IT Manager

IT MANAGER

Analytical and solutions-focused IT professional offering 20+ years of experience in streamlining existing technical products and systems for manufacturing and industrial clients. Expert knowledge of troubleshooting; systems migration, server upgrades and systems maintenance with the proven ability to lead and manage multiple teams to execute complex projects. A leader in OS migrations and conversions, application packaging, service delivery management and data centre migrations.

CORE SKILLS & COMPETENCIES

MS Reporting Tools

Web Applications

Technical Support

Project Management

Quality Assurance

Agile & Scrum Methodologies

Client & Stakeholder Relations

Strategic Planning

Systems Maintenance

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Key Achievements:

Led the migration of a series of physical infrastructure from Foresters to CGI while adhering to an operating budget of $500K; established high-speed links to transition the IBM main frame, system 390 mainframe, AS400 boxes and 100 servers while exceeding requirements from auditors of both companies.

Merged all systems products during Foresters’ acquisition of company Unity Life for its Canadian lines of business; streamlined processes for seamless integration of the Unity product suite for 150 end-users at Foresters.

Executed and managed 2 OS migration projects including the conversion of Windows 2000 to XP and Windows XP to Windows 7 with a combined end-user training total of 3,000 for CGI.

Designed and implemented; a Wide Area Network within North America on a $2M budget to bridge gaps within the telecommunications industry; used ISDN, DSL, Wireless and VPN to create proofs of concept in Texas, be sent to GE Capital for rollout.

Technical Team Lead/Senior Consultant CGI Group Toronto, ON 2004 – 2015

Provided and championed professional IT-related services to large businesses, averaging contracts of $10M. These clients included; Bombardier, Purolator and Cirque du Solei. Led the conversion of existing infrastructures to CGI infrastructure on systems and/or selected products.

Managed and mentored a team of 15 consultants within the Global Infrastructures Services division and assigned tasks for each incoming assignment; conducted client interfacing sessions to establish client needs and ensure appropriate levels of service.

Managed/operated a 24/7 data centre encompassing all physical infrastructures relative to data warehousing including all email servers, file servers, application servers, and mainframe (OS 390), SAN's (Hitachi and IBM) and tape libraries.

Integrated an Ethernet environment to a previously IBM-centric technology environment to update employees on new virtualization technologies and to adapt to changing technology trends. This was required to remain competitive within the industry.

Championed the release of a BMC-powered configuration management system to replace Remedy 7.8; consolidated services for clients and end-users and standardized SLA reporting procedures while contributing to workflow efficiency.

Conducted yearly performance management reviews for 20 staff and implemented strategic action plans for employees, to enhance product knowledge skills. Provided ongoing mentorship and training for junior employees to enhance growth and potential.

Technology Development Team Leader Foresters Toronto, ON 1986 – 2004

OS Migrations and Conversions

•XP migration project Leader in conversion of 1200 end users from Windows 2000 professional to Windows XP Professional. This was done using desktop management tool Altiris, Active Directory and PC transplant.

•Windows 7 Migration Project (conversion of 1500 end users from Windows XP professional to Windows 7 32 Bit and 64 Bit.

•Field Rationalization Project (downsizing of U.S. and Canadian operations from 2000 to approximately 100 staff. This included closing 45 offices and reclaiming 1800 laptops and office equipment.)

•Infrastructure team representative on Technology plans for multiple clients ranging from 100 to 4000 users.

Application Packaging and Quality Assurance

Managed the conversion of over 700 applications from Windows XP to Windows 7 on 4 Operating Systems’. This encompasses Analysis development QA and user acceptance testing.

Designed and implemented creation of formal Quality Assurance practice. Compiled process and procedures for QA and release management.

Implemented QA, release and patch management for several clients Created factory process for Application packaging - testing-remediation-QA-sign-off-promotion. (Utilizing VMware V6.0, SCCM 2012, SharePoint, APPV 5.1 and various virtualization applications.

Client environments requiring regulatory changes involving Active Directory and all Microsoft network protocols. (DHCP, Dynamic WINS, DNS etc.) This was done through my negotiation with multiple stakeholders.

Data Centre Migration

Lead project to migrate Foresters Data Centre from North York to CGI facility in Mississauga. This encompassed coordinating over 50 staff and approximately 5 third party vendors.

The hardware involved 4 storage arrays from IBM, Storage Tek, EMC, HP and Sun/Solaris. Project was completed on time and budget.

Leveraged my networking and infrastructure experience to coordinate switch, router and TCP/IP configurations.

Service Delivery Management

Responsible for Technical delivery of Customer Service to several organizations. Escalation issues and problem and change management.

Initiated Single Point of Contact for escalation of support issues and liaison with Technical teams. (Between CGI and client.) This required extensive relationship building with internal CGI technical teams and client technical staff.

Project Management

As technical team leader responsible for leading projects for various CGI clients.

Lead over 5 projects for Foresters and CGI clients to migrate from Windows Server XX to Windows Server 2014.

These projects involved migrations of certain servers to virtual servers (i.e. APPV and VM virtual servers platforms as well as native Windows virtualization ) involving multiple end points.

Successfully utilized Agile and Scrum project management methodologies for the majority of these projects.

Prioritized project and non-project workload to satisfy project requirements and existing SLA agreements. All staff were designated as BAU (Business as Usual) and project resources, therefore it requires extensive insight to insure project activities achieve the appropriate balance.

Technical Expertise

Application support for products using IIS and SQL server. CRM and Web Applications

Implemented HP-UX and Sun/ Solaris for CRM and data warehouse applications.

ITIL trained. Service Management.

Member of Change Advisory Board (CAB)for several clients as Infrastructure groups' representative.

Implemented CMDB solution, BMC's Remedy replacement ITMS at CGI.

MS Server Administrative tools.

Implemented and Utilized CGI change management practices for several clients.

Used SCCM as standardized deployment tool for Test, QA and production.

Integrated Microsoft Exchange 2010 and Outlook for over 1500 endpoints.

Active Directory, GPO, LDAP, SCCM 2012,WSUS and APPDNA.

Evaluated Technical specifications for numerous RFP's.

Leveraged CISCO works for switch and router configurations.

Expert level Microsoft Office Knowledge. (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, Outlook)

Virtualization involving Microsoft Hyper V 2012 and VSphere Version 6.0.

Utilized VM for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (Thin Client ), accessing Citrix server environment.

FORMAL EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS

Honours Bachelor of Science University of Toronto

Microsoft Products Certification Exchange MCP

Leader /Coach Certification Foresters

Information Systems Certified Professional

IBM Project Management Certification

Security Certification (Government of Canada) CGI

ASSOCIATIONS

Referee in Chief and Executive Board Member Thornhill Community Hockey League

Senior Referee Ontario Minor Hockey Association

University Health Network- Volunteer

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