Engineer Management

Richard Sena Akakpo

** ******** *****, ********, **., L6X 0R2, Canada

Mobile : +1-365-***-**** Home: +1-289-***-****

Email: **********@*****.***

Professional Profile

A flexible, innovative problem-solver with a diverse and expert ICT background who thrives under pressure, enjoys a challenge and adapts quickly to new tasks that are constantly changing; is self-motivated, diligent and resourceful whether working independently or as part of a team, and possesses outstanding interpersonal expertise along with the ability to communicate confidently and articulately at all levels.

Career Summary

08/2015 – 11/2016 IT CONSULTANT (PERMANENT)

Cantatus Systems Group, Surrey, BC, Canada

Experience:

Configure, deploy and manage Switches/Routers/Firewalls (mostly Cisco’s Meraki MX84 Appliances, ASA 55xx, Sonicwall NSA 2xxx, Watchguard XTM xx Firewalls, Cisco SG200-xx Switches and UC500 routers)

Install, configure, deploy and manage Servers in Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware Vsphere environment (mostly Windows 2008/2012 based for RDS, FTP, DNS, DHCP, BDR, Exchange, SCCM etc), as well as Workstations (mostly Windows XP/Vista/7/8.1/10, Linux and Mac OS Mountain Lion/Yosemite based)

Plan, administer, maintain, troubleshoot and support SharePoint 2010/2013 Infrastructure and Applications for clients in the Lower Mainland on British Columbia

Perform testing and deploy new SharePoint 2013 web applications and related components based on business and technical requirements mainly for Enterprise Content Management and Social Networking

Support and update/patching SharePoint farm, including set-up and configuration of SharePoint Services on Servers, maintenance of Web Front End Servers, Indexing Servers, IIS administration

Review and tune the performance of the systems and SharePoint applications

Management of end user access policy and permissions for SharePoint 2010/2013

Set-up and maintenance of Outgoing and Incoming e-mail services, office web service in SharePoint

Recommend upgrade and repair Client Servers, Workstations and related Operating Systems and applications

Configure, deploy and manage Lenovo Think Server RS140/RD550/RD650/RD640/RD430, HP ML350 G5/G6/G8, Dell PowerEdge 2900 series Servers

Ensure mailbox migration readiness and migrate client users to Microsoft Office 365 manually or with the help of tools such as Skykick

Provide consulting and cloud architecture services for clients infrastructure running on Microsoft Azure platform for high-availability of services

Deploy and configure Virtual Machines in Microsoft Azure

Design, plan, implement and manage Exchange 2010, 2013 environments including security hardening and performance tuning of these critical mail environment

Configure and deploy storage solutions mostly based on Lenovo/Iomega NAS, Nimble SANs hardware deployed via iSCSI, NFS etc.

Manage backups and recovery with CA ArcServe Unified Data Protection V5.x/6.x and Veeam Backup and Replication V7.x/8.x

Implementing and maintaining portal branding to meet requirements for external sites, the intranet and collaboration sites in SharePoint 2013 Environment

Provide clients with various technical services pertaining to networks, remote access and virtualization

Configure, deploy and manage CISCO/3CX/Shoretel PBX/VOIP phone system for client

Maintain detailed technical documentation, as well as accurate incident tracking for day to day IT issues using tools including ITglue, Sharepoint, Autotask etc.

Analyze, resolve and report network and application performance metrics mainly with the help of Monitoring tools like Solarwinds Orion/n-able and PRTG

Configuration management with Microsoft System Centre Configurations Manager (SCCM 2012/2016)

Deploy, configure and manage SQL Servers for Sage CRM and ERP applications

Deploy, configure and manage IIS Servers for FTP, Microsoft Exchange, CRM/ERP Servers and Web Portal

Design, deploy and configure for clients in Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS clouds.

Other Responsibilities at Cantatus Systems Group includes

Manage all IT systems and related activities for Cantatus Systems group and partner Numbersgroup

Proactively provide technology recommendations and strategies

Properly identify IT challenges, advise, and implement solutions

Develop IT strategies to ensure the network meets existing and future requirements based on needs and regulations

Participate in proposal content, product research, and sales meetings with prospective clients

Schedule and execute all stages of hardware and system implementation projects for clients of Cantatus

Assess implications for all client projects and monitor progress to meet tight deadlines, cost targets and agreed standards

Help create Cost Benefit Analysis and Return on Investment Assessment with clients as the basis for decision making on proposed IT implementation Projects

Manage internal and external interfaces/stakeholders involved in all IT related Projects

Engage major Vendors (Includes HP Enterprise, Lenovo, Cisco, 3CX) and suppliers (includes Synex, Ingram Micro, D&H, RAN Distribution) in the identification of appropriate hardware and options available with client needs and budget as the major guiding principle

Accomplishments:

Returned Cantatus Systems Group Inc. to profitability by ensuring old clients had a renewed trust in our abilities as IT Service providers and adding and maintaining new clients

Championed the design, deployment and management of Azure and AWS cloud solutions for clients which significantly improved their Opex/Capex and ensured they did not look elsewhere for IT solutions

Configured, deployed and managed numerous Servers (Mainly from HP, Lenovo and Dell) for clients across the Lower Mainland of British Columbia

Configured, deployed and managed different Firewalls, Routers, Switches and other network devices (mainly from Sonicwall, Cisco, Watchguard, Nimble, Lenovo/EMC) for clients across the Lower Mainland of British Columbia

Switched Clients across the Lower Mainland from Traditional PRI phone systems to SIP via 3CX or Shoretel PBX Phone Systems which provided tremendous cost savings to clients and ensured a renewed trust in Cantatus

Championed the resolution of interconnectivity issues and complex cloud-based identity management and user authentication, service interruptions with Virtual Machines (their host nodes) and associated virtual storage in Microsoft Azure

Audited, proposed and implemented network clean-ups for clients to ensure adherence/complains to IT security procedures and processes especially for clients who handle user information from government agencies

12/2010 – 07/2012_ 04/2013 – 01/2015 NETWORK ENGINEER/CONSULTANT

Ericsson (Ghana/Congo/Botswana/Nigeria)

Experience:

Installation of new servers/rebuild existing servers and configure hardware, peripherals, services, settings, directories, storage, etc. in accordance with standards and project/operational requirements

Delivering one-to-one or group training sessions as needed to non-technical audiences mainly from the areas of Sales, Marketing and Management in the telecommunications industry

Deployment, Configuration and Management of Cisco Switches (L2, L3), Routers, and ASA firewalls

Troubleshooting of Juniper M10i and Redback Smartedge 600, Extreme Blackdiamond 8806, 8810 Core/Aggregation/Edge/Datacentre Switches as well as Juniper SRX3400/Netscreen ISG2000 Firewalls, Tellabs 8605 Access Switch amongst others

Configured and deployed backups in Microsoft Azure

Continuously support teams/individuals in the installation and deployment of Windows based OS

Strong experience with VMware VSphere ESX/ESXi Hypervisor/Server/Client Deployment Configuration and Management (HA, FT, DRS, VMotion/SVMotion, DPM etc.)

Have continuously managed SANs/NAS (via FC, iSCSI mainly) from vendors such as Dell, HP and associated switches from ALU, Tellabs etc.

Voice, telephony, video conferencing (CISCO VOIP) Email/Exchange/Active Directory infrastructure deployment and management

Participating in teams that ensured high availability of all Telecommunications IT infrastructure mainly related to Mobile Packet Backbone Network (MPBN), Packet Core (PS Core), Billing/Intelligent Network/Value Added Services for GSM/WCDMA/LTE/HSPA+ deployment

Work with Enterprise Architects to create Build Plans based on the definition and prioritization, deploying SharePoint, Portal and application server based solutions

Remotely help plan, administer, maintain, troubleshoot and support SharePoint 2010 Infrastructure and Applications

Perform testing and deploy new SharePoint 2010 web applications and related components based on business and technical requirements mainly for Enterprise Content Management and Social Networking

Management of end user access policy and permissions for SharePoint 2010

Installation and Maintenance of out-of-box SharePoint features, web parts, Template, workflows, document libraries and lists

Incidence management with BMC Remedy

Advanced experience in Microsoft’s Hyper-V in the windows 2008/2012 Server environment

Consistently used Microsoft Deployment Toolkits, mainly SCCM and WDS for remote OS deployment, critical security systems updates and scheduled software updates

Strong background in the use of Unix based SQL database technology from Sybase (ASE) for Ericsson’s ENIQ OSS RDBMS.

Accomplishments:

Helped configure, deploy, manage and optimize various ICT equipment/software for Ericsson in West, Southern and Central Africa

Trained local teams for various projects in Africa

Educated Ericsson’s Clients/Customers on the need for deployment/benefits of deploying or swapping obsolete Nodes to modern once for superior end user experience

Demonstrated advanced customer facing skills as a consultant with my superior knowledge on all nodes and software that were my responsibility

07/2012 – 04/2013

PROJECT MANAGER

Telinno Consulting Ltd., Accra, Ghana

Experience:

Was accountable for the successful implementation of projects to customers in a professional manner and within the constraints of scope, quality, time and cost.

Supported quality assurance and overall integrity of projects as projects/technical manager

Was responsible for compliance monitoring to ensure the right processes are followed in the execution of the project

Managed and mentored Telecom Engineers that were responsible for daily Radio Frequency Optimization (Capacity monitoring and parameter optimization) of Huawei 2G/3G RAN nodes for MTN Ghana

Managed engineers in teams for IT and Radio Network Design and Optimisation Projects in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Niger and Sierra Leone for Airtel Africa

Accomplishments:

Ensured the comprehensive training of over 30 engineers comprising permanent and contract staff to take up internal IT and Radio Access Network Benchmarking / Physical Optimization and Radio Base Station rollouts/Swap projects for Airtel Telco’s in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Burkina Faso and the Republic of Niger

Enhanced on-going customer satisfaction by delivering all existing projects on time and within budget while consistently maintaining high standards of quality

Successfully delivered projects worth almost USD1million in nine-months for Telinno Consulting Ghana, keeping direct costs of project execution below 30% of project value

12/2005 – 12/2010

ENGINEER/SENIOR ENGINEER (IT SUPPORT)

Ministry of Defence, Accra, Ghana

Experience:

Designed, developed and maintained Wireless and Wired Local Area Networks for departments in the General Headquarters

Participated on technical boards set up to recommend/implement and design Telecom facilities for the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF)

Managed and maintained Microsoft Windows 2003/2008 Server Environment for the General Headquarters (Logistics) (DHCP/IPv4 support, DNS, General DC Management, NAP, SSTP, Firewall, File Server Management etc.)

Designed, planned, implemented and managed Exchange 2007 environment

Daily backup of Active Directory NTDS data with Symantec Backup Tools and restoring them when required with the support of Windows Recovery Environment (WindowsRE)

Administered and monitored local user accounts, groups, rights, permissions and participated on technical committees for security and maintenance of a network and information systems as required.

Developed and maintained documentation and lists pertaining to technical matters such as IP addresses, email, licensing, passwords etc.

Recommended and implemented security procedures with respect to all local hardware and software including liaising with appropriate departments to ensure local policies were adhered to for inventory, control and security

Installed, integrated and maintained Routers, Switches, Radios and Firewalls (Mostly from CISCO systems, Motorola and Alvarion) into the network at the General Headquarters

Created and managed VLANs that spanned multiple departments at the general headquarters

Terminated and Crimped of all categories of UTP cables, as well as support in the splicing and termination of fibre cables (Mostly multimode)

Virtualization of Servers with VMware virtualization tools

Created and modified Operating System images with Microsoft Deployment Toolkits (MDT) for remote installation via WDS mostly for new PCs/Hosts via Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE)

Accomplishments:

Recommended/deployed/maintained ICT equipment at GHQ(LOG) of Ministry of Defence; maintained Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks and managed and deployed specific Windows Server

Managed, monitored and maintained all ICT-related activities of General Headquarters (Logistics)

Helped train other engineers on the configuration of some Cisco 28xx, 25xx, 36xx routers, 29xx,25xx,36xx switches for both work and preparation for CISCO Certification Examination

Deployed, configured and managed various of Cisco equipment for the General Headquarters

Configured IT LAN/WAN elements and was responsible for maintaining stability and monitoring performance of internet and the local LAN at the General Headquarters (Logistics)

Educated fellow Engineers and Directors on the need for virtualization of servers using VMware tools to maximize server resources

Education and Qualifications

MSc:

Diploma:

BSc:

Telecommunications Engineering, Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC) (2010)

WES Assessed: Accredited same in Canada

Hardware and Network Engineering, Intercom Programming and Manufacturing Company (IPMC) Ghana, (2008)

Geomatics Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Ghana (2005), WES Assessed: Accredited same in Canada

Professional Development(Certification):

PMI Certified Project Management Professional, PMP (PMP No. 1938093)

Cisco Certified Network Associate, CCNA v2 (Cisco ID No. CSCO12840796)

3CX Advanced Certified Engineer V14 (3CX ID w1G9BMwiiR)

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) Server 2003, IPMC Ghana Local Certificate (2008)

CompTIA N+ Network Certification Plus, IPMC Ghana Local Certificate (2007)

CompTIA A+ Hardware Certification, IPMC Ghana Local Certificate (2007)

Microsoft Certified Professional Server 2012 ( ID. F985-6888)

Key Skills

OS etc.:

Microsoft Windows 3.x/98/2000/ME/Vista/7/8/8.1/10 (Incl. Remote, Enterprise and local Deployment and Installation); Microsoft DOS; Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2008/2012; Linux (Mandriva, CentOS Redhat, Suse Enterprise Server), Ubuntu; Mac OS X (Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite); Unix; CISCO IOS, CLI, Junos, Virtualization (VMware VSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenApps and Oracle Virtual Box), ArcServe UDP, Meraki Cloud, Azure, AWS, Appdynamics, MS Office (incl. Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access, Projects, Visio, SharePoint, Local and Remote Deployment/Support of Office 365), SQL etc.

Programming/Scripting:

Visual Basic/VBA, Powershell, C++/C# (Basic knowledge)

Personal Details

Citizenship:

Languages:

Interests Include:

Ghanaian; Canadian PR

Fluent English, Ewe and Twi (Local Ghanaian)

ICT; Reading; Chess; Soccer

References are available on request

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