James La Vacca

Royse City, Texas *****

adg4km@r.postjobfree.com 214-***-****

LinkedIn.com/in/jameslavacca/

Vice President of IT Operations / Chief Information Officer

In-depth experience in executive IT and operations leadership.

Over 15 years of demonstrated excellence in executive technology leadership for global institutions, including change management, operations leadership, and high-level project management. Background in IT development and architecture, recruiting, and cross-functional team leadership. Adept at motivating teams to exceed expectations in addition to expertise in continuously improving processes and reducing costs. Talent for supporting the bottom line and driving revenue through systematic quality improvements and on time, under budget project deliveries.

Highlights of Expertise

Strategic IT and Operations Planning

Change Management / Mergers and Acquisitions

Vendor Relationship Development / Negotiations

Cross-Functional Team Leadership

Recruiting Winning Development Teams

End-to-End Project Management

CAPEX/OPEX Budget Leadership

Data Center Operations and Migrations

Business Continuity and Disaster Planning

Regulatory/SOX/Data Privacy Compliance

Career Experience

Tail Light LLC, Dallas, Texas

Specially recruited to oversee all IT operations and strategic planning functions as a team leader, resource allocator, and lead engineer.

DIRECTOR of IT, OPERATIONS, and DEVELOPMENT (2015 to Present)

Guide core IT functions, including IT infrastructure, quality assurance, continuous process improvements, database administration, security, and workflow streamlining. Coordinate with C-level executives, manage development and operations teams across multiple product lines, and guide cloud/datacenter operations and improvements. Oversee validation of all release components, U/I validation, automation, testing, and general release management. Lead regulatory compliance for privacy and data security.

Successfully established a cohesive team and integrated operations, effectively consolidating two datacenters and stabilizing the environment while capturing over $2M in savings in the initial six months.

Built a DevOps team from scratch to drive automation of over 75% of the IT environment while developing and launching a deployment strategy to continuously improve processes.

Ensured full PCI DSS and GDPR compliance through diligent cross-functional team leadership and strategic planning.

Effectively reduced costs by $1.2M and migrated legacy environments to achieve $550k in annual cost savings.

Match.com LLC, Dallas, Texas (2003 to 2015)

Excelled as a results-driven architect in charge of over 3,500 domains for IAC / Match group businesses, including circuit/network provider management, datacenters, and global office locations.

ARCHITECT (2014 to 2015)

Managed the design and implementation of ITIL processes and procedures enterprise-wide, drove operations for internal and external IT business units, and led OPEX ($10M annual budget). Oversaw a $15M CAPEX budget, allocated resources, and developed storage infrastructure. Spearheaded virtualization rollout with VMware to reduce expenses and ensure high availability and functionality for multi-petabyte online SAN migrations.

Effectively led contract negotiations and captured millions in CAPEX savings in addition to reducing circuit contracts by $445k.

Collaborated with the Chief Information Officer (CIO) as a strategic planner in all fiscal and operational matters.

DIRECTOR of GLOBAL OPERATIONS (2011 to 2014)

Strategically managed datacenter and IT services, including management of $11M OPEX and $8M CAPEX budgets, IT engineering, and cross-functional team leadership. Ensured reliable 24/7 support, continuous process improvements, and core designs for functionality across multiple devices. Led administration of over 3,500 physical servers, 1,900 virtual servers, 30 Storage Devices, and 50 network devices. Excelled as the operational and technical resource for all M&A activities, including the performance of pre-purchase due diligence, evaluation and merger (onboarding) the datacenters of recently procured companies, and resource integration into group datacenters.

Successfully oversaw ITIL software application migration from in-house non-compliant software product to outsourced ServiceNow instance.

Leveraged outstanding negotiations to reduce costs, capturing millions in CAPEX/OPEX savings and stewarding multiple datacenter expansions.

SENIOR MANAGER (2009 to 2011)

Led Global Operations and development teams as a strategic planner and effective resource allocator. Oversaw system deployments and change management, managed cross-functional teams, and identified/mitigated system gaps to streamline workflows.

Spearheaded vendor relationships to reduce pricing and managed multimillion-dollar network and server upgrades.

Drove three datacenter moves and closures as a consummate change manager in addition to supporting transformative M&A activities.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

Senior Manager of Global Operations Match.com LLC, Dallas, Texas

Director of Operations Dynamic Mobile Data Systems, Inc., Somerset, New Jersey

Education & Credentials

Amberton University, Garland, Texas

BACHELOR OF ARTS (B.A.) in PROJECT MANAGEMENT (In Progress)

Technical Proficiencies: Windows, Linux (Red Hat, Ubuntu), Mac OS, Office365, Google Cloud Platform, GSuite, AzureAD, Docker, Rancher, GIT, servers, routers, LAN, wireless LAN, Microsoft Exchange, Active Directory, Microsoft Office Suite, Microsoft Project, Access, Crystal Reports, EDMS/Documentum, Visual Basic.

Affiliations: Hillsborough Emergency Medical Services – Emergency Medical Technician, Sergeant, Crew Chief, Rescue Crew Chief, IT Manager, Vice President (VP) of IT Operations, Life Member.

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