeveloped a five year strategic plan for the departmentDeveloped a work/life balance program that reduced voluntary staff turnover from 30% to 0 for the last two yearsImproved staff morale from a 63% satisfaction rate on employee satisfaction survey to 93% over two years

Technologies

Operating Systems / Middleware Environments

Windows 2008 Enterprise Server, Windows 7 Enterprise, Red Hat and Ubuntu Linux, Active Directory (LDAP); Microsoft Exchange Services, Microsoft Transaction Server; HP blade servers, Private Cloud computing, VM/Ware (ESX), IBM AIX, Sun Solaris, MAC OS, Apache WEB Server, WebLogic, JBoss, ATG eCommerce package, Witness and IVR call technologies, Microsoft IIS. Mobile office computing embodying secure network linkages to remote PC’s, tablets and smart phones including IPAD, Blackberry, and Android mobile technologies.

SAN IP Network and Telco Infrastructure

San technologies include: Brocade fiber SAN switches including director class, EMC, and Network Appliance storage arrays, IBM tape Libraries using Tivoli Storage Manager. IP Network technologies include: Cisco PIX firewalls; Cisco MPLS, Avaya IP telephony (VOIP) Cisco routers, Cisco 6500-6509, core and distribution switches supported with Cisco 3300 switches, VPN (virtual private network) technologies.

Applications Software

Altiris, Cisco Works, Tivoli TSM, HTML, Perl, CGI, C++, Visual Basic, Java, J2EE, Informatica, MS Office, Crystal Reports, MS Visio, Web Methods, Web Logic, MS Visio, MS Project, and PeopleSoft ERP.

Databases

Oracle, DB2, MS/SQL, MySQL, and the Neteeza data warehouse appliance.

Data Centre Environmental and Monitoring Technologies

APC raised floor and in-row cooling crac systems, including Carrier rooftop chillers, rooftop mounted a/c cooling units. Caterpillar generators and Auto transfer control power source switching. In rack,APC modular including in row APC UPS and power distribution systems IP Monitoring systems experience include EMC Smarts, and CA (Concord) eHealth, Cisco Works, Splunk and Nagios. Also includes Johnston Controls Metasys facility Management System interfaced withAPC ISX Central environmental management software and appliances for monitoring and controlling data centre environmental infrastructure.

GREATER TORONTO AIRPORTS AUTHORITY (GTAA - PEARSON AIRPORT) 2005 – 2007

Senior Operations and Infrastructure Consultant (Contract)

Contracted to assist the airport with the implementation of IT and Data Centre technologies which would permit the most technologically sophisticated airport in the world to open on opening day. This included implementation of enterprise class infrastructure, refinement of IT process and the mentoring of airport infrastructure management.

Initiated and managed a large scale infrastructure monitoring build out encompassing over 21,000 devices and its integration into the airports service management program. It included monitoring of baseband, wireless and broadband networks, all IP configured devices, all airport SCADA devices and APIs for critical application metering, making this one of the largest monitoring installations in Canada.Managed the largest and most complex of HP SAN technology lifecycle replacement projects undertaken anywhere in Canada in 2005/2006. This system is mission critical to the future operating capability of Pearson Airport. It is also the largest SAN ever installed at an international airport anywhere in the world.Led a major worldwide problem management exercise troubleshooting one of the most complex Cisco networks in the world at Toronto’s Pearson airport to a successful resolution using the airport lab and four Cisco labs on four continents.Continued mentoring management in the transformation of moving the Systems Operations group from a break and fix environment to a process driven proactive one with full metrics on system performance and availability.Mentored the newly hired operations team and assisted in the writing and update of a multiyear strategic plan.

Technologies

Platforms / Operating Systems / Environments

HP/UX (7420 and 7640), IBM AIX, Sun Solaris, MAC OS, VM/Ware, Windows XP, 2000/2003 Advanced Server, Server, Windows XP Professional,, and Windows Vista Professional,Linux,, Active Directory (LDAP); Microsoft Exchange Services, Microsoft Transaction Server; Apache WEB Server, Microsoft IIS Server. In addition HP EVA 8000, EVA 6000 disk arrays, HP ESL 712 tape libraries, HP XP512 SAN Disk Array, Includes HP RISS (Regulatory Information Storage Server) appliance.

Network Infrastructure

Cisco MDS 9500 and Brocade fiber switches. Cisco PIX and Checkpoint firewalls; Cisco MPLS, VOIP (Cisco), Wireless LAN/ WAN, Cisco routers, Cisco 6500-6509, 5500 core and distribution switches supported with Cisco 2900, 2950, 3300 and 1900 switches, Cisco wireless switching and VPN (virtual private network) technology; TCPIP, Microsoft Windows 2003, Samba, NFS, Campus Area Network, Wireless networking.

Applications Software

HP Open View, HP Storage Essentials, Cisco Works, HP Data Protector (Omni Back), HTML, Perl, CGI, C++, Visual Basic, Java, J2EE, Oracle DBMS, Microsoft MS/SQL, Sybase, MySql and Adabase databases, Visual Studio, MS Access; Quark Publishing System, Photoshop, MS Office, Crystal Reports, MS Visio, Open Office, Star Office, Flash, Front Page, Dream Weaver and Oracle Financials.

Databases

Oracle, DB2, MS/SQL and MySQL.

Data Centre Environmental and Monitoring Technologies

Liebert raised floor cooling crac systems, including rooftop chillers. ATS switching between airport generated power and the public power grid. IP Monitoring systems experience include HP OpenView suite of NNM, OVO, OVPI and HP Service Desk. Computer room environmental systems were managed with Johnson Controls Metasys software.

HEWLETT PACKARD CANADA INC. MANAGED SERVICES DIVISION (6 months Jan to July) 2005 - 2005

Project Manager (Short Term Contract of several months)

HP required the services of a senior experienced infrastructure project manager responsible for the delivery of two critical HP Ultra High Availability projects in the managed services outsourcing group. Involved managing a staff varying size from 4 to 30 in a matrix organization.Managed the upgrading of O/S on one of a high availability banking system for a major Canadian bank including the complete shutdown and restart of their worldwide Merchant Banking, VISA and Interact systems. This was the first time a controlled shutdown on this scale had been successfully performed. Very large financial penalties were involved if this was not performed successfully or on timeManaged the move of the major Canadian bank’s VISA Access Points from their location to HP facilities. This is a high availability system with millions of dollars of cash transactions flowing through it daily. Very large financial penalties were involved if this was not completed successfully and on time.

Technologies

Platforms / Operating Systems / Environments

HP NSK (Tandem) hardware, IBM Mainframe, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2003 Enterprise Server and Windows XP.

Network Infrastructure

LAN/ WAN, HP Open View, Cisco Works, SAN, Cisco PIX and Checkpoint firewalls; Cisco routers, Cisco 5500, 2900 and 1900 switches, Cisco wireless switching and VPN (virtual private network) technology; T3, DSL and ISDN technologies; Shiva RAS servers, TCPIP.

Applications Software

Tivoli Storage Manager, Base 24, MS Project, Visio, MS Office

GREATER TORONTO AIRPORTS AUTHORITY (GTAA - PEARSON AIRPORT) 2003 - 2004

Senior Operations and Infrastructure Consultant (Contract)

Services were enlisted to assist the airport with the implementation of technologies which would permit the most technologically sophisticated airport in the world to open on opening day. This included implementation of enterprise class infrastructure, refinement of IT process and the mentoring of airport staff. It also included upgrading of facilities Responsible for the transformation of the Infrastructure group at the largest most secure airport in Canada (and the most technologically sophisticated one in the world) from a break and fix environment to an ITIL based best practice department.

Managed a large scale infrastructure monitoring program from inception through user requirements, RFP and implementation.Mentored staff and assisted them in the development of their first ever multiyear strategic plan.Managed a major build out of existing enterprise SAN capability including doubling of available disk and introducing enterprise class LTO class libraries.Developed operational readiness, change management, commissioning, incident management and problem management processes as well as a formal root cause analysis and impact assessment processes within the IT department in general and Operations group in particular increasing production availability by .3%Designed staffing levels to reflect the reality of the operating environment.Initiated and led the design and implementation of enterprise wide DRP systems to facilitate effective operating of the environment including enterprise/airport wide backup/recovery (DRP) and monitoring systems and processes. This included an expansion of and later replacement of the existing SAN infrastructure.

Technologies

Platforms / Operating Systems / Environments

HP/UX (7420 and 7640), IBM AIX, Sun Solaris, MAC OS, Windows XP, 2000/2003 Advanced Server, Server and Window XP Professional,, Linux,, Active Directory (LDAP); Microsoft Exchange Services, Microsoft Transaction Server; Apache WEB Server, Microsoft IIS Server. In addition HP ESL 322 tape libraries, and the HP XP512 SAN Disk Array.

Network Infrastructure

Brocade fiber switches. Cisco PIX and Checkpoint firewalls; Cisco MPLS, VOIP (Cisco), Wireless LAN/ WAN, Cisco routers, Cisco 6500-6509, 5500 core and distribution switches supported with Cisco 2900, 2950, 3300 and 1900 switches, Cisco wireless switching and VPN (virtual private network) technology; TCPIP, Microsoft Windows 2003, Samba, NFS, Campus Area Network, Wireless networking.

Applications Software

HOSPITALS OF ONTARIO PENSION PLAN 2001 - 2002

Manager Network, Infrastructure Operations, Architecture and Technology Solutions (Contract)

Managed the Architecture, Infrastructure and Data Centre organization which was charged with managing the online live systems and developing solutions for new business initiative while maintaining architectural integrity with legacy systems.

Designed managed the implementation of the infrastructure replacement program. All existing IT infrastructure was completely replaced with state of the art servers, operating systems, workstations, both baseband and broadband networking and major computing hosts.Developed a series of Operations practices built on the ITIL framework to increase system up time by .5%. The practices included change management, problem management, root cause analysis and operational readinessDesigned managed and implemented modern Intruder Detection and Security system using a mixture of Checkpoint, PIX and intruder detection sensors.Developed internal and vendor service level agreements to ensure maximum system availability and conformity with the business model.Managed all vendors outsourcing, including RFP preparation, contract negotiation and contract maintenance.

GEOCOMMERCE INC. 2000 - 2001

Vice President Information Technology

Managed the construction of the world’s first Internet portal to the global mining industry and built the complete IT organization necessary to build and operate it.

Constructed the world’s first electronic business to business eCommerce portal for the global mining industry.Built an IT organization of 100 from the ground up with all of the people, equipment, policies, procedures and practices required to deliver IT services.Site was noted in a major international trade publication for technical excellence.

Toronto Real Estate Board 1999 - 2000

Manager, Systems and Programming

Managed construction of the world’s largest Web enabled online real estate multiple listing service (MLS)

UNISOURCE WORLDWIDE, INC. 1988 -1999

Information Centre Manager and Senior Technology Architect

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources 1985 -1988

District Systems Specialist

NWT Forest Service 1980 -1983

Forestry Officer

Yukon Forest Service 1975 -1980

Forestry Officer

Education

BA Computer Science, York University, Toronto, Ontario, 1983 -1985

Forest Technologist, Sir Sandford Fleming College, Lindsay, Ontario, 1974 - 1975

Forest Technician, Sir Sandford Fleming College, Lindsay, Ontario, 1972 -1974

Community Involvement

Vice President of the Yukon Amateur Hockey Association 1977 -1978President of the Dawson City Amateur Hockey Association 1975-1980A volunteer fireman / paramedic / rescue diver 1975 - 1983A volunteer recruiter for the Highway of Heroes (we get people out to the bridges)Project Manager, The Boys of Malvern Project to restore Malvern Collegiate’s WWI cenotaphCraig Foundation Land Mine removalMember of the Property Committee at Beaches Presbyterian ChurchJoint Chair of the Malvern Collegiate Parental Action Committee (MPAC)

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