Results oriented, hands on IT leader with 15+ years of experience

VALENTIN PENTCHEV

SUMMARY

Results oriented, hands on leader with more than fifteen years of experience in Global Information Technology

Significant leadership experience in Network, Energy, Manufacturing, Consulting, Government, Security and Higher Education environments

Proven ability to transform organizations through agility, deliver value, increase efficiency and plan for scalability; increase productivity in the scientific community; apply a customer and quality-centric approach to developing IT infrastructures; promote business growth globally and improve profitability within startup and established corporate environments

Demonstrated ability in inspiring organizational improvements targeting infrastructure, security, safety, and return on investment

Specialties include Infrastructure Design, Architecture and Implementation, Analysis and Integration, Large scale multi-site ERP Implementations, Cloud-based Computing, Large scale, multi-national Server, Storage and Security Management, Managing International Projects and Teams, Technology and Business and Disaster Recovery Planning, Networking and Data Center Operations, Staff Selection, Training, Oversight and Evaluation

Leverages formal education and experience in becoming a trusted business partner recognized for improving the performance of companies by combining leadership and technical skills that transform IT functions

Very skilled and astute at working with diverse global cultures at all levels, forging personal and productive relationships

Interested in utilizing experience and knowledge to deliver positive business results in new or evolving enterprises

EDUCATION

2001 Masters in Business Administration, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA – one year finished

Bachelor’s Degree in Managing Information Systems, Honors, Hamilton College, Cedar Rapids, 2003

Bachelor’s Degree equivalent in Information Systems and Comp Science, University of Miami, FL, 2000

Masters in Bulgarian Philology and Linguistics with High Honors, St. Kliment Ohridski University, Sofia, Bulgaria, 1993 - 1998

Informatics and Computer Science, St. Kliment Ohridski University, Sofia, Bulgaria, 1992 – 1994

TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS

More than twenty years of experience in server and network support, including:

High performance and high availability and distributed server clusters

Windows NT, 2000, 2003, 2003 R2, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2, 2016 server design, planning, migration, implementation, monitoring and support

Active Directory and Group Policy Specialist proficient in scripted solutions

LAN/WAN design, security, planning, implementation and support.

Consulting, medium to enterprise size heterogeneous networks

Routing and remote connectivity design, security, troubleshooting and support

Server deployment, security, installation, migration, management and repair

Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery planning, implementation, testing and support

Compaq/HP server specialist, familiar with Dell and IBM server hardware

Proficient in Cloud computing and infrastructure architecture, design and implementation

Proficient in Blade server solutions

Proficient in Storage networking, Fiber and iSCSI implementations (NetApp, EMC, HP, Brocade)

Proficient in Virtualization solutions - ESX, advanced use of Microsoft virtualization techniques

Proficient in High Availability clustering solutions and 24x7 workflow

Proficient in High Performance clustering solutions for CAD/CAM/CDM and CFD

Proficient in Distributed clustering solutions using HDFS, Hadoop and Spark

Proficient in Server Backup and Enterprise Protection and Security

Proficient in Mail and Messaging systems (Exchange, BES, Goodlink etc.)

Proficient in Wireless installations, short and long distance bridges

Proficient in VoIP using CISCO, AVAYA and ShoteTel solutions

Proficient in Perimeter Security and Firewall implementation, configuration, monitoring/support

Proficient in ERP Systems and solutions (Microsoft Dynamics AX)

Proficient in CRM Systems and solutions (Microsoft Dynamics CRM in cloud and on premise)

Proficient in remote access and collaboration (VPN, Terminal Server Gateways, Citrix farms)

Proficient in PLM/PDM systems implementation, development and support (StarTeam/Team Center)

More than fifteen years of experience in management and supervision of IT staff and resources

oManagement, Team building and sustenance

oDepartmental and team leadership

oEmployee training and development

PROJECT EXPERIENCE

Currently building the enterprise of the recently founded Indiana University Network Science Institute with all of its IT, Network, Security and Applications demands

Leading a technical team in for completing and bringing to production the Observatory on Social Media - OSoMe based on a multi-node Hadoop Cluster

Responsible for the building of a secure data enclave to host the Web of Science Data - a collection of 56,442,146 scientific publications starting from 1906 and growing

Currently implementing a multitude of scientific tools and applications to be used on scientific cloud service Jetstream - designed to give researchers access to interactive computing and data analysis resources on demand

Leading IU and IUNI’s efforts for building the Network Science Spoke and Data Sciences Ring of the MBDH – Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub in response to the White House Big Data Innovation Initiative

Working closely with Indiana General Assembly on creating publicly accessible data repository with real-time streaming as well as current and archived legislative decisions and documentation

Implemented the whole IT infrastructure from the ground up and assembled a team of professionals for a recent startup - CODA Energy

Project leader on development of a Battery Tower Data Gathering infrastructure with local hardware software, central data collection and management as well as customer and engineering web portals

Master project manager, and coordinator of interdepartmental projects and initiatives

Personally architected and designed the expansion of CODA Automotive and CODA Energy Storage from a small business in Santa Monica to a multinational conglomerate of more than a dozen offices on 3 continents and multiple US States

Led the CODA IT Team through mergers and acquisitions, as well as extensions of the core business to include multiple locations in the US, Europe and Asia

Migrated, merged and federated acquired companies users’ and mailbox

Let a companywide migration to Microsoft Dynamics AX

Designed and implemented the infrastructure for a company-wide SharePoint solution and led software development team to complete and customize it

Engineered and configured a worldwide, centrally managed secured network based on leased lines, MPLS and Checkpoint site-to-site VPN tunnels

Implemented a multi-site redundant Storage and network migrating current EMC infrastructure to NetApp

Implemented Dassault Systemes Enovia SmarTeam PLM/PDM as a CAD, BOM, and Document Control and Work Flow repository with vaults replication to local servers across continents, for speed of local access, centralized information consolidation and follow the sun approach of work and software licensing

Using Checkpoint hardware and software implemented a multisite, centrally managed secure perimeter utilizing ILP, CMF and DLP to guard intellectual property

Implemented and personalized Dassault Systemes CATIA on a large scale allowing for license sharing between locations

Implemented a company-wide computer control based on Lumension’s Endpoint Management and Security Suite (LEMSS) allowing for multi-vendor patching, antivirus, application and device control and allowing only a predefined list of applications and trusted external devices

Designed and configured 80 CPU, Infiniband High Performance cluster using Infiniband for CFD simulation

Chief architect, main implementer and a team leader in the creation and support of a secure highly- available, redundant server and network infrastructure for the Chancellor’s Organization and Students Affairs at UCLA including more than 100 servers and 3500 workstations

Lead network engineer and architect of the LA City total Novell to Windows Server migration including more than 15 Enforcement and Adjudication sites and hundreds of users

Lead network engineer on ACS network Replenishment including server center move to Orange County Data Center

Planned and Supervised the migration and securing of workstations and servers in the 3 locations of Aquarius Institute in the state of Illinois

Led a team of network engineers in implementing more than 200 temporal strict security workstations during CEC Chicago, IL

Planned and supervised a complete local area network implementation for African American Heritage Museum Cedar Rapids, IA

EXPERIENCE

IUNI Indiana University Network Science Center Jan 2015 - Present

Associate Director; Director of Information Technology

Reporting directly to the Executive Director and Scientific Leadership Team - coordinate activities and directly manage IT staff while continuing to build and expand the team

Architect and building the technology infrastructure required for the daily operations of the institute as well as all of its and research needs

Manage and coordinate the technical aspect of all projects and initiatives

Managing a multi-node cluster hosting the Observatory On Social Media – OsoMe, using Hadoop, HDFS and Indexed HBASE

Designed and led the team building the secure data enclave to host the Web of Science Data - a collection of 56,442,146 scientific publications starting from 1906 and growing

Leading the effort of expanding the current IUNI tools to better expose and combat social network misinformation by developing Hoaxy-Bolometer on a grant by the Knight Foundation and the Democracy Fund

Currently implementing NWB - Network Work Bench, LiFE – Linear Fascicle Evaluation, and other tools and applications to be used on IU’s scientific cloud service Jetstream - designed to give researchers access to interactive computing and data analysis resources on demand

Leading IU and IUNI’s efforts for building the Network Science Spoke and Data Sciences Ring of the MBDH – Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub in response to the White House Big Data Innovation Initiative

Leading the project on creating publicly accessible data repository with real-time streaming as well as current and archived legislative decisions and documentation from Indiana General Assembly

CODA Energy Holdings, LLC Monrovia, CA May 2013 – Dec 2015

Director of Information Technology

Reporting directly to the COO - coordinate activities and directly manage IT staff

A master project manager and coordinator of interdepartmental projects and initiatives

Project leader on energy tower data gathering implementation

Accruing all resources from defunct CODA Automotive – facilitated a move and the build of a new infrastructure spanning 3 locations in Monrovia, CA and a Datacenter in Anaheim, CA

Restructured and rebuilt datacenter infrastructure based on leaner requirements

Restructured and rebuilt storage infrastructure using replicating NetApp and EMC storage, SnapMirror, SnapVault, SnapDrive, SnapManager for Exchange, SQL, SharePoint and Virtual infrastructure

Restructured and rebuilt network infrastructure based on HP and CISCO switches/routers as well as Checkpoint centrally managed, interconnected firewalls

Currently implementing a new Active Directory infrastructure while continuing legacy support in a heterogeneous trusted environment

Restructured and rebuilt an existing Microsoft Dynamics AX on premise solution while also implementing a new cloud based Dynamics CRM

Currently leading an project of product integration between Dynamics AX (ERP), CRM, SharePoint and Project Server (EPM)

Restructured and rebuilt an existing ESX infrastructure upgrading to ESXi 5.5. Currently implementing vCloud connectivity and moving vital service between on premise HQ, on premise Datacenter (private cloud) and VMWare’s vCloud

Led website restructuring project while expanding and supporting current web infrastructure using Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, vCloud, GoGrid, Rackspace and on premise servers

Restructured and migrated current Exchange 2007/2010 infrastructure to Exchange 2013

CODA Automotive, Los Angeles, CA Mar 2011 - May 2013

Sr. Manager of Information Technology

Started as Sr. Network Administrator and responsible until the end for majority of Security, Networking, Storage and Server implementation and configuration

Lead Server Administrator/Architect of a multinational, world-wide network consisting of more than 150 servers (90% virtual), more than a dozen trusted sites and hundreds of users

Reported directly to the CFO - coordinated staff activities and directly managing IT staff in US and Asia consisting of Junior admins, helpdesk support and developers

Monitored and supported a server infrastructure based mainly on ESX(i) 4.0, 5.0 and 5.1 clustered solutions and Windows 2008, 2008 R2 and 2012 servers in various locations worldwide

Designed and Supported two replicating SAN installations using fiber optic, FCoE, iSCSI, CIFS and NFS (NAS)

Implemented and supervise backup practices, business continuity and disaster recovery using SnapMirror, Barracuda Backup, NetBackup, Veeam and Site Recovery Manager

Senior Administrator of a Windows 2008/2012 Active Directory

Senior Administrator of a redundant Exchange 2007 mail system

Senior Administrator of 3 High Availability server pairs of SQL 2008 and SQL 2008 R2

Senior Administrator of a Company-wide SharePoint site

Senior Administrator of an redundant, replicating File system

Senior Administrator of a StarTeam PDM/PLM System

Senior Administrator of a Microsoft Dynamics ERP system

Senior Administrator of a Citrix Farm, multiple TS farms and Gateways

Senior Security officer, configuring and monitoring an array of Checkpoint firewalls around the world controlled by a Central Management Server

Managed corporate anti-virus, anti-spam and security update polices

Managed and supported more than 150 domain names in and multiple web server implementations

Managed JIRA, BOX, DocPipes, Arena, multiple Spiceworks servers and BaseCamp

Managed a corporate BES and BES Express servers.

Managed a Mobile Iron platform with few hundred mobile devices

Fostered vendor relationships and evaluate products

Developed and implemented security policies and procedures

Implemented in-house multi-site SPAM and email antivirus control evaluated Virtual appliances from Sophos, Barracuda, ClearSwift, TrendMicro and McAfee

Implemented a firewall infrastructure upgrade to include Data Loss Prevention at perimeter

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA Jan 2008 - Mar 2011

Sr. Network/Server Administrator for the Chancellor's Office, Deans' Office and Student Affairs

Lead Server Administrator/Architect of a multi departmental, campus-wide network consisting of more than 100 servers (about 35 virtual) and 3500 users

Senior server engineer on a consolidation project reducing more than 3 times the physical and power server footprint by utilizing blade systems and virtualization

Coordinated staff activities in supporting more than 8 two node Single Copy HA Clusters, along with a numerous load balancing systems. HA clusters include Exchange, File Server and ESX 4.0

Supported two fiber optic SANs

Implemented and supervise backup practices

Senior Administrator of a multi forest Windows 2008/2003 Active Directory

Senior Administrator of an extremely redundant Exchange 2007 mail system

Senior Administrator of an extremely redundant File system

Server administrator for more than 8 ESX hosts (ESX4.0, 3.5 and 3.5i) and more than 35 virtual servers

Extended and continuously perfected SPAM filtering and security

Communicated with other departments on and off campus

oAdministered a corporate BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server). Migrated to 5.0 SP1

Administered, monitor and control VPN, dial-in and Terminal server outside connections

Fostered vendor relationships and evaluate products

Developed and implemented security policies and procedures

Successfully implemented a terminal server farm serving few hundred thin clients along with desktop PCs and remote users using Windows Server 2008 and published applications

Implemented a hot business continuity site with virtual replicas of all vital servers

Implemented a disaster recovery plan working in conjunction with other UC locations

Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., (ACS), Los Angeles, CA April 2005 - Dec 2007

Senior Network Administrator/Senior Consulting Network Analyst

Performed day to day activities includes leading a team of network professionals in managing a heterogeneous network including more than 30 servers about 600 workstations and 15 locations including a Data Center.

Senior Architect of a total NDS/NT to Windows 2003 Active Directory migration

Technical Lead on a project of relocating all ACS Server infrastructure to a secured Data Center and on implementation of a five year IT/Business outsourcing contract with LA City.

Supported and consult Los Angeles City enforcement on various network and security related issues.

Conducted day-to-day operations on Windows NT/2000/2003 and Novell Netware Servers with emphasis on 2003 and Active Directory.

Managed NDS and Active Directory replications and trust relationship infrastructure and Mainframe connectivity.

Responsible for back-up and data retention and security planning.

Responsible for security implementation onsite and at client premises.

Responsible for migration, security audit and response.

Technical Lead on disaster recovery and business continuation initiatives.

Westwood College, Los Angeles, CA March 2003 - March 2005

Network Consultant/Senior IT Instructor

Conducted various computers, networking and security related classes.

Responsible for entry, medium and high level security classes based on Microsoft Official Curriculum, Cisco Networking Academy Program, Comitia Security +, Black Hat security foundation and custom developed curriculum.

Managed a dedicated Cisco lab based on 7000/2600/2500 routers and 5500/5000/2900/1900 switches with FDDI core.

Consulted the networking team on planning a network migration to a new building scheduled for December 2005.

Consulted the networking team on planning a security strategy for migration to a new building scheduled for December 2005.

Consulted the web development team on an ambitious web project to unify all Alta colleges in US (currently more than 25 schools in California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois and Texas)

Hamilton College, Cedar Rapids, IA August 2001 - July 2003

Network Administrator/IT Instructor

Conducted associate and bachelor level computer related classes including hardware and Operating Systems, LAN Concepts, Network Administration, Network Security, Advanced Network and Internet Security, Networking Cases, Routing Protocols and Microsoft Network Engineer Certificate

Responsible for troubleshooting, securing and support for college wide network and desktop computers

Responsible for planning, supervising, implementing, securing and supporting network and computer services for the community non-profit organizations

Developed, revised and audited course curriculum and syllabi, prepared student and term schedules

Administered a hardware practice network lab with 22 computers

Helped to automate and secure current processes and investigated modern ways of delivering information to students

Aquarius Institute of Computer Science, Chicago, IL January 1999 - August 2001

MCSE Instructor/Program Director/Senior Network Administrator

Acted as Instructor in MS Widows 2000 Network Operating System and Back Office Products for computer specialists and network

Acted as Senior Network Administrator with primary responsibilities included heading a team of 5 network professionals in delivering support, securing, managing, troubleshooting and upgrades of the corporate network distributed between the three major locations in Chicago, Des Plaines and Bloomingdale IL

Managed the VPN connections between the 3 locations

Accomplished a total NT to 2000 migration

Accomplished a total security lock down for the company and student networks

Acted as Senior Network Engineer/Consultant and proactive point consulting company of Aquarius Institute

Acted as Program Director and Manager for the MCSE and A+ programs

Express Consult, Sofia, Bulgaria 1997 - 1999

It is a Microsoft Certified Partner/Solution Provider and the leading the leading Computer Trade Company in Bulgaria and Compaq, Toshiba, HP, Cisco and 3Com Authorized Reseller

Technical Sales Representative 1997 - 1999

Performed as Technical Sales Representative and Customer Service Specialist for the major clients of Express Consult

Technical Consultant/Network Engineer 1997 - 1998

Performed as Network/System Engineer and Customer Service Representative in the Production and Instrument Service Division of Express Consult

Bora Systems, Sofia, Bulgaria 1998 - 1999

MCSE Instructor

It is a Microsoft Certified Partner and Microsoft Certified Technical Education Center

Performed as instructor in MS Widows NT and Back Office Network Operating Systems for Computer Specialists and Network Administrators at the only Certified Microsoft Authorized Training Center for Bulgaria - Bora Systems, Sofia, Bulgaria (part of Express Consult Holding)

Apple News Periodical, Sofia, Bulgaria 1996 - 1997

Editor In Chief

Performed as Editor in Chief, Translator, Hardware, Network and Security Consultant

“168 Hours” Publishing House, Sofia, Bulgaria 1995 - 1997

Graphic Designer and Network Support

Performed as Computer Graphics Designer and Page Maker in the Division of Illustration Design

Performed as Network Support Specialist in the IT division at the periodical ‘168 hours’, Press Group Publishing House

DataMap - Europe, Sofia, Bulgaria 1994 - 1995

Software Design and Network Administration

Performed as Software Designer for the automation of diverse production lines

Performed as System and Network Administrator, DataMap - Europe, supporting the three locations of the company

Performed as Chief Executive of a project aimed to digitize and GIS implement the cities of Sofia, Bulgaria and Toronto, Canada

Lazur Commercial, Sofia, Bulgaria 1994 - 1994

System Administrator

Performed as System Administrator and Software Developer in Lazur Commercial and Printing Company

AFFILICATIONS

Member, MENSA International and MENSA, Bulgaria

Member, IEEE

International member, ACM

PUBLICATIONS

Davis CA, Ciampaglia GL, Aiello LM, Chung K, Conover MD, Ferrara E, Flammini A, Fox GC, Gao X, Gonçalves B, Grabowicz PA, Hong K, Hui P, McCaulay S, McKelvey K, Meiss MR, Patil S, Peli Kankanamalage C, Pentchev V, Qiu J, Ratkiewicz J, Rudnick A, Serrette B, Shiralkar P, Varol O, Weng L, Wu T, Younge AJ, Menczer F. (2016) OSoMe: the IUNI observatory on social media. PeerJ Computer Science 2:e87 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.87

CERTIFICATIONS

SAA - AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate

oAWS Certified Big Data – Specialty

oAWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional, Pending

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)

Microsoft Certified Professional + Internet (MCP+I)

Microsoft Certified System Administrator (Windows 2000 and Windows 2003) (MCSA)

Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE)

Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT)

Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS)

oWindows 2008 Network Infrastructure

oWindows 2008 Active Directory

oWindows 2008 Application Platform

oExchange 2007

Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) Server Administrator

Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) Enterprise Administrator - pending

Cisco Certified Academy Instructor (CCAI)

Certified Novell Administrator (CNA) (Trained in Novell 3.x/4.x)

Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)

Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) (pursuing)

NetApp Certified Data Management Administrator (NCDA) (pursuing)

To check my Microsoft Certifications - please use the information below

Site: https://mcp.microsoft.com/authenticate/validatemcp.aspx

Transcript ID: 674439

Access Code: pentchevmcitp

To check my AWS Certifications - please use the information below

Site: https://www.certmetrics.com/amazon/public/transcript.aspx?transcript=QM22V0S21MR4QR54

OTHER TECHNICAL SKILLS

Operating Systems: DOS, Windows 3.x/9x/NT 4.0 Server/Workstation and Back Office Products (MS Proxy 2.0, IIS 4.0, SMS, Exchange 5.5 and MS SQL Server), Windows 2000 Professional and Server/XP Professional and 2003 Server, Windows 2008 Server (R2), Windows Server 2012 (R2), Vista/Windows 7, Windows 8, Mac OS 6.5/7.x/X (Desktop and Server), Novell NetWare 3.x/4.10, Cisco IOS 11.2/12.0, Cisco CatOS, HP Procurve and Active Directory, VMWare Workstation, Server 2.0 and ESX Server 3.x and 4.x, 5.x, SofaWare and CheckPoint R70-75.X, Ubuntu Server, RHEL, Cent OS

Applications/tools: Exchange Server 2007/2010/2013, Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image, Symantec Antivirus Enterprise, MacAfee Enterprise Antivirus and ePolicy Orchestartor, Sophos Antivirus, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, LANDesk Management and Security Suites, VNC, Dameware and other remote connection tools, Veritas Backup exec 10d, 11 and 12, NetBackup, ARCserve Backup, Lumention PatchLink, C.Support, Remedy,Spiceworks, Dassault Systemmes Enovia, SmarTeam, Catia V4 and V5 R17-R21, Red Cap

Application Programs: MS Word/Excel/PowerPoint/Project/Outlook/Visio, Open Office, Claris Works, Netscape Navigator/Communicator, MS Internet Explorer, Opera, DreamWeaver and Fireworks.

Image Editing and Desktop Publishing Software: Corel DRAW!, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photo Shop, Corel Photo Paint, QuarkXPress, Page Maker and MS Publisher.

Database and Geographic Information System Software: MAP Info Professional, MS Access, SQL, ARC/View, ARC/INFO and dBase III+, Neo4j, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Aurora, DynamoDB, HBase, Indexed HBase, Redis

Distributed computing: Hadoop, HDFS, Spark, Hive, Pig, HBase, Flume, Zookepper

Distributed computing: Proficient with AWS, Jetstream and Azure services, currently ianvestigating GCP

Computer Languages: PowerShell, Visual Basic, Delphi, Turbo Pascal, Avenue, JavaScript and ASP.

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