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ISSAM ARKEH Orlando, FL *****

+1-407-***-****

ad384k@r.postjobfree.com LinkedIn

EXECUTIVE TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT PROFILE

C-level IT leader with background and expertise to excel in IT Director and IT Support & Delivery Manager roles Seasoned leader with history in the financial services industry devoted to bringing technology and business together to support sustainable growth of organizations. Trainer and coach of world-class, multidisciplinary IT teams operating across multiple departments. Excel at planning, setup, oversight, expansion and migration of enterprise- level data centers, networks and service support systems. Record of success implementing and ensuring optimal effectiveness of organization-wide disaster recovery (DR), IT infrastructure, applications and data backup systems. Fiscally astute in project and departmental budget planning, management and analysis; consistently deliver major projects on-time and within-budget.

HIGHLIGHTS OF EXPERTISE

• Full Project / Program Management Life Cycle

• Project Management Office (PMO) Operations

• Vendor & Contractor Negotiations & Relations

• IT Helpdesk Setup & Management

• Application & System Management

• Decision Making & deadlines

• Data Center Management & Migration

• Team Building, Mentoring & Leadership

• Emerging Technologies & Strategic Planning

• Enterprise Disaster Recovery & Backup

• Change Management / Process Management

• Recruitment

• Business Insight • Automation & Efficiency

CAREER SUMMARY

Freelance IT Consultancy, Bangkok, Thailand (1/2022 to Current ) Deliver expert guidance and Strategy to Thai Global Company IT Services that includes the following

• 5 years Strategy plan based on the business requirements

• Staff Evaluation and recruitment

• As is assessment of the existing IT Environment

• High Level Plan and Budget Assessment

• Propose best approach for implementing an effective solution that is cost effective, seamless and provides the business with a competitive edge

ABU DHABI INVESTMENT COUNCIL (ADIC), Abu Dhabi, UAE Direct IT operations of three major Sections: Systems Management, Data Management and Infrastructure (includes Datacenter, Networking and Systems Administration). IT MANAGER - SERVICE SUPPORT (4/2015 to 7/2021)

Deliver expert guidance and coaching to 30 IT Service team members working across multiple projects and providing 24/7 supports across all departments. Oversee planning and execution of multiple major systems enhancements. Cultivate relationships with and coordinate activities of subcontractors, vendors and professional services teams to ensure on-time, under-budget project execution. Coordinate systems configuration and monitoring via System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) to convey systems health and trigger color code alerts for support team, and to email alerts to be sent to IT helpdesk & support engineers after working hours. Develop and oversee administration of DR plan, and conduct testing to ensure consistency with business user requirements. Formulate, execute and regularly update long-term IT strategies to ensure use of leading-edge technology for maintaining a competitive advantage.

ISSAM ARKEH Page 2

Instrumental in establishing a 5 year strategy plan based on the organization’s business goals.

Consistently address all critical services within agreed-upon recovery time objective (RTO) of 4 hours and recovery point objective (RPO) of 24 hours.

Heads the IMT(Incident Management Team) for addressing business critical applications incidents and reporting directly to the COO and senior business stakeholders

Instrumental in ensuring Service Support team and IT Helpdesk provide high-quality 24X7 support.

Orchestrated restructuring of support process for addressing incidents during and after working hours; new process led to reduction of critical business incidents by 75-80%.

Consistently maintained data center uptime at 98.7% + over 5 years.

Led planning and deployment of regional DR site in Al Ain and out-of-region DR site in Luxembourg, utilizing Veeam for replication and back up.

Integral in guiding Service Support team to deliver prompt, efficient user support during the Covid-19 pandemic through seamless implementation of CITRIX Microsoft Teams & the replacement of 75% of the Network Infrastructure.

Steered deployment of Citrix Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) for 80 critical business users at main production site, 1 at regional DR site and 1 at out-of-region DR site.

Prepared the yearly budget for upcoming enhancements, maintenance and projects.

Planned and steered the migration of Exchange to office 365. ABU DHABI INVESTMENT COUNCIL (ADIC), Abu Dhabi, UAE Established and managed PMO; led Service Catalog and Market Data Services departments, and guided teams in managing service level agreements (SLA), contract management, change management and IT security operations. IT MANAGER - SERVICE DELIVERY (5/2007 to 4/2015)

Supervised team of 14 operating across all sections; recruited and managed staff for service delivery, project management, service level management, contract analysis and IT security administration. Coordinated full life cycle management of multiple projects and led implementation of PMO office and related methodologies as means of successful project delivery. Coordinated delivery of SLAs across all departments. Implemented and ensured adherence to change management process and guidelines. Cultivated vendor relationships and coordinated contract management / negotiation. Oversaw crucial financial services such as Bloomberg and FactSet. Coordinated meetings across all business departments to document and ensure full comprehension of annual business requirements. Led analysis, prioritization and submission to senior management of project portfolio for approval. Generated and presented annual estimates of project timelines and resource / budget needs.

Successfully established Council Data Center in 62 days, beating mandate of 90 days, enabling accessibility of all systems by 35 employees on first day of Council’s inception.

Led adoption of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) KPMG project management methodology, and subsequent customization to fit Council requirements.

Played key role in planning and relocation of Council Data Center from Silver Tower Corniche Abu Dhabi to Al Bahr Towers, including user migration of 150 employees and data center / infrastructure setup.

Guided planning and implementation of out-of-region DR iland site in the UK, utilizing Double-Take tool for replication and backup.

Delivered major critical business & IT solutions to run daily operations effectively Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Abu Dhabi, UAE Responsible for overseeing full life cycle planning and execution of multiple large-scale, complex multimillion-dollar projects on time, and within budget and scope.

PROJECT MANAGER (1/2000 to 5/2007)

Coordinated selection, scheduling and oversight of top-notch teams of engineers and technicians. Cultivated stakeholders relationships and managed expectations though effective reporting and communication. Conducted regular monitoring of project progress, risks and issues to ensure rapid response to any contingencies. Generated reports on project status and alignment with scope / timeline.

Orchestrated implementation and oversight of ADIA’s first IT help desk system, CA Service Desk Manager.

Steered deployment of Project Portfolio Management software for PMO, resulting in substantial improvement to ability to see the big picture across all projects.

Championed ADIA Relocation Project, entailing initial planning of user relocation from previous ADIA; project included analysis / assessment of users and departments and their relation to existing data systems and manual operations to determine most effective migration order. ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

Laereliance Technologies, Orlando, FL. USA

CNC Programing & Design Application Engineer (1989 to 1999) Programing & designed laser beams capable of penetrating through ceramic material used for computer systems. EDUCATION & CREDENTIALS

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT, WITH HONORS Aspen University, Denver, CO

BACHELOR OF APPLIED SCIENCE IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI

Professional Development & Certifications: Strategic Planning ~ Business Continuity ~ Time Management ~ Negotiation Skills ~ Team Building ~ Creative Problem Solving & Decision Making ~ Developing Management Skills ~ Various Leadership Seminars

Technical Proficiencies: Windows, Microsoft Office Suite, Microsoft Project, Oracle, SQL Server Certifications: Project Management Professional, ITIL V3,Azur Fundamentals Affiliations: Project Management Institute (PMI)

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