CIO/IT Director

Stephen Cross

* ****** ***, ******, *** Hampshire 03060 603-***-****, Cell: 919-***-****, email: ac4cqr@r.postjobfree.com

Skills: Leadership and Team Building, Training/Mentoring, Security/Disaster Planning, Network System Management and Implementation, Project Management, User Support Operation, Financial Analysis and Budgeting, Internet/Intranet, Vendor Management, Strategic Planning, Cloud Services, Virtualized Environments

Relevant experience

County of Wayne, NC - 1,100 employees with an annual budget of $177.7M supporting a population of 125,000 residents.

CIO -Information Technology Director 2008-2016

Served as the Senior IT Leader for Wayne County leading a staff of 11 personnel with an annual budget of $2.2M. Provided technology vision and leadership serving as internal IT consultant to County Manager and 25 department heads. Executive team member responsible for conducting thorough assessments of departmental needs to develop and execute new programs. Excellent interpersonal skills in representing the county to public and private organizations.

Key Highlights :

Superb communication skills--effectively presented budget requirements briefing elected officials and County Manager - Successfully justified operating/Capital budgets with a 100% funding rate for over eight years--Resulted in $17.6M in approved funds improving customer service and better alignment with county's goals

- Reduced data center operating costs by 49% through comprehensive high-availability infrastructure modernization plan saving $348K-increased overall efficiency by aligning IT strategic goals with the county's business plan

- Conducted cost study of server virtualization versus existing server infrastructure to determine ROI

- Modernized Wayne County through virtualization reducing number of physical servers by 84%-ROI of 42% ( $329.6K )

- Reduced cooling and electrical costs through virtualized server reduction-saved 79% ($18.4K) annually

Architect of Wayne County's Citrix virtual desktop environment from the ground up

Implemented a 5-year desktop virtualization plan to replace 850 desktop computers with environmental-friendly thin client devices by the year 2015 saving taxpayers $4.8M-improved IT efficiency and increased employee productivity

- Leveraged use of IT to drive and enable business alignment and process simplification for departments-implemented paperless initiative reducing costs by converting over 15M medical, financial, and tax records to electronic media

- implemented signature card readers improving processing times and customer service--Saved $65K annually

Coordinated with Schneider Electric engineers on data center redesign/upgrade and directed the procurement of state-of-the art network infrastructure equipment that obtained complete redundancy and reduced cost while guaranteeing system reliability and maintaining data integrity-improvements solidified protection and stability of critical data

- Reduced cooling costs by $5K annually while ensuring continual protection of critical taxpayer data for 125,000 citizens

- Ensured continuity of operations for Wayne County-protected against loss of revenues due to a system failure

Developed and oversaw the implementation of off-site disaster recovery system to restore critical systems in the event of data center failure or damage due to natural disaster-enabled a 24-hour recovery time for primary systems to include Financial, Tax, Health and Emergency Services avoiding an estimated $264K in lost productivity

Secured Wayne County infrastructure through implementation of state-of-the-art Cisco Network Access Control

- Enabled IT to securely lock-down all external access to perimeter switches/devices in all facilities throughout the county reducing the possibility of unauthorized access to the network

- Ensured customers and employees had the most current antivirus before network access is permitted, thus significantly reducing the threat of virus and malware infections

- Reduced threat to taxpayer data reducing possibility of identity theft-ensured compliance with Fair Credit Reporting Act and established the County's Red Flag Rules; procedures designed to address identity theft

- Provided IT management and oversight on three major construction projects to include Steele Memorial Library, Services on Aging Facility, and Animal Shelter-coordinated with building contractors, reviewed blueprints and recommended changes to ensure IT infrastructure was planned and installed properly-Projects on time and under budget

- Outsourced maintenance of core network and internal phone system infrastructure-eliminated need for experienced onsite network technicians and improved response/repair capabilities during network outages-saved $121K annually

- Spearheaded an internal PCI DSS compliance Gap Analysis-identified areas of non-compliance across 7 departments and directed managers to correct discrepancies-ensured compliance and validation requirements were met

- Protected county from obtaining large fines due to non-compliance ensuring no waste of taxpayer dollars

- Directed replacement of non-compliant Point of Sale devices while ensuring proper security procedures in place

Seymour Johnson Air Force Base ( SJAFB ), NC -The base has 6,000 personnel with an annual operating budget of $10M.

Chief, Network Operations Center ( NOC ) 2006-2008

Served as the senior IT Manager for Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. Led a 78-member team of infrastructure, network security and computer support personnel and 100 system administrators with an annual operating budget of more than $10M. Provided expert oversight of the $17M base computer network and served as the senior IT consultant to the base Commander. Developed long and short-range system plans and support projects which included cost analysis, installation goals, and objectives.

Key Highlights :

Drove cost-effective solution to eliminate 6 military positions while maintaining affected personnel on-hand until reassigned 6 months ahead of projected Air Force reduction schedule-coordinated with Manpower Office attaining $332K in annual savings while providing round-the-clock customer support without interruption to service

- Restructured Network Operations Center to facilitate planned manning reductions directed by higher headquarters

- Consolidated five departments down to three and eliminated redundant operations-established a cross-utilization training program for personnel and created a more cohesive management team

- Developed and executed a highly effective military personnel standby operation for the NOC-reduced onsite support personnel by 67% where previously military staff had to physically man the Network Operations Center 24/7/365 while maintaining critical support services to base personnel

- Spearheaded installation of security system to protect classified equipment and data allowing offsite after-hours support

- Significantly improved morale of assigned military personnel by eliminating weekend, holiday, and after hour shifts

Other experience

Department of Defense, SJAFB, NC : Quality Assurance and Training Manager

Perot Systems Government Services : Financial Systems Administrator

United States Air Force : Master Sergeant ( E-7 ), Senior Financial Analyst, SJAFB, 4th Fighter Wing

Education

Central Michigan University : Master of Science in Administration : 2010, GPA : 3.91

university of Mount Olive : Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Information Systems : 2002, GPA : 4.0,

Community College of the Air Force : Associate of Applied Science in Financial Management : 2001, GPA : 4.00

professional DEVELOPMENT

Certified Government Chief Information Officer ( CGCIO ) : 2011, UNC School of Government, Chapel Hill, NC

Previous member of the North Carolina Local Government Information Systems Association ( NCLGISA )

Previous member of the NCLGISA Professional Development Committee

Previous member of the Society of Information Management ( SIM )

Previous member of the Wayne County Board of Regents Leadership Wayne Committee

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