KENNETH R. FORD
832-***-**** - ************@*****.***
Business-savvy technology expert with over 17 years' hands-on IT and senior-
level management experience focused on solutions development, training, and
consulting. Career-minded professional with passion for raising technical
and customer service standards. Results-oriented manager with solid history
of motivating and leading internal teams and customer groups from initial
requirements gathering through on-time, under-budget project completion.
Effective leader with proven ability to guide teams to quickly reach
desired business goals. Demonstrate broad-based strengths and
accomplishments in:
Data Center Management SOX Compliance Rapid Deployments
Organization Building Complex Network Design Staff Management &
Development
Contract - Budgeting Strategic Planning Telecommunications
PBX-VoIP
P & L Management Large Scale Deployments Application Security
Management
Process Improvement PCI-DSS Compliance IT Standards and
Policies
EDUCATION
Langston University
BS Computer Science
CERTIFICATIONS
Certified Novell Administrator 5x (CNA)
Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
ITIL - Information Technology Infrastructure Library
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
10/2011 - Present Xerox Corporation
Austin TX
IT & Operations Manager
Manage all IT operations for the Austin Area Credit Card back office
processing Line of Business. Provided leadership to turn around struggling
PCI compliancy with internal infrastructure networking and end point
devices for back office operations. Helping to lead the development of
unique security and monitoring features to prevent fraudulent transactions.
. Managed 300 local and remote desktop/laptops
. Led effort to identify the location of credit card numbers and other
sensitive data in more than 5 Terabytes of storage in workstations,
servers and databases. This information was used to catalog / retail
client to verify / assure compliance to multiple standards
. Performed full re-scoping of all PCI systems, reducing number of in-
scope assets to approximately 200 systems.
. Conduct ongoing analysis and correlation of security events and work
with support teams in remediation
. Perform incident response for all computer security incidents
affecting the enterprise and/or customers
Notable Accomplishments:
. Set up and managed the company's infrastructure for the second year of
the new business initiative
. Oversee the end user move and re-deployment of planned and executed
full technology refreshes
. Upgraded IT servers from Server 2000 to Server 2008 utilizing Vmware
and physical servers.
. Identified and implemented cost saving measures which were very
important to a new start up Line of Business
. Designed sustainable PCI Program moving forward with clear definitions
of all controls & control owners, published control & audit interval
calendar
. Created and refined processes for performing PCI DSS compliance
verification efficiently
12/2009 - 10/2011 Fort Bend County
Richmond TX
Technical Service Manager
Oversee and manage all IT operations for Fort Bend County, which consists
if 51 remote sites and 3 data centers. Reside on the county leadership
team to roadmap and formulate the strategic plan for the County
infrastructure. Manage a team of 25 functional and technical professionals
that deliver support to faculty across Fort Bend County systems. The
operational team consisted of technical support, helpdesk, desktop,
operations, LAN/WAN engineer and telecommunications. Maintained training
for employees, counseled, supervised and conducted performance appraisals
for team.
. Directed activities of supervised personnel, including project status,
personnel issues and priorities
. Formulate and develop company's infrastructure strategy for evaluating
and implementing appropriate technologies for the county and
integration with the counties subsidiaries.
. Lead strategic technological planning to achieve business goals by
prioritizing technology initiatives and coordinating the evaluation,
deployment, and management of current and future technologies
. Develop and communicate business/technology alignment plans with the
Executive Committee team, business leaders, IT staff, and other key
stakeholders
. Develop business case justifications and cost/benefit analyses for
technology spending and initiatives dedicated to reducing complexity
and reaching company's business objectives
Notable Accomplishments:
. Project Manager for Avaya PBX to Avaya VoIP
. Initiated ITIL policies and procedures for helpdesk and desktop
support
. Implemented SCCM & SCOM Microsoft tools
. Project Manager for implementing WAN from Ethernet to fiber connection
to 51 remote sites
. Oversee and administer all vendor management and disaster recovery
efforts.
. Migrated County from Novell to Microsoft platform
. Migrated County email system from GroupWise to Exchange
10/07 - 10/09 Greensheet
Houston TX
IT Director
Provide strategic and operational direction for planning, prioritization,
design, implementation and maintenance of all internal systems and
applications. Define and drive corporate technology based services strategy
for SOX compliancy. Define strategy / design, develop, integrate automated
solutions for customer support call routing/handling, processing,
escalation, and other necessary processes and functions. Hired, train,
retain, assess/evaluate all technology staff; instructs and participates in
IT education and training; responsible for growing the knowledge and
expertise of IT employees. Responsible for preparing RFPs, bid proposals,
contracts, scope of work reports, and other documentation for IT projects
and associated efforts.
. Lead the team providing technology solutions and customer support to
company's Sales Force employee base, the corporate home office, and
firm's subsidiary offices
. Manage help desk and hardware services provider for company's Sales
Force
. Lead the daily oversight of all IT administrative functions and
services as well as oversee building facilities
. Manage the procurement, invoice management, asset management, and
contract and license management for IT hardware and software assets
. Managed company's outsourced data center provider and monitor agreed
upon service level commitments in the areas of: server hosting,
network, and data storage services
. Manage the resolution of all problem incidents; escalate to executive
management as necessary; conduct post mortem analysis for incidents;
and document such activities through management systems
Notable Accomplishments:
. Manage all internal and outsourced projects within approved budgets
. Successfully deployed ecommerce presence to enable expansion
nationwide
. Led team in defining business process and selection of ERP solution
(MS CRM)
. Managed and converted Avaya PBX installation to Altigen VoIP
installation
. Developed and deployed intranet and eCommerce Internet sites
. Implemented MPLS network for DR and VoIP
. Maintained low cost of server capital by utilizing VMWare technology
. Built and moved NOC (Network Operations Center) to new floor post-
hurricane
09/04 - 10/07 United Way of Texas Gulf Coast
Houston TX
Information Technology Director
Overseeing all IT functions including data center management, LAN/WAN,
vendor relationships, technical support, application development and DR
planning. Responsible for developing initiative for ITIL best practices
governance within the organization and with outside vendors and service
providers. Responsible for Managing the 211 call center phone system and
network infrastructure for 24 x 7 uptime. Coordinated technology
strategic planning, seeking ways to leverage the integration of business
processes with applicable emerging technologies in order to improve and
streamline operations and services in the most efficient and cost-effective
manner.
. Developed issues management procedures. Facilitated production
meetings.
. Analyze gaps in business processes and formulate long term and short
term solutions for organization
. Implemented a management survey procedure to provide IT with critical
business information and goals leading to accurate, timely, and
successful IT strategies
. Define and drive corporate technology based services strategy for SOX
compliancy
. Oversee Network Engineering, Desktop Support, Telecommunications and
Production Website
. Set and manage service delivery to meet or exceed service level
agreement
. Design and implement VoIP implementation for call center and corporate
office
Notable Accomplishments:
. Consolidated and stabilized servers improving hardware uptime from 70%
to 99%
. Move Network Operations Center into new facility in 72 hours
. Implemented VoIP and Unity voice messaging to organization and remote
locations
. Uptime 99.99% covering 45 servers in NOC and 15 remotely
. Designed and implemented Internal Computing network infrastructure
including Gigabit Ethernet backbone, 100mbs desktop switching
. Integrated State of Texas 211 call center network into United Way's
network infrastructure with VoIP and data
. Increased UW revenue by providing technical support to agencies
increased by 100K
01/02 - 09/04 Talent Tree (Care Group Medical) Houston
TX
Senior Network Engineer
Responsible for digital medical imaging for corporation including short and
long term archiving, disaster recovery, redundancy, replication, off-site
storage, distribution, maintenance, upgrades, installation, training, and
trouble shooting. Responsible for implementation of all medical imaging
solutions. Managed team members in developing workflow standards that
support and adhere to HIPAA regulations. Responsible for the design,
implementation, and maintenance of LAN, WAN, and VPN Networks of clinical
information along with establishing disaster recovery and maintenance
procedures for critical system up-time
. Design and implement network configurations, network architecture
(including hardware and software technology, site locations, and
integration of technologies), and systems
. Identify areas of operation that need upgraded equipment such as
modems, fiber optic cables, and telephone wires
Notable Accomplishments:
. Responsible for integration of company new acquisition Network
. Negotiate service contract with circuit carriers
. Interface with various Telcos for circuit testing and turn up
. Responsible for designing, implementing and monitoring corporate Co-
Location environment
. Design and implement security policies using ACL, PIX firewall (515,
520)
. Provide intranet VPN solution using Cisco 2621 and IPSec Tunneling
. Upgrade Cisco Routers, Switches and Firewall (PIX) IOS using TFTP
. Configure Traffic Shaping to optimize utilization on ATM Backbone
. Help establish guidelines and standards for Change Procedures
09/00 - 01/02 Arthur Andersen Dallas TX
Senior System Engineer (Consultant)
Managed Energy Company Corporate call center for integrated sales force
automation, customer support, help desk, inventory control and financial
management into one cohesive system. Indirectly managed 5 personnel
(Managers, Programmers, Programmer Analysts, System Analysts, Team Leads
and Project Managers) accountable for the on-going maintenance, development
and implementation of projects for an outbound Call Center supporting $100
million in revenues.
. Build and maintain strong relationships on behalf of the client with
call center employees and management in order to create a positive
environment for client sales and marketing efforts within the call
centers
. Ensured staffing policies, procedures and processes are standardized
and are current to meet business need
Notable Accomplishments:
. Reduced software defects from 450/month to 35 by assigning developer
accountability, establishing firm rules for object oriented module
reuse and introducing advanced code generation tools
. Created and manage standard desktop images for employees based on job
function reducing the time required to install appropriate software on
a new PC by copying the appropriate image to a new computer's hard
drive instead of loading individual software applications
. Decreased the amount of trouble tickets by 40% using new quality and
development procedures
06/98 - 08/00 Medical Edge Health Group Inc.
Dallas TX
Information Technology Director
Responsible for and managed the IT budget and takes appropriate
corrective action to ensure a high standard of quality and efficiency in
the delivery of IT technical services. Served as IT technologist and
relationship manager between clinicians and nursing staff. Provided
leadership in the development and implementation of short and long term
divisional technology plans, associated departmental technology
implementation plans, and related policies and procedures. Prepared
RFPs, provided and build vs. buy cost analysis for various internal IT
projects. Managed projects to implement agreed upon enhancements or put
new resources in place, in collaboration with operations management, IT,
software developers, and consultants
. Program manager for medical center intranet & extranet web
development, database development and application development
consisting of one web developer, three project managers and one
database/application developer
. Direct compliance and accountability for HIPAA standards and law
ensuring compliance on all applications and systems
Notable Accomplishments:
. Implemented TCS timekeeping system used by 8 medical offices in
support of 200 employees eliminating payroll errors, improving labor
tracking and decision-making
. Managed core team of 11 for successful Y2K program converting 12
client applications in under 6 months
. Establish/recommend changes to policies which affect team structure
and functionality
. Developed security implementations on all networking firewalls and
software applications
11/94 - 06/98 Baker Support Services
Dallas TX
Manager of Information Technology
Manage IT operations and infrastructure budgets. Manage administration and
support of 30 servers across a multi-platform environment Analyzing the
needs of different business departments; advising departments on IT
projects including evaluation of feasibility, systems design, and
implementation plans relating to maintaining, developing new and/or
modifying company information systems. Directed all phases of multiple
projects including project development, scope planning and definition,
directed and managed projects execution, monitored and controlled all
project work across multiple projects
. IT Governance & Management. Implement and run effective governance of
IT investments of company logistics
. Knowledge of federal government contract regulations and responsible
for technical government contracts oversight
Notable Accomplishments:
. Created customized DOS menus that invoked scripts to increase
productivity and eliminate errors
. Enhanced client server applications to enhance smooth interaction with
dial-up connections
. Designed GroupWise system for external users as well as internal
employees
. Evaluation of new network technologies, management and analytical
tools