Robert P. Combs

**** ** ***** ****** ***.

Lees Summit, MO 64064

816-***-****

ac6w2h@r.postjobfree.com

To Whom It May Concern:

I firmly believe that I can translate my knowledge and previous accomplishments into success at True North Consulting. If granted an opportunity, I would bring my drive for customer success and effective solutions to the table. I firmly believe in quality service and solutions for customers and drive myself and those around me to always push for the best.

My experience in the US Army has allowed me to view service delivery and management in a perspective that is significantly different from those commonly accepted. This difference in perspective has taught me to continually look for better answers and better results than those of the cultural norm. As a stock control manager in Iraq, I was challenged to find solutions outside of the norm that still fit into the greater culture and rules of the Army. I was given the challenge of tearing apart the way the Army handled the logistics, storage, and distribution of ammunition in a combat theatre, and rebuilding it from the ground up in a more effective and efficient way. The result was the first major revision of ammunition handling since the Korean War. It also gave me the opportunity to work with a variety of personalities in a high-stress environment and to learn how to thrive under pressure to produce the best possible results.

I have two passions, one is contributing to teams to help encourage cohesion and success at providing high-quality support to businesses in an effective way, and the second is helping guide businesses in how to utilize technology better to produce more effective business results. In my time at Acorio, I helped implement ServiceNow for multiple customers and help others enhance their ServiceNow instances to significantly improve their customer service levels and ease of use. I was also able to help guide customers with their strategic plans for ServiceNow to ensure long-term success with the tool and usage within their organization.

While at Ascend Learning, I have built several successful teams that have changed the culture within the greater infrastructure team by pushing the focus to always be on the customer. I have implemented tools that have changed how Ascend manages internal work to produce faster resolutions for customers, ensuring constant monitoring and support of systems. I have also lead the ServiceNow development, from the initial implementation in 2012 through the automation work this year, to include automated sms and push notification alerting for major incidents (via a REST integration with OpsGenie), automated mass email notifications for major incidents to IT and individual business units, contractor access management (using Orchestration), and application access management (using Orchestration).

Additionally, I have been able to contribute at every level from customers to front-line staff to executives and translate those contributions across the levels to build solid, useful relationships. Using those relationships has aided in solving technology and business problems faster and better than expected.

Sincerely,

Rob Combs

Robert P. Combs

4525 NE Parks Summit Ter

Lee’s Summit, Missouri 64064

Cell: 816-***-****

ac6w2h@r.postjobfree.com

Career Summary

IT Management Professional with 12+ years of experience in information technology, management, and customer service with demonstrated success in relationship building, strategy, service management, project management, multi-site field support, service desk, and contact centers. Ability to bridge technology and business goals to provide solutions that benefit business units by proactively managing business relationships. Adept at moving into new environments and applying previous experience quickly. Highly personable and self-motivated professional with the versatility to work among various user groups and tackle complex problems effectively and efficiently. Worked nationwide collaborating directly with executives, department heads, management, and staff to find the best possible solutions in any given situation.

Experience

Director, Service Delivery - Ascend Learning, Leawood, KS May 2015 - present

•Implemented multiple ServiceNow improvements including automated SMS and push notification alerting for major incidents, automated mass email notifications for major incidents to IT and individual business units, and Orchestration to include creating, updating, and offboarding AD accounts. Also managed prioritization, road mapping, and off-shore development.

•Manage internal Desktop Support, external Service Desk, and Service Management.

•Reorganized Desktop Support team to increase the skill set, improve end-user support, and gain new engineering abilities.

•Improved Service Desk operations to increase customer satisfaction while taking on additional internal support duties.

•Significantly improved company-wide security via new centrally managed antivirus and firewalls, workstation management (SCCM and Casper), desktop imaging standards and process, and removal of local admin rights.

Engagement Manager - Acorio June 2014 – May 2015

• Build and maintain relationships with existing customers to ensure project success and long-term relationships with all customers to help them realize long-term goals, not just single project goals.

• Project management for multiple, simultaneous ServiceNow implementations, upgrades, and integrations.

• Strategic and technical consulting for clients to guide their deployments and implementations for long-term planning and success.

• Custom application design and consulting, tailoring applications to specific customer needs.

• Manage and mentor a team of consultants with mixed levels of experience to broaden team knowledge and unify their efforts.

IT Manager - Ascend Learning, Leawood, KS Aug 2013 – June 2014

Manager of Incident, Change, and Problem Management:

• Managed the Service Desk and a team of Incident and Change Managers to support stability and reliability of all systems.

• Reworked Problem Management to increase buy-in from needed teams, resolution times, visibility and transparency.

• Built and maintained strong ties with each business unit from the top down, to drive accountability and quality of service.

• Drove down Incident SLAs and response times and ensure well-planned changes to decrease incidents and resolution times and increase overall availability, resulting in the company’s best month of availability ever.

• Guided and directed work on ServiceNow to improve it in the most beneficial ways and maintain a consistent "brand".

• Maintained and developed new functions and features in ServiceNow, including ITSM, CMDB, service catalog, and reporting.

Service Desk Manager - Ascend Learning, Leawood, KS June 2012 – July 2013

Built a unified Service Desk for external tech support of 5 subsidiaries and triage of all internal support. Developed and implemented the use of ServiceNow to drive ITIL best practices, visibility and accountability within IT and the company.

Unified a diverse team of 8 Tech Support staff, from 4 separate business units.

Established strong ties with business units from VP level to front-line staff to drive accountability and quality of service.

Implemented Incident, Service Catalog, CMDB, Knowledge Base, Employee Self-Service portal, and two customer-facing portals within ServiceNow (SaaS ITSM tool).

Constantly ensure quality support of all customers, with special attention to key accounts and stakeholders, through relationship management, continual service improvement, and the creation and monitoring of key metrics.

IT Service Director - Apollo Group, Inc., Lenexa, KS July 2011 – June 2012

Conduit between IT and the business (Midwest and Northeast Regions, Campuses, and other business units), including relationship/account management, escalations, coordination, leadership, project management, strategic planning, and innovative development of opportunities.

Relationship/Account Management for multiple business entities across 104 physical locations.

Creation and adherence to a budget of almost $12 million.

Ensured quality and timing of network uplifts at 61 sites. Set the national standard for documentation and process.

Set process standards for IT and A/V for new site build-outs and remodels.

Provide reporting and metrics on performance of service to regional and subsidiary leadership.

Senior IT Manager, Midwest Region - Apollo Group, Inc., Lenexa, KS March 2010 – July 2011

Responsible for all facets of IT at 75 sites across 9 states including technology support, short and long-term technology strategies, and interfacing with campus management teams to ensure business needs are met.

Liaison between corporate IT and Regional/Campus leadership at University of Phoenix campuses.

Lead a team of 23 geographically diverse technicians supporting 75 sites and 800+ employees across the Midwest.

Creation and adherence to a budget of almost $7 million and ensure SLAs for timely service of all IT services.

Consolidated network devices to cut life-cycle replacements by $200,000 in one fiscal year.

Ensure proper hiring and training for team, resulting in increased customer satisfaction survey ratings by 15%.

IT Manager, Client Services - Apollo Group, Inc., Kansas City, MO June 2006 – February 2010

Responsible for all facets of IT at six University of Phoenix campuses (17 sites) and multiple Institute for Professional Development sites including technology support, short and long-term technology strategies, and interfacing with campus management teams to ensure business needs are met.

Responsible for all technology at campuses in six states, ensuring SLA’s for timely service of all IT services.

Liaison between corporate IT and management at the campuses and the region.

Supervise eight technicians in six different cities, ensure all employees are properly trained to support the business.

Staff Sergeant, Stock Control NCOIC/Information Management Officer - US Army Reserve

Tallil, Iraq March 2008 – January 2009

Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge (NCOIC) responsible for stock control and accounting of the Tallil, Iraq Ammunition Storage Point (ASP) as well as accountability, professional development, and welfare of 10 other soldiers.

Responsible for $236,000,000 of small arms, munitions, and rockets.

Created tracking system for all pre-deployment training for a 46-member platoon and attained the highest pre-mobilization training level of any Army Reserve unit to-date.

Designed and executed a cyclic inventory system and controls which attained 100% accuracy in full monthly inventories.

Stock Control NCOIC/Office Manager - US Army Reserve

Logistics Support Area (LSA) Anaconda Ammunition Supply Point (ASP), Balad, Iraq 2004 - 2005

Responsible for management and supervision of all receipts, issues, shipment, turn-ins, inter-depot transfers, and inventories of conventional ammunition, guided missiles, rockets, and other ammunition items.

Managed stock control with an average inventory of more than $3 billion and an average daily turnover of more than $180k for the largest ASP in Iraq during OIF III.

Redesigned issue and shipment tracking, reducing time required to deliver and improved quality assurance by 90%.

Maintained the Windows 2000 Server and network with 9 workstations, and proprietary software for inventory control.

Supervised a staff of eight office personnel, and served as the Equal Opportunity Representative for the company.

Education, Certifications, and Awards

University of Phoenix, Online

Master of Information Systems, 2009

Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg, MO

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration - Computer Information Systems, 2003

Project Management Institute (PMI)

Certified Associate in Project Management, 2007

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)

ITIL v3 Foundations, 2009

ServiceNow

Certified System Administrator, 2013

Advanced System Administration course, 2014

Certified Application Developer, 2016

United States Army

Meritorious Service Medal, 2009

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