Louai Blan

Mobile: 1-224-***-**** • ac7npw@r.postjobfree.com • http://www.linkedin.com/in/louaiblan • Charlotte, NC

Results Driven Professional with 25+ years of success with high profile technology fortune 100 companies like Oracle, IBM, DELL EMC2, VMware and international financials like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, UBS Investment Bank, ABN AMRO and CME Group. An Expert in professional services, advisory management consultancy with a bachelor’s in computer engineering from the university of Illinois at Chicago and an executive MBA from London Business School (LBS).

Notable accomplishments and strengths include…

Sponsored Development & Implementation of a Private Cloud platform (Converged & Hyper Converged) driving a top Telecom company’s new DR readiness with a $1.2Billion investment within 5 years into 3 new datacenters with ServiceNow, VMWare, Nutanix & DELL EMC2.

Analyzed, designed and managed the virtualization and Replatforming initiatives of End of Life/ End of Support SW & HW and consolidation of DB server farms initiative for one of the leading telco companies worldwide through its private Cloud.

Delivered a multi-year, multi-phase DC migration plan and migration services of over 2000 physical servers, appliances and workloads to optimize, consolidate and modernize a large retailer’s infrastructure and footprint.

Sold a $14.2million 5-year deal and a $6.2million 3-year deal, for Oracle’s Cloud and developed a $23million pipeline exceeding targeted quota.

Managed numerous Implementation & Delivery teams for Devoteam, GBM & DELL EMC2 successfully.

Achieved Operational Cost reduction improving the bottom line for UBS with $5million savings per year.

Seeking a challenging role with a leading dynamic and growth-oriented organization

Critical Competencies for Tangible Business Outcomes

Management Consultancy/ Advisory Services

Selling turnkey professional & managed services including Cloud & Virtualization

Enterprise Scale Sales Campaigns

Program & Project Management & Delivery

Business Analysis & Data Management

Brokerage & Electronic Trading Systems

FIX protocol expert

Process Excellence / Business Optimization

Key account management & Leadership

Client Management

Contracts Negotiation

Contract/Bid Management/ Vendor Management

Sourcing/ Outsourcing / Offshoring

Cross-functional, Multinational Team Development, Leadership and Mentorship

REVEGY, INFOMentis & BMANTRD for Sales Methodologies

Capex, Opex & P&L experience

Hadoop as a Service (HaaS)

A Career of Blending Management, Strategy and Delivery

for Operational Excellence and Business Success

Bank of America, Charlotte, NC (Contract) April 2018 – Present

Program Manager / Program Office, Data Analytics Platform Services

Manage technology delivery projects or a portfolio of projects for Hadoop as a Service (HaaS) program.

Lead the interface with clients as part of large scale (multiple application) migrations from a Line-of-Business Specific Hadoop Platform to the HaaS Shared Service Hadoop Platform

Responsible for identifying Hadoop Tools, Capabilities and Services (including vendor software and services) in use by assigned clients and identify which of these HaaS will need to begin supporting or how the client team can transition to a similar tool or capability already supported by HaaS

Participate in Client Services team to prioritize or assist in prioritizing multiple client requests for action by the Platform Services and Engineering Services teams (teams who will design, prototype, build, test and deploy new or updated tools and services to meet client needs)

Responsible for weekly senior leadership reporting as part of the larger Client Services program for HaaS

Identify and manage risks and issues to successful conclusion or escalate those which require senior leadership decisions to attain resolution

Lead recurring project meetings, maintain project documentation, and interface with all internal HaaS teams in support of assigned client(s), e.g. be a “Virtual Team Lead” for all HaaS teams for their client

Provide direction and assistance to junior project managers or project analysts to handle the less critical tasks of managing client interactions

Identify success measures tied to client on-boarding and migration projects and ensure the ability to sustain the change post on-boarding / migrating to HaaS is covered. Ensure clients controls, processes, people and functions which are impacted by the applications on-boarding or migrating to HaaS are all addressed in the migration plan – mapping or adding these to HaaS standard practices.

Prioritize and re-prioritizes work as required or at the direction of leadership to ensure overall project / program success

Trained in Cloudera for Apache Hadoop, Hadoop Security, Cloudera Navigator, Cloudera Director

Wells Fargo, Charlotte, NC (Contract) May 2017 – April 2018

BUSINESS SYSTEMS CONSULTANT

Part of the Risk & Regulatory Enterprise program for vulnerabilities remediation for WIMT on multiple tracks including but not limited to Software, MW, HW Refresh, Middleware, Java End of Life remediation’s.

Lead WIMT MW remediation initiatives liaising with Middleware Competency Center including Wiki buildouts (SharePoint design) with enterprise analytical reporting on Tableau.

Worked with Triage, DMAN, iTracker, Technology Standards Center (TSC), BAR (Build & Release), SDLC, AMCT and App Central and other Wells Fargo tools

Knowledge of Wealth Management, investment management, and trust/fiduciary businesses

Excellent problem solving, and analytic capabilities utilized to identify root cause issues/improvement opportunities, and designing approaches/programs to address those issues

Proven ability to take project from requirements gathering to delivery to meet deadlines for internal customers

Proven experience in building relationships with compliance management and business unit partners

Audit or Compliance experience, including knowledge of testing principles and issue/corrective action validation.

Experience identifying and analyzing Wealth Management data, business processes and escalating issues

Flexibility to adjust to changes in system and regulatory requirements

Excellent presentation and facilitation skills

Proven ability to collaborate and work independently

Proficient Hands On in Confluence, Jira and Tableau.

State of Michigan, Department of Technology, Management & Budget (DTMB), May 2017 -March 2018

CLOUD PROGRAM MANAGER

Designated the CloudFirst 5-year initiative Program Manager managing multiple complex IT Infrastructure projects/programs with excellent communication skills. Experience with project management with setting up enterprise environment of Private and public cloud. Lead several projects/programs related to Cloud implementation. Along with this manage other Information Technology (IT) programs/projects supporting DTMB – Chief Technology Officer (CTO) organization. Projects/programs are primarily complex enterprise initiatives related to IT Infrastructure and Security as prioritized by State. Project manager’s role and responsibility included, but is not limited to:

Oversaw the “CloudFirst” 5-year State sponsored ITIF funded program reported to the CTO and its CTO Advisory office working with the GM of Infrastructure & Operations (I&O), Director of Technical services, DNO, MCS, along with other state agencies and their teams to insure the initiative vision and mission goals are met including oversight of its 5-year budget allocation. Goal was to transform 80% of the state workloads/assets to the cloud.

Addressed SoMs own private cloud (Next Generation Digital Infrastructure (NGDI)) security and compliance including its FBI’s CJIS compliance and its FEDRamp Accreditation initiative through its own Audit and Compliance teams and understanding of NIST controls.

Provided Data Center Automation guidance around rapid workload deployments and organizational change enablement though a self-service automated catalog and streamlined operational support model reducing workload provisioning time from 6 months to 17 days with a goal of minutes to its clients.

Cloud vendors included AWS, Microsoft Azure and other players like CenturyLink, EMC/VMware, BMC, Oracle and IBM were included in the state’s Cloud Life Cycle Management (Cloud provisioning and orchestration)

Provided project management for project scheduling, tracking, issue management, risk management, change management, and status reporting.

Participated in the state’s overall Enterprise Identity Access Management (IAM) standardization enabled to its cloud workloads along with other traditional applications/systems.

Drove the Enterprise Vulnerability and assessment management (EVAM) through its Tanable SC implementation.

Followed the State Unified Information Technology Environment (SUITE) Project Management Methodology (PMM) and System Engineering Methodology (SEM), based on Industry standard PMI framework and SEI’s CMMI framework.

Evaluated Privileged Access Management (PAM) on NGDI for cyber security with Lieberman, CyberArk and others.

Utilize the State’s Project Portfolio Management (PPM) tool (Changepoint) on all projects.

Self-directed and independent. Responsible for the coordination and completion of projects. Oversees all aspects of projects. Manage Budgets, sets deadlines, assigns responsibilities, and monitors and summarizes progress of project. Prepared reports for upper management regarding status of program(s).

Created a structure and organization for the management of a complex environment with emphasis on quality, productivity, and consistency. Directs corrective actions in any area where performance falls below objectives.

Garretson Resolution Group, Charlotte, NC Oct 2016 – May 2017

VP OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Leading the overall Information Technology division within GRG with responsibility of P&L, day to day strategy, vendor management, end user services, infrastructure, multi-million dollar program(s) direction with overall oversight of IT functions and teams across multiple GRG locations.

Managed the Design and Implementation of the NFL, NCAA concussion development program(s) nationwide including application dev teams, Data Management, End User Services, Automation, and Operations.

Financial tracking and reporting of US $12M Annual IT portfolio budget (both Capex & Opex).

Oversee teams in application development, PMO, data management, infrastructure, end user services, reporting & analytics and vendor management.

Using .Net/SQL and Java/Mongos DB technology applying Agile methodology.

Experience deploying and operating a public cloud framework (AWS) while replatforming/migrating hosted infrastructure demonstrating an ROI of 30-40% infra hosting cost savings.

Expert with service design and pricing in the context of cloud-based solutions

Skilled with cloud deployment, technical and security architecture, database architecture, virtualization, software design, software development, IP Networking, Windows & Linux, Agile development, application life cycle management, technical solution architecture, SOA, Amazon AWS

Provide executive level reporting to internal and external stakeholders including but not limited to Court, Plaintiff and Defense reporting

Spearhead initiatives and strategies to ensure client satisfaction and overall customer experience.

Drive program(s) execution, build strong relationships, communicate effectively with cross functional teams and navigate complex issues

Communicate expectations to internal teams and stakeholders to ensure business priorities, goals and objectives are clear

Establish integration capabilities to 3rd party companies like TransUnion, law firms, Medicare and Medicaid.

Knowledge of IP Networking, VPN's, DNS, load balancing and Firewalling.

Familiarity with monitoring tools like CloudWatch, Stealthwatch.

DELL EMC (DELL Technologies now), Charlotte, NC (International Assignment) July 2013 – Oct 2016

CLOUD ADVISORY HEAD, GLOBAL PROFESSIONAL SERVICES (GPS)

Headed Cloud Advisory, leading the Private and Public cloud strategy initiatives for one of the Top Telecom companies worldwide, reporting directly to the GM overseeing a team that includes BA’s and solution architects.

Managed/developed an end to end Cloud strategy to transform its newly built Tier 4 Data centers over the next 3 years to converged & Hyper Converged architecture with vendors like DELL EMC2, VMWare and ServiceNow.

Implemented hands-on EMC2 FEHC for the clients’ private Cloud including vRA, vRO & NSX-v design and deploy IaaS deliveries & Network Virtualization including Paas, DRaaS, BaaS.

Overseeing the Re-platforming strategic initiative to rid the telco operator of End of Life/End of Support HW and move them to virtualized cloud platforms taking them to a virtualized X86 RHEL or Windows 2012 based on VMWare. Replatforming/ App migration & onboarding tracks target EOL/EOS physical X86, HPUX and Sun Solaris.

Managing the DB consolidation initiative that includes both Oracle DB’s and MSSQL into also a virtualized x86 target platform to insure cost benefit analysis and a TCO/ROI from this initiative.

Assess Cloud readiness with business cases both private and public including costing to retail & enterprise consumption.

Work with the Telcos’ different divisions/LoBs to insure common understanding around cloud products & offerings

Provide recommendations about cloud services enablement of ongoing and planned Telco strategic initiatives

Oracle Corporation, Dubai, UAE. Feb 2011 – July 2013

REGIONAL CLOUD SALES DIRECTOR, MEA, SALES

Led and managed Oracle’s Cloud Sales across Middle East and Africa with 4 defined territories, directed team of 4 Sales Managers, accountable for a MEA target quota of $10mil per annum for the LOB.

Won multiple contracts with total contract value over $5 million for Oracle’s Cloud in Qatar & the UAE.

Signed a $14.2 million 5-year contract with the largest retailer in the Middle East and a 3-year deal totaling $6.2 million for a government agency in Qatar for hosted cloud for our client’s Oracle’s full stack.

Developed a pipeline of over $23 million new business by end of Q3FY12 and exceeded targets by 108% in 4th Quarter FY12.

Designed, developed, recruited and trained a high performing sales and services teams for Oracle with responsibilities to include compete to market, grow, develop new business, quarterly accountability, P&L responsibility, customer satisfaction, to optimize Oracles’ organization and people leadership.

Established the entire Cloud Services MEA operations, work with all divisons to assure Oracle’s standard unit.

Personally, signed Oracle’s cloud opportunities to yield revenue above targets and grow a pipeline of sales opportunities over my tenure with Oracle.

Managed client relationships to maximize client business value and the return for Oracle Cloud with boardroom competence, credibility, and ability to effectively negotiate and sign deals at the executive level.

Successfully negotiated profitable contracts to closure, liaising with internal & external commercial services & approvals.

Gulf Business Machines (GBM) / IBM, Chicago, IL (International Assignment) Dec 2008 – Feb 2011

SERVICES SALES MANAGER, PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Led a team of sales managers with a personal target quota of $6 million for 2009, $8 million in 2010. These targets were exceeded by 132% (FY09) and 124% (FY10) with deal average size over $700K.

In Financial Services, oversaw the engagement and implementation of 2 online trading major deals connecting investment companies to the local stock exchange.

As a PMP, applied PMI’s PM methodology in all GBM’s project engagements and deliveries to its clients.

Spearheaded the Professional services team (10 direct reports) and achieved a 6% revenue (net profit) increase overall in 2009 with multiple million-dollar deal closures.

Managed all GBM’s services market strategy, sales offering, planning and budgets.

Increased GBM’s client base with a higher on-target project completions and higher customer satisfaction rates with personal recommendations from our satisfied customers.

Managed delivery of Professional Services (PS), Networking (INSS), Managed Ops (ITS) and Software Services (SWG) sales at GBM.

Responsible for deal structure, securing appropriate statements of work, financials, resource management, resource requirements and coordination of account planning driving revenue growth across different verticals.

Devoteam, Chicago, IL (International Assignment) May 2005 – Dec 2008

CONSULTING MANAGER

In an advisory role at a large Telco operator for the IT Directorate GM and deputies with involvement in strategic planning, corporate reorganization, transformation and involvement in the PMO activities with implementation of new initiatives, business processes and workflows

As a principal for 3 physical setups of PMO's a Ministry of Communications and IT (MCIT) (Government) and the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) (Government), and operating a PMO in for a large telecom company (Telecom)

Prepared project proposals, budget briefs, budget estimates, expenditure requests, economic analysis and authorizations for expenditures.

Implemented a project management tool that handles a telco operator’s network Implementation, system, server and licensing requests nationwide.

Developed Devoteam’s PMO framework to include Built its PM Business Unit workflow/methodology, processes, and templates.

Built & helped operate Enterprise Project Management Offices (PMO) for the Ministry of Communications and IT (MCIT), the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), and a leading Telecom Company.

Directed business development activities including pre-sales and increased billable hours by 80%.

Supervised, coordinated and prepared project proposals, budget briefs, estimates and economic analysis.

Guided business development and pre-sales activities for Devoteam's Business Units including numerous migration projects.

UBS Investment Bank, Stamford, Connecticut Sept 2004 – Mar 2005

DIRECTOR, IT EQUITIES, PROGRAM TRADING AND CASH SYSTEMS

Spearheaded IT Equities for North America Program Trading and Cash Systems and achieved over $36 million year end profits with operational costs reduction to lower than $7 million from $12 million in previous years.

Managed UBS FIX client access to UBS trading systems in a coordinated effort across regions in the US, Europe and APAC while adding 30% increase in broker connections worldwide in 2004 to UBS IB.

Managed a headcount of 70 UBS staff/consultant’s direct reports which deployed applications in NY, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore that achieved higher transactional throughput while increasing client connectivity/uptime levels.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), Chicago, Illinois July 2001 – Sept 2004

LEAD BUSINESS ANALYST, ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEMS & CSET

Analyzed, designed and Implemented the ILink4.2 based on FIX4.2 protocol (Financial Information Exchange) & roll out to CME's Broker Clients.

Lead coordinator in Certification of Systems/Electronic Trading Division (CSET) on a PROD CERT team to certify Client’s connectivity/secure access to the Stock Exchange and liaised between the Operations team, Production Support, Sales channels and CME’s Clients.

Provided leadership and guidance to institutions and businesses in managing their financial risk and allocation of assets. This included management of test process for various projects to writing plans and integration strategies.

Prior professional progression:

SENIOR CONSULTANT, Northern Trust Bank, Chicago, IL, USA July 1999 – July 2001

ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT, ABN Amro Bank N.V., Chicago, IL. USA March 1997 – July 1999

LEAD TECHNICAL CONSULTANT, Honeywell Inc., Des Plaines, IL, USA April 1995 – March 1997

MEMBER OF TECHNICAL STAFF, R&D, R.R. Donnelley & Sons, Lisle, IL, USA August 1989 – April 1995

Education

Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA), London Business School (LBS), London, UK, 2010

Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), USA, 1996

Awards

Certified Project Management Professional (PMP), 2004

Certified Project+, 2007

Foundation Certificate in IT Service management (ITIL Foundation), 2006

Member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), 2006

Certified Systems Test Engineer (CSTE), 1997

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